Ellis Briggs 'special build' - 1951
Owned by: Ken Russell (Custodian - Derek Browne)
This is the machine on which Ken Russell won the 1952 Tour of Britain as sole rider in the Ellis Briggs team
| Frame |
Ellis Briggs 22" special built in 1951 by their
frame-building manager Eric Rosebrook with help from Ken who built the
forks (having worked as a framebuilder at Whitaker and Mapplebeck) and
designed special features such as the bracket/cable eye on the
chainstay designed to protect the chainstay from damage by the chain.
Also Simplex rear ends modified by a circular depression to stop the
wheel pulling over when using wheelnuts. The frame was repainted after
the Tour of Britain win to include a special seat tube transfer. Frame
also has a Pennine CO2 pump braze-on boss on rear of seat tube |
| Wheels |
Fiamme sprints on Airlite SF, QR hubs |
| Chainset | Stronglight 49C steel cotterless with 5-pin TA
rings |
| Pedals | Allez |
| Gears | Rear Benelux with Simplex Competition front with
Cyclo 5-speed block and Brampton chain |
| Brakes | Beborex (See
advert at bottom of page) |
| Stem/Bars | Phillipe alloy bars and stem |
| Saddle | Brooks B17
Competition Standard |
| Extra details | Vittoria tub
carrier mounted on rear of saddle. Daily Express Tour of Britain number
'78'. |
 |
 Above: Beborex Brake on Ken's
race-winning machine
Left: Special
seat tube transfer used on Ellis Briggs machines after Ken's
win
in the Tour of Britain. It shows Ken crossing the line on the final day
|
The story of the 1952 Daily Express Tour of Britain is one of the most remarkable in cycle racing history. For 14 days Ken Russell fought a lonely battle against the might of the main British independent teams - B.S.A, Dayton, Gnutti, Sun,Wearwell and Viking plus International teams from France, Belgium, Ireland and other smaller teams.
As a lone rider from the Ellis Briggs team Ken had to go with every dangerous breakaway on every day. His bike never let him down until the final day when first his cotterless chainset became loose and then he punctured, the only neutral rider in the break who was no threat to the yellow jersey was the Belgium rider Marcel Michaux and after a desperate plea from Russell they swapped bikes (see image of the desperate moment of the swap below) and Ken finished the tour on the Belgian's bike. Marcel is now over 80 years of age and living in Belgium but Ken still keeps in touch with him.
Below: Ken winning the stage to Scarborough ahead of Ian Steel of the Viking Team
Below: Ken heads nine riders to another of his three stage wins, this time at Weymouth
Below: After the finish of Stage 5 - Aberystwyth to Blackpool won by Ken,
here at the awards ceremony in the Wintergardens being congratulated by
James (Oscar) Saville - now Sir Jimmy Saville
Below: Advert for the Beborex brake citing Ken's win in the Tour of Britain
