The orinary, high wheel or penny-farthing was the first true bicycle with which actual speed and distance could be achieved in a practical manner. Larger and larger wheels, up to 1.5m (60") in diameter, were built to enable higher speeds. The classically oversized penny-farthing wheel refers to the British penny and farthing coins of the time; the former being much larger than the latter so that the side view of the bicycle resembled two such coins placed next to one another.