Just getting on is something of a workout. You have to push the bike while running behind, place one leg on a peg at the rear, hoist your body onto the saddle and get pedalling before all momentum is lost and the whole thing comes crashing to the ground.

"If the back wheel comes off the ground you've had it. You're on the deck and you can get hurt," he says.

But he's mastered the art of staying upright and manages a tip of his hat as he flies past.

Mr Axon and his wife Toni were among hundreds who gathered for the annual national penny farthing championships at Evandale in Tasmania.

About 50 riders converged for the penny farthing race. Some took it more seriously than others and donned the lycra.

Others, like David and Toni, took a trip through history and dressed up in period costumes. For their efforts, they picked up a prize for 'best dressed' and were interviewed for an upcoming episode of ABC TV program Collectors.

Mr Axon, whose first love is model aircraft, first came across a penny farthing at a museum in Wangaratta about eight years ago. The curator said he could take it for a ride in the car park and Mr Axon said he was sold on it. He "nearly fell over" when he heard the price, but he bought it as an investment and it's now worth between $8000 and $10,000.

The bike, unlike many others, is an original and he thinks it was built in the 1880s. "Because of the big wheel, once you get going they move a long way with one rotation of the pedals and they get a bit of speed up," he says of the bike's design, which takes its name from its resemblance to a penny and a farthing coin placed side-by-side.

Mr Axon also has a replica of a three-wheeled bike known as a Coventry Lever and another three-wheeler they call tuppence ha'penny because of the two large wheels and single smaller wheel.

David and Toni are on ABC1's Collectors at 6.30pm on April 18.