Farewell, Ellis-Briggs

[acorn_user]

[Ooof, this was an old article and I missed that they have re-opened. Enjoy the pretty bike pictures!]

I just read that Ellis-Briggs went into liquidation. They were a frame builder in Yorkshire (along with guys like Pennine, Woodrup and Bob Jackson). Sorry to see them go.

https://www.ellisbriggscycles.co.uk/bespoke-bikes/

[fiamme red]

Where did you hear that? This is from a March 5 post on their FB page:

When we launched our Randonneur model nearly 20 years ago, we had no idea how popular steel framed classic bikes would become again. The Randonneur Special takes the stand Randonneur a step further, allows for wider tyres and fits powerful centre-pull brakes on dedicated mounts. Which means you can build a lightweight bike which can still carry some luggage, without being touring bike heavy.

https://www.ellisbriggscycles.co.uk/product/randonneur-special/I just did a Google search and came up with this recent article: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/dec/17/raleigh-classic-cycle-repair-deposit-lost.

[djm]

Britain's oldest custom-built frame builder has entered liquidation (https://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/4689/britains-oldest-custom-built-frame-builder-has-entered-liquidation)

[Velocipede]

Looks like they haven't updated the website in some time.

[Oxford_Guy]

They've re-opened, it's an old news article

[acorn_user]

Thank you for the correction. I didn't see any news of a re-opening, and I wanted to share the pretty pictures before they disappeared. I thought I had done some due diligence, but I got it wrong. I'll edit the post. Thanks for the corrections!

[Doug Fattic]

I learned to build frames at Ellis Briggs in 1975. There has not been a week since that time that I have not looked back and given thanks that was the place I learned. They did things in a superior way. I wanted to learn the secrets of framebuilding and bring them back to the US and teach them here. This was right after the bike boom when we did not have a culture of custom building here in the States.

The business started in the 1930's by two brothers-in-law, Thomas Briggs and Leonard Ellis. Tom's son Jack started building frames in his teens in 1938. They employed a number of builders through the years. When I got there Andrew was the young journeyman builder Jack had taught about a year before. After Jack passed away in 1999, the business was turned over to his 2 sons. They retired a few years ago and sold the business to Paul Gibson. Because the entire bicycle business has continued to change, Paul downsized the expensive shop where it was located to where rent was more reasonable. Paul had started to learn how to build frames from Andrew but suddenly Andrew died of cancer. I was able to help by having Paul come to the states and take my framebuilding course. I do things similar to how I learned but of course have been able to modify things as framebuilding knowledge has expanded.

Ellis Briggs was a complete bicycle business. It sold Raleigh bicycles, had a pro shop, had 2 bicycle mechanics, had 2 guys respraying frames and of course had a framebuilder. The frame shop added prestige to their business but was not needed for profit. The financial structure of the business allowed them to buy more expensive framebuilding tools and take more time with each custom frame. As the gentleman business owner and builder, Jack had more free time to teach me what to do. I was also especially fortunate that they painted frames there too on the second floor where the frame shop was located. Andrew and I and the painters hung out together during breaks and I could observe all the details of how a good paint job was done.

There is some mystery about who were the smart guys that set up the frame shop in such a clever way in the beginning. I wish I had asked Jack more questions while I was there. Tom the original owner died when his grandsons were fairly young and they don’t know the answers to how everything began.

[acorn_user]

Thanks for sharing the reminiscences :)