ROVER   - From the Bike to the Car                

 

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The History of the Company - 1877 to 1975
The Rover Company is, arguably, the most successful international business to ever arise from Birmingham's industrial streets. Its superb quality and rich history has added a unique factor to the transport industry.

The company was first developed by two business partners - John Kemp Starley and William Sutton, who started on the lower floors on one of the industrial buildings at West Orchard in Coventry making, strangely, cheaply manufactured tricycles. They traded under the name "Starley & Sutton" and made up the group of buildings known as "The Meteor Works". Their company (as most Victorian industries did) started as a very small business, employing only a minute number of local Coventry workers.

The primary design of the cycles that "Starley & Sutton" built were relatively bare and simple, but were soon to be greatly improved. We must not forget that Starley's father, James, was christened "the Father of the Cycling Industry" by many local customers and workers. This helped John Kemp Starley to greatly improve his selling figures and quality of cycle. His inventive genius and inticate design capabilities meant that the "Starley & Son" tricycle was refined and was first released in 1884 for personal transportation.

In 1885, John Starley soon realised that if the company was to profress, they should change their line of work. He discovered that the pennyfarthing cycle and the tricycle had a poor future and a cycle with two, balanced  wheels and sloped fork design was the way forward. And he could not have been more correct. "Starley & Son" soon made another cycling innovation with the "Rover Safety Bicycle". Nearly all modern day bicycles have taken their shape from the safety cycle - with its chain-drive, its identically sized wheels with the rider in-between them and its pedals positioned perfectly for the cyclist. Its forks and steering coumn were sloped slightly to enable an easier grip and reach of the handlebars, making the Rover Safety Cycle the most accessible for of personal transportation.

 

The Rover Safety Cycle, 1885

At this point, "Starley & Sutton" had become so well-known for their "Rover" range of products that they decided to change their name to "Rover Cycle Company Ltd." This was a very clever marketing move and their "rear-drive bicycle" was the first of its kind to become popular.

In 1888, the partnership between John Starley and William Sutton was broken, after many disputes and disagreements. It finally ended when Sutton disagreed with the Safety Cycle's design and said it was inadequate.

After the partnership had dissolved, Starley began to trade under the name "J.K. Starley & Co." for the following 8 years, before he sold the company in 1896 for £150,000, at the height of the bicycle boom.

This was the start of a new era for the Rover company. Starley was succeeded by a man named Harry Smyth, who immediately instigated plans to make a new range of motorcycles after Starley's sudden death in 1901.

Thus, in 1902, the first model of Rover motorcycle, the "Imperial Rover", was built. It was a perfect example of Rover's superb design abilities and the great things that were to come. Rover went on to build such bikes as:

 

 

Some of these were motorcycles were absolutely fundamental in the modern development of racing bikes and motorcycles for private transport - something which was soon to become a very prominent industry within Birmingham. In the meantime, Smyth decided to change Rover's line of manufacture for the third time to concentrate on the concept of the motor car. In 1923, enthusiasts were devastated when they suddenly discovered that Rover motorcycles were no longer in production. 

One might well question why the company diverted from such a popular and successful line of business. It was, of course, due to Rover's forementioned development of their motor car designs. The first Rover car, designed by Edmund Lewis in 1904, was an 8 h.p. lightweight vehicle, perfect for satisfying the needs of the British population, who were very keen to find alternative methods of transport. Their first model was so popular that Smyth deduced that Rover should divert to building cars only.