I had a little accident on Friday afternoon. I accidentally took the train down to Southend, where I accidentally met up with Wowbagger and Nutty. Then we accidentally rode out to the workshop of a certain Joff Summerfield where I accidentally had a go of several of his penny farthings, as did they.
Then I kind of,
accidentally ordered one of his latest MkV ones. I'll be accidentally picking it up in late March or early April.
Joff is the most splendid of chaps and indulged all of us whilst we handbagged up and down his local road on a variety of his most beautiful creations. I even got to ride his round-the-world penny!
The MkV is, without a doubt, the best penny on the market if you actually want to
ride one. It's incredibly light, but strong enough to withstand the sort of punishment that a world tour would inflict. It's beautiful, yet purposeful and incorporates the sort of modern technology that you wouldn't get on an original bike. It comes with a 1 1/8" Aheadset, for goodness sake - how much more steampunk do you want?
Joff makes everthing himself apart from the saddle, pedals, rims and cranks. He makes the frames, forks, handlebars and even cuts his own spokes and makes the hubs himself. His work is just beautiful and you know that because he's put in so many miles, he knows what's what.
I don't want a penny to hang on the wall of the
SEEKRIT BUNKER and look at, I want one to ride. I want to take it touring, so I want proper brakes and pannier mounts, just like he used. I want something durable and I want something that I won't cry about if I come a-cropper and bend it.
Interestingly, Joff rarely rides a safety bike these days and reckons that when he does, the cars come so close it scares him. He rides in towns and in the countryside and says that a penny is perfectly safe if you're a good enough rider. Who knows, I may try an audax on it eventually. There is, of course, the Dun Run...
Here's some photos of our trip to Joff's workshop.
