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60 mph Penny Farthing Bycycle (BFC)......
- Thread starter Rusty McNickel
- Start date
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49autocycledeluxe
Riding a '38 Autocycle Deluxe
60 mph would be near impossible on one of those bikes. you could not get your body in an aerodynamic position, plus all those long spokes would cause drag.
the fastest descenters do 60 -65 MPH in the Tour De France on bikes built to go fast.
the fastest descenters do 60 -65 MPH in the Tour De France on bikes built to go fast.
colonelpowers
Finally riding a big boys bike
I have a friend who was taking part in a ride back in the 70s and coming down a long grade his foot slipped off the pedal and the bike ran away with him. He said that he is fortunate to have survived and was passing cars coming off the mountain. One of the motorists later said that he was probably running 60-70 mph. He somehow stayed on the bike and was fine but I think that I would have had a heart attack before I made it to the bottom.
mike cates
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
One little known fact is that Kurt Kerlick of San Diego coasted down a long freeway down grade traveling near the shoulder lane line on Interstate Freeway 8 (east of San Diego) near the town of Alpine, CA in the mid 1970's and his speed was matching cars traveling the then posted 65MPH speed limit.
First he trued the two wheels as best he could.
Then he had painstakingly balanced the front wheel that took him days of spinning and re checking the wheel (with pedals and crank arms attached) with the bicycle mounted upside down with the wheels staying mounted in front and rear forks.
He used soldering wire wrapped around each spoke nipple in the amounts needed to statically balance the wheel. He had no means of dynamically balancing the wheel so he pressed onward until the wheel met his satisfaction for balance. He also balanced the small rear wheel to eliminate and wobble in it as well.
The bike he used was a reproduction RBR (Rideable Bicycle Replicas) BONESHAKER 70's model that was then made by Mel Barron (Greg's dad).
He coasted at this speed with his feet off the pedals (freewheeling) with his legs bent rearward towards the mounting step area to clear the pedals and front wheel.
The bicycle amazingly never did any kind of speed wobble so his solder wire balancing method had worked.
He was lucky the CHP (California Highway Patrol) never got wind of his speed attempt.
He achieved his goal and was never wanting any acclaim about it.
I have not seen Kurt since then but hats off to you Kurt wherever you are!
Mike Cates,, CA.
First he trued the two wheels as best he could.
Then he had painstakingly balanced the front wheel that took him days of spinning and re checking the wheel (with pedals and crank arms attached) with the bicycle mounted upside down with the wheels staying mounted in front and rear forks.
He used soldering wire wrapped around each spoke nipple in the amounts needed to statically balance the wheel. He had no means of dynamically balancing the wheel so he pressed onward until the wheel met his satisfaction for balance. He also balanced the small rear wheel to eliminate and wobble in it as well.
The bike he used was a reproduction RBR (Rideable Bicycle Replicas) BONESHAKER 70's model that was then made by Mel Barron (Greg's dad).
He coasted at this speed with his feet off the pedals (freewheeling) with his legs bent rearward towards the mounting step area to clear the pedals and front wheel.
The bicycle amazingly never did any kind of speed wobble so his solder wire balancing method had worked.
He was lucky the CHP (California Highway Patrol) never got wind of his speed attempt.
He achieved his goal and was never wanting any acclaim about it.
I have not seen Kurt since then but hats off to you Kurt wherever you are!
Mike Cates,, CA.
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Fritz Katzenjammer
Wore out three sets of tires already!
So please correct me if I’m wrong. I’m retired and nobody has asked me to do math in a while…
Assuming from the picture that the wheel is about 48” tall, the circumference would be about 150.796”.
At 60 mph you are covering one mile per minute. There’s 63360 inches in a mile so that would mean you would be pulling a cadence of 420.17 rpm to maintain that speed with that wheel. ( 63360 / 150.796 )
I regularly cruise at about 70 rpm so I guess I’m not hitting 60 on that thing.
Maybe downhill…
Well… off a cliff really.
Assuming from the picture that the wheel is about 48” tall, the circumference would be about 150.796”.
At 60 mph you are covering one mile per minute. There’s 63360 inches in a mile so that would mean you would be pulling a cadence of 420.17 rpm to maintain that speed with that wheel. ( 63360 / 150.796 )
I regularly cruise at about 70 rpm so I guess I’m not hitting 60 on that thing.
Maybe downhill…
Well… off a cliff really.
mike cates
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
When I visited New Zealand a few years ago I found a bike shop that had an original front wheel in near pristine condition. It was over 6 feet tall and the largest I have ever seen. It had the original wired on solid rubber tiring and a hard to read makers logo on the inside curve of the solid rim. It was radial (straight) spoked and had the flats at each end of the front hub axle where cranks with cotter pins would attach OR it used segmented arms were attached (referring to the footage HEATWAVE posted).
Could it have been the same wheel in the footage? Wonder what country the footage was from? Hmmmmmm.....
If the wheel I saw were directly pedaled by crank arms, this would have taken an amazingly long legged/tall person that if the NBA were around at the time he would have been signed immediately.
Mike Cates, CA.
Could it have been the same wheel in the footage? Wonder what country the footage was from? Hmmmmmm.....
If the wheel I saw were directly pedaled by crank arms, this would have taken an amazingly long legged/tall person that if the NBA were around at the time he would have been signed immediately.
Mike Cates, CA.
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CURTIS L LINDGREN
I live for the CABE
You'd think they would have better quality seats on those machines. Ouch ! I'd be running away from those. Thank you 
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