Another Ellis Briggs Thread

Hi all. A friend contacted me and has offered an Ellis Briggs bicycle as a gift. I had never heard of the brand before and what is out there is fairly slim. I believe its a 1970's vintage frame which he tells me was resprayed locally at one point. It looks to have Nervex lugs, 531 Reynolds tubing and the wrap around seat stays. I don't believe it was one of the higher end models - he used it for bike touring back in the 80's. Its not in my possession yet, so I can't give you the serial no.

Anyone have any idea what model it may be?

Hi. They built custom fit touring bikes and frame and forks only from their workshop in Shipley in Bradford. The original owner was a miserable old boy but knew his stuff and they built some cracking frames with thin pencil rear stays.

His son took it over and they still operate from the same premises when you can find it open!

As long as it's not dented then it will be worth building a bike around it.

I don't know who does their paint but I've seen quite a few and they're on a par with Bob Jackson from Leeds.

They were very good quality and although not as well known as the likes of Bob Jackson and Rourke, they were just as good IMHO.

My era is the 70's and they were a well known make and never made anything shabby. They made frames to order and also stock frames like the Favori. You won't be disappointed

Would be hard pressed to find a bad one.
Look forward to seeing it.

Jamie

Ok, so received the bike yesterday. Here is a poor cell phone photo of it. Pretty nice build.

Brakes - Dura Ace
Shifters - Dura Ace
Cranks - Sugino
Wheels - Campagnolo / Araya
Front Mech - Suntour Cyclone
Rear Mech - Shimano 500 long cage
Stem - Cinelli
Bars - Cinelli
Saddle - Cinelli
Levers - Shimano (not sure what model)
Seat post - No idea. Two bolt. Very odd looking to me.
Pedals - Campagnolo

So, bike feels very odd compared to my current vintage rider. I'm concerned the frame is too small for me. It measures 23 inches from center of bb to top of seat tube and about 22 1/4 center to center on top tube. My current vintage rider - a late 70's / early 80's Canadian Apollo Grand Sport is 24 inches and I was quite comfortable on it during Eroica California last year.

I checked the frame number - its in the 4900's which I believe makes it early to mid 70's vintage. It was resprayed in the 80's by the previous owner - original colour was orange and black. He acquired it second hand. The transfers were obtained by his BIL back in the 80's when they decided to repaint the bike. When they did that work they had braze ons for fenders/racks added as well.

Nice . Long wrapround seat stays, prugnat style lugs, fully sloping crown .. Favori

Midlife":2cysqx34 said:

Nice . Long wrapround seat stays, prugnat style lugs, fully sloping crown .. Favori

Click to expand...

Are you sure - I thought the Favori didn't come with the wrap around seat stays? I have found photos of orange and black Favori's online though and he did say it was orange and black. I figured it was an all rounder and not an Italian race inspired build - those tires are allegedly 32mm on 14mm rims and as you an see there is lots of room for more rubber in those stays.

Wonder if there is crome under that paint.

My Favori was built to order in '96 to the same frame design as a Duralinox. However, it does have 'Ellis Briggs' engraved top eyes to the seat stays. I believe the company is still in Shipley in different premises but now owned by someone else? For some time they did use Bob Jackson for paint as the dreaded H&E put paid to them spraying on their own premises - or so I was told! A very popular brand in the Yorkshire area (and beyond!).

Favori came in lots of flavours . They did a Favori touring and a Favori TT (Concord). They got a lot of use out of the marque lol

Re:

Midlife":2hqwox4u said:

Favori came in lots of flavours . They did a Favori touring and a Favori TT (Concord). They got a lot of use out of the marque lol

Click to expand...

That looks a lot like mine. So, I was adjusting the seat post and I noticed a slight bulge in the seat tube right where it attaches to the lug. It looked like the bolt had been tightened too much on a too small seat post. :facepalm: I'll post a photo later.

I know there are a number of options for seat post size in 531, so I'm wondering what size seat post your 531 EB Favori takes so I can compare (current post isn't stamped with a size - its one of those odd two bolt campy ones)