It's not every day you see a motorcycle cobbled together from old tractor parts – especially one that looks like this! Called Penny Farming, the bike features a huge front tire, and a steering wheel instead of handlebars.
This build is the brainchild of charming New Zealander Kenny Paton from Paton Machines, who in order to make this motorcycle-tractor, used whatever he could find in his own barn, from varied scrap metallic components to parts from agricultural machines.
The original penny-farthing bicycle had a big wheel up front with a smaller one out at the back, and was also known as a high-wheel cycle. It was all the rage in the 1870s. Think of the Penny Farming as a beefed up, motorized version of the same thing – with a slight additional penalty for falling over. Take a look:
Powering this monster is an 80-hp motor situated at the back. Paton mentions that the engine is around 60 years old but manages to generate just enough power for the build.
Per Paton’s estimates, this ludicrous invention could reach around 3,600 max-rpm with a top speed of 15 mph (24 km/h) – rather quick for something that is essentially a piece of metal on a couple of wheels of extremely varied size.
“I came up with this stupid idea and started building this monster of a machine two years ago," says Paton. "Penny Farming is a lightweight proof of concept to see if it would work. I’m now reinforcing and rebuilding parts to get it ready for a test drive. Today I’m working on reinforcing the transmission and testing the engine.”
The most striking feature of the bike is certainly the massive tractor tire at the front, mounted to a custom hub that Paton put together using leftover scrap steel and oil drums. Situated behind it is a much smaller wheel that comes from a space-saver hub with a tractor tire placed on it. This in itself is connected to a big pulley attached to the engine via a belt.
If that top speed somehow proves insufficient, Paton has the option of running the drive through to that giant front wheel, which would change things considerably.
Getting on and off the old penny-farthing bicycles was always a bit of a challenge – effectively, riders had to get the things moving for a bit of momentum, then climb aboard via some steps at the back, and then be ready to step back off the bike as they came to a stop.
Pushing something as big as Paton's bike probably isn't an option, and there's no way to get a foot down when you stop, so instead he's attached a set of retractable stabilizer wheels that fold down either side of the rear tire in response to a large, noisy lever movement. Check it out:
That'll be fine and dandy on level ground, but if the road slants even slightly to the left or right, which roads often do, those stabilizer wheels will come down and forcibly tilt the bike away from vertical, which promises to be an invigorating feeling on a seat so high up!
And then there's steering... Where a handlebar would normally be, Paton has used a large steering wheel that turns the front wheel using cables and pulleys. It’s safe to estimate this won't be the most responsive steering the world has ever seen, which should make for a highly entertaining ride given that balance will be so critical. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the throttle is through a stick placed behind the steering wheel.
The bike's chassis is built of scrap steel, and to perfectly round out the agricultural design, a ride-on lawnmower grille is mounted up front, while an old tractor seat is added at the back of the bike.
“What happens when it falls over? I’m yet to find that out,” chuckles Paton. “Hopefully, pick it up and keep going.” Even though it looks like it ate half a tractor for breakfast, Paton says the motorcycle is surprisingly lightweight, though official numbers aren’t available as of now.
As bizarre as it looks, Penny Farming actually runs, as you can clearly see in the video at the top of this article. Paton recently added a pedal clutch and a rear brake as well, to minimize the force on the front wheel.
Paton has been working on this custom build for about two years now and plans to test it in the real world in the near future. We're very much looking forward to watching this nutty contraption getting its first run. Any volunteers for a test rider?
Source: Paton Machines