Cycling UK Forum

I have an Ellis Briggs frame numbered 4434, and I'd be interested to know it's age. As I understand it, Ellis Briggs simply numbered their frames sequentially without any year identifier. So, does anyone have an E B frame with a well authenticated age, and a number anywhere near mine?
Thanks for any help with this query.
David F

why not give ellis briggs a call?

they are still trading , from new smaller premises, in Shipley West Yorkshire.

Try searching these fora, similar questions have been asked before

Cyril Haearn wrote:Try searching these fora, similar questions have been asked before

you are not wrong....

https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=120170

cheers

Whilst contacting E B might seem to be the most obvious approach, there are two reasons why I haven't done so. First, I did email them several years ago and received an acknowledgement , but no subsequent substantive reply. Second, and perhaps related to the outcome of my earlier enquiry, I'm reluctant to take up E B's time when I only want them to satisfy my idle curiosity without there being anything in it for the business. By contrast, people join this forum on a voluntary basis to share their interest in cycles and cycling which is why I preferred to seek enlightenment here. Whether I find out my bike's age or not isn't critical as my ignorance of it's age won't detract from the enjoyment I get from riding it.
David F

Frame # 4642 is March 1969

http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/bi ... ey-rb.html

A recent post here from somebody with a frame with EB decals who thought it might be a Mercian.

viewtopic.php?p=1206166#p1206166

David F wrote:Whilst contacting E B might seem to be the most obvious approach, there are two reasons why I haven't done so. First, I did email them several years ago and received an acknowledgement , but no subsequent substantive reply. Second, and perhaps related to the outcome of my earlier enquiry, I'm reluctant to take up E B's time when I only want them to satisfy my idle curiosity without there being anything in it for the business. By contrast, people join this forum on a voluntary basis to share their interest in cycles and cycling which is why I preferred to seek enlightenment here. Whether I find out my bike's age or not isn't critical as my ignorance of it's age won't detract from the enjoyment I get from riding it.
David F

+1, you are not desperate to know
I recommend contacting other EB owners

if you aren't bothered about the age of your frame ..why post the question ???

What a bizarre comment from cyclemad! Purely out of interest, I would like to know the age of my E B frame, but it isn't critical. Where's the fault in that? I'm beginning to think it's time I Ieft this forum.
David F

David F wrote:What a blizzare comment from cyclemad! Purely out of interest, I would like to know the age of my E B frame, but it isn't critical. Where's the fault in that? I'm beginning to think it's time I Ieft this forum.
David F

No, please stay!

I feel the same about my Gillott, someone told me it might be older than me
It has lamp brackets on both forks, a dynamo mount and a grease nipple on the BB
Did 250 km round Eryri on it once
Now it is on light duties with a 59" fixed

It would be gr8 if you could post it some pictures

thirdcrank wrote:A recent post here from somebody with a frame with EB decals who thought it might be a Mercian.

viewtopic.php?p=1206166#p1206166

Is that allowed, if true?

Cyril Haearn wrote:

thirdcrank wrote:A recent post here from somebody with a frame with EB decals who thought it might be a Mercian.

viewtopic.php?p=1206166#p1206166

Is that allowed, if true?

Well, and mentioning no names, we used to have a fairly local very well respected (very, very well respected) local bike shop who used to build the occasional frame, but he'd also have frames hand-built by other quality bespoke frame-builders but with his own name decals and no immediately apparent identification marks for the actual builder. He also would refurbish quality frames and apply his own decals and identification to them. This was common and normal, and nothing dodgy about it - I don't think I ever knew a less dodgy cycle businessman but I do know that other bike shops also did the same - perhaps still do.

I don't know any relevant law, but I've always believed that it was "allowed"

My first built-to-order frame, courtesy of Lord Edmund-Davies RIP, was a Bob Jackson Super Tourist. After a while the bottom bracket stripped, IIRC, at a time when the Jackson marque was "between owners." I went to EB and after discovering that the BB shell wasn't cast, as I had assumed, I had some sound advice with different options from them. I plumped for the most expensive - replacement cast BB, cable run rerouted under the seat-stay, and obviously a respray. With a Trigger's Broom arrangement like that, you might have a couple of builders' names on it. There's also been talk over the years that EB and Jackson's did work for each other, and who's to bother? I remember that EB's own transfers were a cheaper option than anybody else's but it's a long time ago, and I can't remember which, if any I went for. Next time round, Jackson's had resurfaced on Stanningley Road and I went there for a simple respray and decided to skip the cost of transfers. It's got one of their sticky labels under the seat cluster but does it matter?

I suppose it would be naughty to represent a bike - or anything else for that matter - as being different from what it was, but a lightweight frame with the "wrong" transfers? It's hard to see that as fraud.

The thread I linked to was about a frame with EB transfers which somebody thought might be a Mercian. Supposing it was, it shows that at some point in the frame's history, somebody thought a Mercian would be just as good or possibly better with EB transfers, or perhaps they were tight like me. Morally if not legally, it seems to me more of a sin that some of the historic names in cycling - Claud Butler being one example among many - are now carried on all manner of frames. EB are still a top quality outfit after all these years and let's hope that continues.

David F wrote:What a bizarre comment from cyclemad! Purely out of interest, I would like to know the age of my E B frame, but it isn't critical. Where's the fault in that? I'm beginning to think it's time I Ieft this forum.
David F

I wouldn't call my response bizarre...I couldn't understand why you placed a post asking for suggestions on how to date an Ellis Briggs frame yet when I responded advising the poster to contact EB in Shipley I was a little taken aback that you stated that you didn't want to bother contacting them because several earlier you had no response to a previous query etc.... As I stated in my original post Ellis Briggs are in new premises with new faces at the helm