Penny Farthings - how fast are they?

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G
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Postby G » 16 Jul 2010, 15:07

I am racing a club duathlon on Sunday on penny farthing, and just want to understand how fast are these things? Wot kind of times I would be looking for a 20k TT? Does aero bars make any difference on it? How good are these climbing up the hills? I have never ridden one before, so need to know how to get on this kind of bike quickly out of transition. Any tips will be appreciated.

The duathlon is 3.2k run, 20k bike, 3.2k run.

shrubb face
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Postby shrubb face » 16 Jul 2010, 15:16

aero bars on a penny......ha

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G
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Postby G » 16 Jul 2010, 15:29

Is the pedaling fixed or single speed?

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T-Bone
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Postby T-Bone » 16 Jul 2010, 16:07

Maybe you should try practicing first!!

They go as fast as the rider can pedal, Bigger wheel is better as it basically means a bigger gear. Pedaling is fixed, there are no brakes, and NO you can't use aerobars. Climbing hills is all about power, being light doesn't help much at all. As for speed, i won the Penny Road race in Evandale this year (20miles/32km) in a time of 1hr6min57sec, which included me being solo for the majority.

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G
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Postby G » 16 Jul 2010, 16:36

Maybe you should try practicing first!!

They go as fast as the rider can pedal, Bigger wheel is better as it basically means a bigger gear. Pedaling is fixed, there are no brakes, and NO you can't use aerobars. Climbing hills is all about power, being light doesn't help much at all. As for speed, i won the Penny Road race in Evandale this year (20miles/32km) in a time of 1hr6min57sec, which included me being solo for the majority.

Thanks James! Unfortunately I won't get a chance to train on one before the race. Can the rider get on the seat without any assistance?

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T-Bone
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Postby T-Bone » 16 Jul 2010, 16:41

There's a foot peg on the backbone that you use to scooter along and then get onto the seat as the penny is moving.

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G
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Postby G » 16 Jul 2010, 16:46

There's a foot peg on the backbone that you use to scooter along and then get onto the seat as the penny is moving.
Thanks James, more importantly, how do you get off from it?

Eleri
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Postby Eleri » 16 Jul 2010, 20:14

more importantly, how do you get off from it?
Find a hedge, dismount as elegantly as possible. Don't let the bike fall over.

http://www.dhbc.org.au/forum/viewtopic. ... &start=120

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Toff
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Postby Toff » 17 Jul 2010, 10:13

If anyone else but G had asked these questions I would have assumed it was a just wind up! :o

timyone
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Postby timyone » 17 Jul 2010, 10:16

man they fly, i wouldmt be surprised if your faster than normal g

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yewenyi
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Postby yewenyi » 17 Jul 2010, 11:24

The first recorded hour record was set in 1876 when Frank Dodds of England pedaled 15.8 miles (25.506 km) in an hour on a high wheeler.

timyone
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Postby timyone » 17 Jul 2010, 11:25

hey they dont have a cut off time for the ride do they... maybe they will let you leave early :D

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G
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Postby G » 19 Jul 2010, 11:15

If anyone else but G had asked these questions I would have assumed it was a just wind up! :o
Thanks for your trust in me. Unfortunately I got betrayed by John who was supposed to provide Penny farthing for the race. Some race officials argued that it won't comply the Triathlon Australia bike spec in first place, but they couldn't provide any documentation to confirm that. I will have to dig further into it.

Does anyone have a penny farthing in our club?

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Stretch
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Postby Stretch » 24 Jul 2010, 10:59

Hey G,
I was going to try and rack my PF at this year's Tri Club Champs but it's still in Brisbane being modifed (to try and stop me face-planting).
Maybe next year.

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G
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Postby G » 24 Jul 2010, 13:35

haa! haa! Stretch, someone has to do it!


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