Big wheels

Coventry, 1885: John Kemp Starley unveils the Rover safety bicycle. With its wheels of equal size, chain drive to the rear, central and upright rider position, diamond frame of tubular construction and swept-back handlebars directly connected to the front forks, the Rover rapidly replaced the dangerous, cumbersome penny-farthing and other contraptions.

As London’s Science Museum puts it, ‘The design of the bicycle has remained much the same as that originated in the 1880s… The Rover may be regarded as the prototype which set the trend for future technical development and commercial production.’

Starley’s design was inspired. It built on work by the most imaginative engineers of the time. Tension-spoke wheels and ball bearings had been in use by 1870 and rear-wheel chain drive went back to at least 1874.

The original Rover also had an advantage over many earlier designs in the hugely efficient roller chain, invented in 1880 by Hans Renold in Manchester and still used today.