A pioneering bicycle that established the blueprint for all modern bicycles has received an Engineering Heritage Award from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
The Rover Safety Bicycle — designed in Coventry and now housed in the Coventry Transport Museum — will stand alongside previous award winners like the E-Type Jaguar, Tower Bridge and Concorde 101 as an example of “exceptional British engineering”.
The award, which recognises how the Rover Safety Bicycle revolutionised society’s approach to cycling and continues to be the basic pattern used in today’s bicycles, will be presented by John Wood, who is chairman of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Heritage Committee.
It will be received by Gary Hall, chief executive of Culture Coventry.
Mr Wood said: “It’s no exaggeration to say that all modern bicycles — from the ones we ride to work to those used by our Olympic athletes — owe their design to the Rover Safety Bicycle.
“It was an enormous development, giving people of all backgrounds the chance to own a bike and enjoy independent transport for the first time. It was a hugely important moment in the history of UK engineering.”