The Rover story begins way back in 1861 when James Starley and his companion Josiah Turner start a small business in Coventry making sewing machines. In 1869 they switch to bicycles. Just like Opel who also started in sewing machines and later on switched to bicycles. Only our two men didn't make the move towards car production. But the next guy did!
John Kemp Starley (1855, Walthampstow, north of London) joins the company of his uncle and learns all the ins and outs of the bicycle trade. But he is ambituous and wants more, so In 1877 he and William Sutton start their own company which is named J.K. Starley & Sutton Co. and they start producing their own bicycles and tricycles with reasonable succes.
The first "Rover" named bicycle was introduced in 1884 and it was a tricycle which had to be propelled by hand and foot! In 1886 John Starley struck gold when he invented the Starley safety bicycle.
His invention revolutionised the bicycle world. The then dominant type of bicycle was the "pennyfarthing" with the pedals connected directly to very large front wheels, not a very stable and comfortable affair. John Starley's bicycle had rear wheel drive with a chain and was much more stable and comfortable.
The days of the "high wheel" were numbered and by the end of the 1890's bicycles built according to Rover's principles were the norm. Up to this day all bicycles are still based on Starley's invention.
The new bicycle was a big succes! In 1908 the bicycles won every race in the Olympic games. There was even a bicycle called "the ladies bike" which incorporated shaft drive. The first attempt in the direction of building a car was in 1888. Starley made an electric car with two big rear wheels and a small one in front. The motor was below the rear axle. However it never went into production.
Business continued to go well, the British empire was at its Zenith and happily ruling the waves, and in 1896 J. K. Starley & Co. went public and renamed to Rover cycle company. In 1901 John Starley died. So the founder of Rover never actually saw a Rover car going into production!
Rover isn't the only car manufacturer who began with producing bicycles. Hillman, Sunbeam, Humber, Singer were also producing bicycles. In Germany Opel produced them and in France Peugeot was well known for its bicycles and motor cycles. BMW??..... never heard of it!
After the death of Starley, Harry Smith became managing director and he introduced the first Rover motorcycle. Rover had been involved in motorcycles by importing Peugeot motorcycles, now it was time to get their share of the market. The first model was a 3-wheeler with a 2,5 hp engine The engine didn't came from Rover itself. It was quite common those days to built a frame. and buy the rest of your components (engine, bodywork, etc) from others, so Rover was no exception.
However the bicycle market didn't respond too well and in 1904 Rover made the jump forward and went into the car business. However bicycle and motorcycle production always played a part until 1924.
This bicycle was made c.1885
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