At a recent design exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham, I found myself staring at a Penny Farthing bicycle.

Like many people, my first thought was simple:

“Who thought this was a good idea?”

The rider sits alarmingly high above the ground. Mounting it looks like a gymnastic exercise. Dismounting appears equally challenging. And the enormous front wheel paired with a tiny rear wheel seems to ignore everything we know about balance and usability.

Yet the more I looked at it, the more fascinated I became.

And I had to give it a go at mounting it myself!

Now had the gentleman accompanying the bike not been holding it steady, I would have toppled over like a sack of potatoes – that is not an easy contraption to initially navigate!

So is the Penny Farthing just an example of bad design?

Or, an example of great design constrained by the technology of its time?

The Design Problem

Today, bicycles seem obvious.

Two wheels of equal size. Chain drive. Gears. Low centre of gravity. Comfortable riding position.

But none of those features were available to the engineers’ developing bicycles in the 1870s.

The challenge they faced was simple:

How do you make a human-powered vehicle travel faster?

The pedals were attached directly to the front wheel. Every turn of the pedals produced exactly one revolution of the wheel.

Want more speed?

You need a bigger wheel.

The enormous front wheel wasn’t a styling decision. It was effectively the bicycle’s gearbox.

The larger the wheel, the further the bicycle travelled with every pedal revolution.

The design looks strange today because we’re viewing it through the lens of modern engineering.

At the time, it was a remarkably clever solution!

Why Not Use Two Equal Wheels?

This is where the story becomes even more interesting.

Horse-drawn carts and carriages had existed for centuries. Engineers already understood the benefits of stable wheel arrangements.

The problem wasn’t that Victorian designers didn’t understand balance.

The problem was propulsion.

The rear wheel existed largely to support the frame and rider. Making it larger added weight without increasing performance.

Every aspect of the design reflected the technological limitations of the era.

The Innovation That Changed Everything

Then came the breakthrough.

The chain drive.

Once power could be transferred from the pedals to a rear wheel through a chain, the entire architecture of the bicycle changed overnight.

Suddenly:

• Riders could sit lower.
• Wheels could be smaller.
• Gear ratios became possible.
• Mounting and dismounting became easier.
• Safety improved dramatically.

The result was the “Safety Bicycle”, a design so effective that its basic layout remains unchanged more than 140 years later.

The Lesson for Modern Innovators

What fascinates me about the Penny Farthing is not the bicycle itself.

It’s what it teaches us about innovation.

Products are rarely designed around the ideal solution.

They are designed around the best solution available at that moment in time.

Every generation works within the constraints of its technology, materials, manufacturing methods and knowledge.

When a breakthrough occurs, what once looked sensible can suddenly appear ridiculous.

The Penny Farthing reminds us that innovation is often less about inventing something entirely new and more about removing a constraint that previously seemed impossible to overcome.

Perhaps that raises an interesting question for today’s designers and engineers.

Which of our current products will future generations look at and wonder:

“What on earth were they thinking?”

And, just like the Penny Farthing, will the answer be that we were simply doing the best we could with the tools available at the time?

What Limitation Are You Currently Designing Around?

At ITERATE, we help businesses and entrepreneurs identify opportunities, challenge assumptions, and develop products that are ready for tomorrow’s market, not yesterday’s constraints.

Book a Product Strategy Call to discuss your innovation journey:
https://iterate-uk.com/product-strategy-call/