Singer Challenger High-Wheel Bicycle, Coventry Machinists' Company, Coventry, England, 1878

Object/Artifact

Portsmouth Historical Society

Name/Title

Singer Challenger High-Wheel Bicycle, Coventry Machinists' Company, Coventry, England, 1878

Entry/Object ID

698

Description

Large bicycle, or "penny farthing." The bicycle has one large front wheel and one smaller wheel, with a peg above the latter to help mount the bike. There are no breaks.

Acquisition

Accession

698

Source or Donor

Hazlett, Charles

Acquisition Method

Gift

Made/Created

Date made

1878

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Of the front wheel only

Height

46 in

Material

steel, rubber, Leather, Wood

Provenance

Notes

According to tradition, this bicycle with its 46-inch-high large wheel was the first bicycle ridden in Portsmouth. Its original owner and eventual donor, Charles Hazlett, was a prominent member of the New Hampshire Wheelmen, a group of aficionados who enjoyed this new mode of transportation in the 1870s.