Penny-farthing the trend was short-lived, the penny-farthing became a symbol of the late Victorian era. Its popularity also coincided with the birth of cycling as a sport. Eugène Meyer of Paris, France is now regarded as the father of the high bicycle by the International Cycling History Conference in place of James Starley. Meyer patented a wire-spoke tension wheel with individually adjustable spokes in 1869. They were called "spider" wheels in Britain when introduced there. Meyer produced a classic high bicycle design during the 1880s. James Starley in Coventry added the tangent spokes and the mounting step to his famous bicycle
Marc Eugene Meyer Marc Eugene Meyer Marc Eugene Meyer (1842–1925) was an American businessman who served as president of Lazard Frères in the United States. Meyer was born to a Jewish family, the son of Sephora Loeb Meyer, in Strasbourg, France. His father, Isaac was a rabbi and was a member of Strasbourg's civilian government; his grandfather Jacob, also a rabbi, was appointed by Napoleon I to the Congress of Jewish Notables to help delineate the legal status of French Jews. His brother-in-law, Zadoc Kahn, was the Grand Rabbi of France. After his father's death in 1859, 17-year-old Meyer left Strasbourg and emigrated