AN ENGINEER from Thornbury who led a remarkable life has died following a 12-year battle with prostate cancer.

Chris Bell, who was 65, was an innovative engineer whose most notable invention was the EGGring, a chainring for bicycles that was oval shaped to give the rider a steadier flow.

A circular design was fitted to the bikes used by Chris Boardman when he won individual pursuit gold at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

Chris’ inventions were also used to modify bikes to help cyclists with injuries or disabilities.

Born in 1950, Chris lived most of his life in Thornbury and was head boy at Thornbury grammar school.

After graduating from Bangor University, he participated in the International Voluntary Service (IVC) which took him to Lesotho where he taught science at Butha Buthe High School and also met his wife, Diane.

Chris often cycled across the Severn Bridge to south Wales where he would spend days at a time youth hostelling.

It was an area he loved and moved to later in life.

He was a man of immense moral character and his prostate cancer diagnosis in 2004 inspired him to ride more than 24,000km across Europe to raise money for charity.

His adventures were largely undertaken solo and he managed to raise more than £27,000 cycling across countries including Iceland, Bulgaria and Russia and taking on mammoth rides from Helsinki to Calais, Wales to Gibraltar and Wales to Turkey.

Chris’s sister, Jenny Elmes, said: “Chris did eventually have a peaceful end, although he didn’t give in willingly. Mum described him from birth as strong willed, and one of the last sentences Chris said to us on his Carmarthen hospital bed was ‘I made it deliberately different.’”

Chris is survived by his wife Diane and daughter Sandra.