A tribute has been left at the grave of JK Starley as cyclists across the world remembered the Coventry inventor on his birthday.Flowers and a card were placed in London Road cemetery where Starley lies beside his wife, Abigail, and cyclists worldwide paid tribute to the inventor online.
The Bicycle Association of Great Britain left the note, reading: “Thanks for introducing the world to the Rover Safety bicycle. Love. Cyclists everywhere.”
Phillip Darnton, executive director of the association, said: “His Rover Safety revolutionised not just the bicycle but the world.
“The billions of bicycles made since 1885 can trace their ancestry back to that original ground-breaking machine, tested on the famous flat stretch of London Road on the outskirts of Coventry.”
Born in 1854, John Kemp Starley is widely considered the inventor of the modern bicycle - and also the originator of the brand Rover.
He came to Coventry, aged 18, to work with his uncle, James Starley, who invented the differential gear, earning him the title “father of the bicycle industry”.
A memorial to James Starley, erected in 1884, still stands in Warwick Row, Greyfriars Green.
After years of working with his uncle and following in his footsteps, JK Starley made history in 1885 when he produced the Rover Safety Bicycle, a rear-wheel-drive, chain-driven bicycle with two similar-sized wheels.
It was more stable than previous designs and is credited with being the first modern bicycle, exported across the world.
Online tributes on the anniversary of Starley’s birthday, last Friday, came from cyclists around the globe, including the League of American Bicyclists, Bicycling Australia and MPs on the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group.
Kevin Mayne, development director of the European Cyclists’ Federation and former director of cycling charity CTC, said: “It is entirely appropriate that 2012 is the year we revisit Starley’s legacy because this is the year that the United Nations installed a Kenyan slum dweller’s bicycle in the lobby of the United Nations building as a symbol of sustainable development.
“In the developing world Starley’s simple design is a symbol of life, hope and economic potential, just as it has always been.
“We should never forget that.”
Starley’s creation led to a cycling boom in the 1890s and became the archetype for almost all of today’s bicycles.
Starley died in 1901, at 46, and soon after the Rover company began building motorcycles and cars.