Abstract :
The first vehicle to be called a bicycle, the ´high wheeler´ is a distinctly Victorian innovation that was seen on the highways of Britain, Europe and the United States from the midto the late-19th Century. Although several designers and manufacturers were involved in the evolution of the ´ordinary´ bicycle (a term that distinguished it from the later chain-driven cycles), it was James Starley of Coventry, who was to be ultimately associated with the penny farthing.