Coventry: Where the modern bicycle was born

Available for over a year

The British inventor John Kemp Starley designed the first successful 'safety' bicycle in 1885. It has all the basic features of standard modern bicycles. Many manufacturers had attempted to create a Safety bicycle – safe in comparison to riding a high-wheeler, Penny Farthing. Starley’s first design for a Safety was introduced in 1884, while his company – Starley and Sutton Co. of Meteor Works, Coventry – was still making tricycles. BBC CWR's Richard Williams takes a look back at how the modern bicycle became what it is today.