Hiwheel/boneshaker/PennyFarthing Bicycle on the playa

[Freesponge]

I was considering bringing one of these to BM 2012 as my secondary form of unpowered transport, primary being a sensible lit up fuzzy mounain bike.

Does anybody know of anybody ever using one of these bicycles on the playa or have and advice regarding it?

You sit up about 50 inches off the ground but I have seen many triple-stack bikes much higher successfully navigate the playa.

[zerzura]

This guy who builds them has taken a few to the playa, there are pictures here. You could email him with questions. We ended up modding one of his a cheap tiny penny farthings into a tricycle for the playa because I realized I wouldn't be able to drink a beer while riding mine.

http://www.hiwheel.com/customer_photos/archive_05.htm

[Patiencepie]

I'm looking into one of these too. Are they pretty easy to ride? How do they handle? I'm super short too...

[Elliot]

There is a reason those things are not in common use anymore. Very difficult and dangerous to ride. Worst is stopping -- easy to go over the handlebar for a spectacular face plant. Strictly for a dedicated historian.

That said.... That guy's products are top quality and meant to be ridden.

[Eric]

A big thing to take into consideration- it's been a very dry year out there, which means we're probably going to have lots of loose playa. It could be a bad year for any bikes, but those skinny little tires would be a nightmare when they hit a dune.

The mini-farthing might work, but make sure you get used to riding it at home before taking it out there.

[Elliot]

[Nipple]

With a pennyfarthing you're almost to a unicycle, freesponge!

There's a bunch of us that meet out there. Totally enough time to learn!

(My Uni for the Playa has a 4" wide wheel, and can be ridden on a PSI as low as 5 lbs! It's like it was made for the playa!)

[trilobyte]

I think Worksman also makes a Penny Farthing, but the same caveats mentioned above would apply.