Ariel high-wheeler
The high-wheeler with the large front wheel and tensioned wire spokes.
James Starley and William Hillman in Coventry designed the Ariel, a light bicycle of steel tube with wire wheels. The larger the front wheel, the further you travelled with each turn of the pedals, and front wheels grew to more than one and a half metres.
The high-wheeler was fast but dangerous, and falls forward over the handlebars were common. It was a bicycle for young men and was replaced in the 1890s by the safety bicycle with equal wheels.
Materials: Steel tube, wire spokes, solid rubber tyres
Manufacture: Made by Haynes & Jefferis in Coventry from 1870.
The large front wheel with the pedals on the hub.
The small rear wheel and the curved backbone.
The wire spokes, which are tensioned rather than rigid – the same principle as in today’s wheels.