Trackstands on highwheelers?



C

[email protected]

Guest
An email just asked me in passing whether trackstands were common or
even possible (short of circus acrobats) on penny-farthings.

Can anyone help me conceal my appalling ignorance?

Cheers,

Carl Fogel
 
In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] wrote:

> An email just asked me in passing whether trackstands were common or
> even possible (short of circus acrobats) on penny-farthings.
>
> Can anyone help me conceal my appalling ignorance?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Carl Fogel

As Chalo could point out, they're almost certainly easier than on a
safety bicycle, but more consequential.

For polar-moment-of-inertia reasons, tall-bikes (which, geometrically,
owe much to ordinaries) are surprisingly easy to ride at low speeds.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email protected] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos
 
[email protected] wrote:
> An email just asked me in passing whether trackstands were common or
> even possible (short of circus acrobats) on penny-farthings.
>
> Can anyone help me conceal my appalling ignorance?

I haven't done it but there's no reason one could not. They are 'fixed'
after all. (My own sole Ordinary ride was short and terrifying)

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971
 
On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:31:01 -0600, [email protected] wrote:

>An email just asked me in passing whether trackstands were common or
>even possible (short of circus acrobats) on penny-farthings.
>
>Can anyone help me conceal my appalling ignorance?
>
>Cheers,
>
>Carl Fogel

I found a picture of someone on a highwheeler doing a no-hands
trackstand.

The caption reads, "Someday, I hope to do no handed track stands on
that like you," but the picture shows that it's possible and makes me
lean toward Ryan and Andrew, who expect that trackstands should be
easy or at least possible on highwheelers.

Third photo down here:

http://bikeblog.blogspot.com/2007/02/monster-track-weekwhew.html

Link to photo:

http://bp0.blogger.com/_IRHUdYQjWL8...AKc/bs-cAfr38lo/s320/394815144_d7e06d983a.jpg

Cheers,

Carl Fogel
 
On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 23:46:42 -0600, [email protected] wrote:

>On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:31:01 -0600, [email protected] wrote:
>
>>An email just asked me in passing whether trackstands were common or
>>even possible (short of circus acrobats) on penny-farthings.
>>
>>Can anyone help me conceal my appalling ignorance?
>>
>>Cheers,
>>
>>Carl Fogel
>
>I found a picture of someone on a highwheeler doing a no-hands
>trackstand.
>
>The caption reads, "Someday, I hope to do no handed track stands on
>that like you," but the picture shows that it's possible and makes me
>lean toward Ryan and Andrew, who expect that trackstands should be
>easy or at least possible on highwheelers.
>
>Third photo down here:
>
>http://bikeblog.blogspot.com/2007/02/monster-track-weekwhew.html
>
>Link to photo:
>
>http://bp0.blogger.com/_IRHUdYQjWL8...AKc/bs-cAfr38lo/s320/394815144_d7e06d983a.jpg
>
>Cheers,
>
>Carl Fogel

I'd expect it to be relatively simple - sorta like standing on stilts but with
less lateral stability.

Ron
 
Carl Fogel wrote:
>
> >An email just asked me in passing whether trackstands were common or
> >even possible (short of circus acrobats) on penny-farthings.
> >
> >Can anyone help me conceal my appalling ignorance?
>
> I found a picture of someone on a highwheeler doing a no-hands
> trackstand.
>
> Third photo down here:
>
> http://bikeblog.blogspot.com/2007/02/monster-track-weekwhew.html

I can't speculate about doing no-hands trackstands, but if the rider's
hands are on the bars I can make this observation:

Ordinaries have huge wheels, and most of them appear to have no fork
offset whatsoever. So even if their head angle is quite steep, the
amount of trail they exhibit will necessarily be substantial-- on the
order of several inches. As the front wheel is turned to and fro, the
front contact patch will be able to move sideways quite a bit (or more
accurately, rotating the bars will allow the rider to shift himself
from side to side quite as bit by pushing against the front contact
patch).

This effect, in combination with the slow rate at which such a tall
bike can tip over, probably makes for a bike that can be "trackstood"
by folks who might not be able to do so on a diamond-frame fixie.
Just my guess, though. I've not tried it.

Chalo
 
On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:31:01 -0600, [email protected] may have
said:

>An email just asked me in passing whether trackstands were common or
>even possible (short of circus acrobats) on penny-farthings.
>
>Can anyone help me conceal my appalling ignorance?

Given that a pennyfarthing is little more than a unicycle with a
wheelie bar, and that I've seen unicyclists do what amounts to a
trackstand, I see no reason why a sufficiently dedicated rider with
adequate skills should not be able to accomplish the feat.

This is not to say that *I* would try it. You won't get me on another
of those deathtraps. Once was *quite* sufficient, thankyou.

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.
 
"Werehatrack" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:31:01 -0600, [email protected] may have
> said:
>
>>An email just asked me in passing whether trackstands were common or
>>even possible (short of circus acrobats) on penny-farthings.
>>
>>Can anyone help me conceal my appalling ignorance?
>
> Given that a pennyfarthing is little more than a unicycle with a
> wheelie bar, and that I've seen unicyclists do what amounts to a
> trackstand, I see no reason why a sufficiently dedicated rider with
> adequate skills should not be able to accomplish the feat.

I ride a unicycle and I can do a trackstand on my road bike.
The uni has to be moving, sort of rocking back and forth. I do this by
putting pressure on the pedals in the horizontal position with both feet,
and keeping balance by leaning every so slightly in either direction.

The road bike I can come to a complete track stand stop, hardly no
movement at all. I've never tried a penny farthing, but would love to
someday.
-tom
 
On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 16:36:57 -0600, Werehatrack
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 01:37:17 -0600, [email protected] may have
>said:
>
>>On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:31:01 -0600, [email protected] wrote:
>>
>>>An email just asked me in passing whether trackstands were common or
>>>even possible (short of circus acrobats) on penny-farthings.
>>>
>>>Can anyone help me conceal my appalling ignorance?
>>>
>>>Cheers,
>>>
>>>Carl Fogel
>>
>>I'm pretty sure that he's an acrobat, but the picture is still worth a
>>look . . .
>>
>>http://www.thewheelmen.org/sections/photographs/highwheel/regviews/highwheel5v.jpg
>
>For some time now, the data transfer link between my newsreader and my
>browser has been, for lack of a more exact and descriptive term,
>broken. So it should not have come as a surprise that when I
>thoughtlessly clicked on your link (instead of copying it into the
>browser's address bar), what I got was this:
>
>http://www.thewheelmen.org/sections/photographs/highwheel/regviews/highwheel5v.jp
>
>To which my reaction was "Acrobat? I could have done *that*."

Dear Werehatrack,

Yes, that's a nice illustration for the file-not-found message at the
highwheeler site.

And you're right--just about anyone who rode highwheelers in those
days could do the header crash and usually did on rough roads.

These days, most highwheelers are ridden briefly for novelty on smooth
pavement, so there are few headers to talk about.

I'm browsing "Outing" magazine online from 1883 to 1903 and find that
most bicycling articles include crashes as a matter of routine, even
after the switch to what they call the dwarf safety bicycles.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel
 
On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 01:37:17 -0600, [email protected] may have
said:

>On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:31:01 -0600, [email protected] wrote:
>
>>An email just asked me in passing whether trackstands were common or
>>even possible (short of circus acrobats) on penny-farthings.
>>
>>Can anyone help me conceal my appalling ignorance?
>>
>>Cheers,
>>
>>Carl Fogel
>
>I'm pretty sure that he's an acrobat, but the picture is still worth a
>look . . .
>
>http://www.thewheelmen.org/sections/photographs/highwheel/regviews/highwheel5v.jpg

For some time now, the data transfer link between my newsreader and my
browser has been, for lack of a more exact and descriptive term,
broken. So it should not have come as a surprise that when I
thoughtlessly clicked on your link (instead of copying it into the
browser's address bar), what I got was this:

http://www.thewheelmen.org/sections/photographs/highwheel/regviews/highwheel5v.jp

To which my reaction was "Acrobat? I could have done *that*."



--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.
 
On 2007-04-29, Werehatrack <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 01:37:17 -0600, [email protected] may have
> said:

>>http://www.thewheelmen.org/sections/photographs/highwheel/regviews/highwheel5v.jpg
>
> For some time now, the data transfer link between my newsreader and my
> browser has been, for lack of a more exact and descriptive term,
> broken. So it should not have come as a surprise that when I
> thoughtlessly clicked on your link (instead of copying it into the
> browser's address bar), what I got was this:
>
> http://www.thewheelmen.org/sections/photographs/highwheel/regviews/highwheel5v.jp

Lots of newsreaders have trouble with URLs longer than 72-80 characters.
Sometimes enclosing the URL in angle brackets helps, but the most common
cases have trouble even with that. Outlook (and perhaps Outlook Express
as well) tends to insert line breaks in long URLs whether they are
enclosed in angle brackets or not, in both mail and news messages. Then
there are those of us knuckle draggers who still have an 80 column
terminal emulator sitting between our browser and our newsreader.

I've learned the hard way, mainly through clients complaining that the
link I just sent them doesn't work, to include tinyurl versions of any
link longer than about 72 characters.
 
In article <[email protected]>,
Werehatrack <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 01:37:17 -0600, [email protected] may have
> said:
>
> >On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:31:01 -0600, [email protected] wrote:
> >
> >>An email just asked me in passing whether trackstands were common or
> >>even possible (short of circus acrobats) on penny-farthings.
> >>
> >>Can anyone help me conceal my appalling ignorance?
> >>
> >>Cheers,
> >>
> >>Carl Fogel
> >
> >I'm pretty sure that he's an acrobat, but the picture is still worth a
> >look . . .
> >
> >http://www.thewheelmen.org/sections/photographs/highwheel/regviews/highwheel5v.jpg
>
> For some time now, the data transfer link between my newsreader and my
> browser has been, for lack of a more exact and descriptive term,
> broken. So it should not have come as a surprise that when I
> thoughtlessly clicked on your link (instead of copying it into the
> browser's address bar), what I got was this:
>
> http://www.thewheelmen.org/sections/photographs/highwheel/regviews/highwheel5v.jp
>
> To which my reaction was "Acrobat? I could have done *that*."

Fractured clavicle.

--
Michael Press
 
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