I was in England in 2000, coming back from Ukraine with my daughter. I wanted to show her where I learned to build frames at Ellis Briggs in Shipley, West Yorkshire. This town is right beside the big city of Bradford which is next to the even bigger city of Leeds (where Bob Jackson is). At that time their framebuilder Andrew was still building frames but didn't have any orders to fill. What they said was that the cheaper aluminum frames from China were what people were buying. I can't remember exactly what the prices for a custom frame were but it seemed very reasonable at $500 or $600. When I was there in 1975, they had two frame painters but this operation had to close because of costly environmental controls in the 80's. I thought that here was a real opportunity for someone to get a decent frame at a reasonable price - especially if they wanted to pick it up to do some cycling in England.
Jack Briggs the master framebuilder died at Christmas time in 1999 but his sons still run the bike store. They are good people and I have always been thankful to have been able to learn there. Andrew started building frames about a year before I got there.
Doug Fattic
Niles, Michigan