Memories ‘recycled’ by tales of pedalling past

Frederic Manby’s article on Ellis Briggs Cycles (Yorkshire Post Magazine, November 12) was a trip down memory lane. All the Yorkshire and other brands he mentioned – and a few more he didn’t – were household names when I was in my early teens. Well, they were in our household.

When I was a young sprog, my father built me various Bitzas, and I graduated to my first brand new bike for Christmas just before my 11th birthday – a Leeds-built JRJ in flamboyant deep red. It was my pride and joy, as you might expect, and from memory cost a lot more than “a large part of the weekly wage” to quote Frederic.

JRJ Cycles was run by the late Bob Jackson, at various times in Hyde Park Road and Harehills Lane, Leeds. The JRJ brand was later dropped in favour of the name Bob Jackson Cycles, and they still have an enviable reputation as frame builders.

When I had outgrown my beloved JRJ, I managed to get my hands on a second-hand but pristine Jack Taylor Cycles bike. The Taylor brothers (Jack, Norman and Ken) became known the world over for the quality of their hand-built solo and tandem frames crafted in their workshop at Stockton-on-Tees (alas, no longer in existence), and their products are now collectors’ items on both sides of the Atlantic.

Frederic mentioned that the Ellis family had “the JT Rogers subsidiary in Castleford.” I remember when JT Rogers Cycles were at King Edward Street in Leeds city centre.