Claud Butler

The story began in 1880 when Fred Hopper established a cycle repair business in a former blacksmith's shop in Barton-on-Humber, no more than 12 miles from our current location. Bicycle repairs soon gave way to manufacture and the business flourished. By 1906 F. Hopper & Co. was employing over 400 people, and by 1912 the company had developed export markets in Japan, India, South Africa and Australia. Shortly afterwards the company acquired the Elswick Cycle Company located near Newcastle, and in 1913 its name was changed to Elswick Hopper Cycle and Motor Company. In 1974 Elswick Hopper purchased Wearwell Cycles, a company so long established that reference to it could be found in the Bicycle Yearbook of 1872. In 1978 the Falcon Cycle Company was also acquired, and for some time it was operated as a subsidiary company.

In 1982 Elswick-Hopper Cycles and Falcon Cycles merged, and during the following year major changes took place in products, management and in the market.