penny-farthing love

Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An early bicycle having a large front wheel and much smaller rear one.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

A reference to the old British coins

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Examples

  • I won't analyse it as it bores me enough but I calculate it's perhaps just about on a penny-farthing.

    Brown is beginning to panic 2009

  •  At just that moment, a man wearing a three-piece-suit and a beret pedals by on a penny-farthing.

    July 4th, Austin, TX Ann Rushton 2010

  • Gene Smith from KoolStop found penny-farthing planters on closeout for $99 each and bought 16 of them, some which adorn his home, office, trade show booths in the U.S. as well as in Europe.

    A touch of gold 2010

  • Deville, this month-old East Village restaurant underwent a three-month renovation to give it a rustic feel, harking back to the late Victorian era when the penny-farthing bicycle was popular.

    Reinventing the Wheel 2010

  • Mikeweb @ 2:44, that reminds me - in central park yesterday I saw a fellow atop a penny-farthing in full period kit like these guys.

    Cycling Customs: Flashing the Biological Passport BikeSnobNYC 2009

  • It's full of 'Prisoner' imagery - the ID buttons, human chess games, particular location shots, KAR120C, a penny-farthing bicycle, and even Rover makes an appearance!

    Archive 2009-01-11 Toby O'B 2009

  • I was also pleased to see that the rider was on a cyclocross bike and that penny-farthing craze has not yet reached Missoula, which means that while we may see more and more of them in the coming months it should be a good while before the trend moves into its ironic phase.

    Archive 2008-11-01 BikeSnobNYC 2008

  • I am afraid the penny-farthing fad may end before it begins.

    Penny-Ante: The Ordinary Trend Moves Up a Notch BikeSnobNYC 2008

  • And the blight has also reached our nation's capital or the general vicinity anyway, where at least one person has been forced to sell his penny-farthing:

    The Party's Over: Derailed by the Economy BikeSnobNYC 2008

  • Hey, think we can convince the idjits that the penny-farthing is the new fixie?

    Rest-Day Roundup: Stealing Seconds and Stealing Bikes BikeSnobNYC 2008

Comments

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  • A Victorian bicycle, named after its appearance: one very large leading wheel (like a pre-decimal penny), and a very small trailing wheel (like a farthing). Pedals were attached directly to the leading wheel. It was large because bicycle gears had not yet been invented.

    July 17, 2008