The history of Sowerby Brothers Cycles
From Ravensthorpe Cycles to Sowerby Brothers Cycles, 39 years and counting.
Founded in 1985 on Huddersfield road Ravensthorpe, Dave Sowerby had already had 7 years experience in the bike trade before opening his first shop, first working at Hargreaves cycles in Dewsbury as a 16 year old, before moving after a short time to work at Laurie Armitage cycles on Doctor lane in Mirfield for 6 years up until Laurie’s retirement. In 1991 Dave took the decision to expand the business just 1.5 miles along the road to Mirfield, where he had a shop on the main road for 6 years until 1997, the business then relocated to it’s current site on Princess street in the centre of the town.
The Sowerby family have long had a strong involvement with the local cycle racing scene, Dave racing as a 1st Category roadman in the early eighties for the Ravensthorpe cc, while his father Charlie was the leading promoter of bike races in the district in the eighties, Dave himself has gone on to promote many events himself, notably the Huddersfield criterium on the eve of the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire in 2014 and Kirklees first ever Women's road race in 1988 at Hartshead. Nowadays, Dave focuses on the Sowerby Brothers shop based team, which acts as a promotional vehicle for the business.
18 years ago back in 2005, Colin Powell, a keen mountain biker joined the business, over this time Colin has built up his own following from our large customer base, and has become one of the most respected mechanics in the industry, Colin’s knowledge of the industry is vast, and many cyclists will call on him for advice, he and Dave have become great friends over this time.
We are stockists of Specialized, Merida, Ridley, Moda and Frog branded bikes, as well as an impressive clothing range by Endura, Funkier and our own ‘Vaggio’ branded team kit. Footwear, gloves and helmets are from Specialized and Shimano.
Our increasingly popular E bikes are from Specialized, Ridley and Merida.
We also offer a full Mountain, Road and E bike demo program.
We are the home of Sowerby Brothers Cycles racing team and we are the ONLY Body Geometry Fit bike-fitting specialists in West Yorkshire.
We look forward to meeting you.