1884 KANGAROO Safety Bicycle (Replica)

For price and purchase, please click here…

 

 

1884 KANGAROO Dwarf Safety Bicycle

Replica, using an 1880s penny farthing as its base

William Hillman Patent

LENGTH: 60″

WIDTH: 29″

HEIGHT: 45″

38″ Front wheel

22″ Rear wheel

(Now sold)

 

This is a replica of the famous 1884 Kangaroo Safety Bicycle that uses an 1880s penny farthing with a smaller front wheel as its base. It is rideable, but the extra weight on the front end means it is more liable to throw the rider over the front if it hits a stone or similar obstruction, so I am selling it for display only.

I sold a real one some years ago, and you can see my friend Tam taking that one for a spin it in the video further down the page.

Though William Hillman patented the design, and his company Hillman, Herbert & Cooper built and sold them as ‘The Premier’, they were also built (under license) by other companies. The ‘Kangaroo’ was the first ‘safety’ bicycle (being smaller than a penny farthing). It was superseded two years later by the first successful chain-driven ‘safety’ bicycle with 30 inch wheels …also a Hillman patent built by Hillman, Herbert & Cooper.

 

 

 

 

1884 KANGAROO: A REAL ONE BEING RIDDEN

(NOT THIS ONE)