The Penny Farthing was the sketchiest bicycle ever made

Imagine being on a peaceful mountain bike ride and you see Seth on a high wheel bombing down the trails

The absolute dedication to the bit of riding obscene bikes down trails they weren't made for is always educational.

3:29 😂 he didn’t have to sacrifice himself to demonstrate what would happen but as a visual learner… I appreciate that he did

Makes you fully realise what a game changing innovation the Safety Bicycle was. Surely one of the best inventions since the wheel.

I thought he was gonna stop at the top of the stairs, but when he went down them, I clenched up just watching.

As a kid I always thought "those things like sketchy AF". I’m so satisfied that they really are every bit of sketch as I thought they were. 😀

In the 1880's, a man named Thomas Stevens rode a penny farthing around the world, then wrote a book about it. The book is available online, and is very much worth reading.

Worked at a little bike shop for awhile and we had this full sized reproduction, not the scaled down version Seth is riding. This big old dude saw it propped up outside and really wanted to ride it. He was fascinated but being kind of a dick about it because I initially told him no. (I knew how sketchy they were). But he wouldn’t relent so I was like, alright, good luck man. These bike have a step and you have to do a firm little scooter push to get up on the seat and have enough momentum to get your feet on the pedals and keep it upright. And then you’re up there surprisingly high. Dude foisted it himself up fine but had just enough speed to turn the cranks once, twice then absolutely toppled over like a shit ton of bricks, feet on the pedals all the way down and when his hip impacted the cement I could feel the slab shake. He limped away not saying another word and I think that was probably the last time he asked anyone for permission to ride a Penny Farthing.

Seth you should collab with Sam Pilgrim in berm peak or somewhere else. It would be sick to see the two biggest and best mtb channels in the same video

The list of things done, said, written, and researched well in this video seems almost endless. It's an extremely engaging bit of bike-related "content," enjoyable to anyone who's ridden a bike (so most people) but also and especially for enthusiasts. Love the MTB-specific stuff, but this was a truly excellent video.

I had an uncle that used to dress up in old time attire or as Uncle Sam and ride a high wheeler in parades back in the 1970s. Thank you for this history lesson. I still remember him moaning about how hard it was to get a replacement solid tube tire for a high wheeler.

Great review and demo. I was vacationing in Martha's vineyard with my family and we rented "safety" bicycles. Suddenly a guy on Penny Farthing caught up with us and went ahead. Despite having a gear shift I barely was able to keep up with him. I was dwarfed by the size of the bike. Later we learn that there was a meeting of an ancient bike enthusiasts. They wore old style attire and shoes too. I saw these bikes only on old pictures before, I couldn't believe my own eyes seeing them next to me. 🤩

I remember reading that guys used to basically do the old bmx bar-hop (swing their feet forward over the bars) when going downhill so when they inevitably crashed, they could just jump forward instead of tangling their knees in the bars. Of course, this meant their feet were off the pedals so there was no real speed control aside from a rear brake or maybe the spoon-style friction brake on the front wheel. Insane.

That clip of the race is from the High Wheel Bike Race held every July in Frederick, MD. It is the only high wheel bike race held in the USA. It is awesome. There are not always crashes, but occasionally happen.

People with a deep passion combined with extensive knowledge and experience can make almost any topic fascinating.

This man putting his life on the line for bicycle education was an unexpected delight in an already great video.

Having ridden one of the massive ones I can confirm they are a blast.

I really find it fascinating that they ever thought that thing was a good idea. How was it even designed without anyone saying "what if it was balanced a bit better?"

You should get a lay-down bike, super arodynamic and if they have a wind cover you can reach high speeds for a long time! Would love to see you pov on it!

It reassures me that even back then they considered it dangerous. Looking at pictures of those giant wheels when I was a kid, I couldn't imagine how someone would comfortably ride them like it's nothing : D