John Kemp Starley

The Rover safety bicycle. James Starley's nephew, working in Coventry, launched the Rover in 1885: two wheels of similar size, a chain driving the rear wheel, and the rider seated safely between them instead of perched over a giant front wheel. Others had tried chain drives, but the Rover's layout was so right that the diamond-framed bicycle has barely changed since. His company later built cars under the same name.