A management buyout failed and the firm entered into voluntary liquidation in May 2018. It traded for eighty years before it went into its first term of liquidation in 2016. The biggest success was in the 1950s when Ken Russell, riding for Ellis Briggs as an independent rider (semi professional), won the 1952 Tour of Britain despite not having any team support.

Over the years Ellis Briggs sponsored many international riders, such as Bernard Burns, Brian Robinson, Arthur Metcalfe, Ken Russell, Doug Petty, Danny Horton and Dave Rayner. John and Paul took over and have run the business ever since. Their two sons John and Paul, had been working in the shop since the 1960s, Paul as a mechanic and John as Salesman. In 1965 the shop and factory moved from the old premises into a brand new building across the road. After Thomas Briggs died in 1953 his son Jack took over the business with his wife Nora.Īttention turned to the export markets of the US and Canada and during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s hundreds of frames were exported to the other side of the Atlantic. The collection contains correspondence, diplomatic commission, photographs, printed material newsletters and clippings, chronicling Briggs life as a diplomat in the foreign service. It was after the war when Ellis Briggs started building lightweight racing frames, which gained them much notoriety among racing cyclists. Ellis Ormsbee Briggs (1899-1976), career diplomat. The shop survived through the war by selling what ever was available which included children's clothing and enamel paints, as well as the usual cycling lines. That shop was a showroom for Baines, whose factory was based in Idle and were famous for producing the Baines Flying Gate. When the shop opened in 1936 there was already a bicycle shop in Shipley. Thomas Briggs hence the name Ellis-Briggs. Ellis Briggs Cycles was founded in 1936 by Mr. How do you read a Toro serial number It is a 2016 model when it begins with a 2, the second digit indicates the year when it begins with a 3, the second and third digits indicate the year for instance, 24xxxxxx indicates a model from 2004.

Ellis briggs serial numbers