Penny Farthing Build

for those about to rock

for those about to rock

Likes Dirt
That's it!

After tirelessly looking for a place where I can buy a penny farthing and all my results proven futile, I have decided I am going to try my hand at making one.

Now, creating the frame should be pretty straight forward given I create a decent design, however, my main problem lies in the fabrication of a front wheel. For a tyre I'm just going to use solid rubber to go around it so that's no problem but making the wheel itself will be.

This is where you, the burner's, come in.

If any of you have any sort of idea of how I can make such a large front wheel or if you have, for some reason, made one yourself, I would appreciate it if you could enlighten me.

Thanks in advance,

Pete.

EDIT: Or if you happen to know where I can buy one for a reasonable price.........
 
alchemist

alchemist

Manly Warringah MTB Club
I've heard Velocity can do rims (or have in the past) so it may be worth while contacting them.
 
Jimass

Jimass

Eats Squid
Make your own spokes by tapping each end and putting a nut on, the for a rim, piece of pipe cut down the center and curved. Make a hub on a lathe and voila!

Thats all i got..
 
for those about to rock

for those about to rock

Likes Dirt
Jimass said:
Make your own spokes by tapping each end and putting a nut on, the for a rim, piece of pipe cut down the center and curved. Make a hub on a lathe and voila!

Thats all i got..
Click to expand...
Not bad, not bad. I may look into this. I don't want it to be too ghetto but if I put some thought into it, something like this may work.

Thanks for your responses guys.
 
-SaM-

-SaM-

Likes Dirt
Hey if your making the front wheels 36 inch you can get wheels and tyres from municycle.com.au, its pretty expensive i think. hope this helps.
 
FR Drew

FR Drew

Not a custom title.
hate to think what freight on a full size P/F wheel would be from california anyway...
 
J

junglistik1

Cannon Fodder
I have built two penny farthing bikes from scratch and have three more in the making. I made the front hub from a shaft, and two flanges that I turned on the lathe. For spokes I used 3/32 stainless steel welding rod threaded with a 3-56 cutting die. this thread will fit a 13g spoke nipple. 13g nipples are somewhat hard to find but i can point you in the right direction if you need. as far heading the spokes goes, there are a few methods. the easiest is a simple dogleg bend. For my 53 inch rims I used three steel road bike rims. To make the first wheel I simply cut the three rims and very carefully increased the radius until the rim was almost straight but still arched. I then bent the rims around a patio table, cut them to the desired length, and welded the pieces together. the first wheel turned out better than expected but not perfect. I have since then gotten myself a tubing roller. the roller is great to have for rolling the rim pieces and backbone tubing into shape. For the price of one wheel, I have spent 20-30$ on spokes/nipples,and maybe 80$ for good tire material. So far I have gotten all of my hub material and old steel rims for free from the scrap yard. I hope this helps you decide to go through with building one. feel free to ask questions, I am more than happy to share what i know about building a high wheel bike.
Stay on top,

-Elijah
 
Broken Bones89

Broken Bones89

Likes Bikes and Dirt
junglistik1 said:
I have built two penny farthing bikes from scratch and have three more in the making. I made the front hub from a shaft, and two flanges that I turned on the lathe. For spokes I used 3/32 stainless steel welding rod threaded with a 3-56 cutting die. this thread will fit a 13g spoke nipple. 13g nipples are somewhat hard to find but i can point you in the right direction if you need. as far heading the spokes goes, there are a few methods. the easiest is a simple dogleg bend. For my 53 inch rims I used three steel road bike rims. To make the first wheel I simply cut the three rims and very carefully increased the radius until the rim was almost straight but still arched. I then bent the rims around a patio table, cut them to the desired length, and welded the pieces together. the first wheel turned out better than expected but not perfect. I have since then gotten myself a tubing roller. the roller is great to have for rolling the rim pieces and backbone tubing into shape. For the price of one wheel, I have spent 20-30$ on spokes/nipples,and maybe 80$ for good tire material. So far I have gotten all of my hub material and old steel rims for free from the scrap yard. I hope this helps you decide to go through with building one. feel free to ask questions, I am more than happy to share what i know about building a high wheel bike.
Stay on top,

-Elijah
Click to expand...
will you build one for me?
 
J

junglistik1

Cannon Fodder
I don't have my own camera at the moment, but i will do my best to get some pics up in the next week or so. As for a reasonable price and where to buy a penny farthing , I suppose that depends on where you are located and what exactly you are looking for. I have seen them go any where from maybe $800 on a lower end replica to thousands on a high end, exact copy replica. or even more on an original bike from the 1800s. Here is a link for any one thinking of building one. it doesn't show all of the techniques that i use and is not intended to be used as instructions, but it has been a very helpful guideline for me. http://www2.wuk.at/hochrad/berichte/bildauswahl.inc.php?thema=whitney these guys make and sell penny farthings and parts. I think they also do penny farthing building classes.
 
carpetrunner

carpetrunner

Likes Dirt
Evandale, Tasmania <-- the home of penny farthings

There's a small village south of Launceston, called Evandale. This is the centre of excellence for penny-farthings in Australia. http://www.evandalevillagefair.com/.

I once stopped at the local store (there isn't much more there) and a guy idled up on a penny-farthing, and just left it there and walked off - I asked if he was worried about someone stealing it - he just laughed and asked if I wanted to try...

I'd be hitting the <contact us> on the Evandale site - I'm sure they have access to plenty of penny-farthing resources.

In the mean time maybe consider the full DH gear for this one http://vodpod.com/watch/1541767-penny-farthing-crash

- carpetrunner
 
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