Talk:John Kemp Starley

Rover Defiance Controversy
I have reinstated the statement about Defiance and included an explanation of the link to Starley. His was considered the first chain driven bicycle, but is likely to have been predated by another in Wales. This controversy needs to be included here as it is relevant. Canol (talk) 21:51, 3 January 2015 (UTC)


 * No, Starley is not considered to be the creater of the first chain driven bicycle, and any suggestion of that has been removed from this article. Instead, Starley is widely credited with creating the Rover, which was the first commercially successful of the many safety bicycles. The inserted sentence about the Defiance is a complete non sequitur. The articles in which the Defiance might have a place include safety bicycle and history of the bicycle. However, even there, the lack of mentions in either Bicycle Design or  Bicycle: the History, is problematic. -AndrewDressel (talk) 02:53, 4 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Also, the claim that the 1885 Defiance was the second chain drive bicycle in the world is problematic by itself. Earlier examples include the 1869 Meyer-Guilmet, the 1879 Lawson, the 1884 McCammon, the 1884 Humber, and the 1884 Starley Rover. -AndrewDressel (talk) 03:17, 4 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Thank you Andrew Dressel, I was only trying to establish the truth in this article as it appeared that the Rover Cycle was being acknowledged as the first. Clearly, from your links above, it was not the first neither was the Defiance bike second. Thank you also for acknowledging the Defiance Cycle Company stub article as I do feel this company had a significant part to play in cycling development and history. I neither have the inclination or the time to delve into all the local newspaper archives of the time, but, with their South African connections, I'm sure there is a lot more to unearth. Canol (talk) 16:11, 4 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Thank you for bringing this early example to light. I look forward to whatever else you can find when you get the time, and if you get the chance to see one in a museum, a photograph would be especially helpful. -AndrewDressel (talk) 16:34, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

That is no excuse for having no link to "safety bicycle". Also, if there is a controversy over who invented it then we should include both sides. How about this: We can find all sorts of sources which tell the invention story this way.
 * Widely credited with inventing the modern bicycle as we know it now, with two wheels of equal size, and a crank driving a rear wheel by a chain ...

If there are claims to the contrary, we can include them, too. Okay? --Uncle Ed (talk) 21:30, 28 April 2024 (UTC)

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Citizenship
Why does the infobox describe his citizenship as being "United States"? The ONDB suggests he was born in Essex and died in Coventry 194.196.162.186 (talk) 16:04, 15 September 2022 (UTC)