English Harley!

Just experimenting with Photobucket. They seemed to have changed everything!

Sunbeam... even more gutless than a 45!

[Pa]

Neat lookin bike though. Pa

That's an S7, the S8 is better looking in my opinion just because of the wheels if nothing else. The rear drive pretty much sucks on them. Not a very successful venture into a "gentleman's" motorcycle.
Robbie

The rear drive is just wrong. It's an underslung bevel which wears very quickly and is a severe constraint in the maximum power possible for the machine. The early models also suffered from severe vibration, hence the rubber engine mounts and the flexible section in the exhaust.

It was designed by a designer more accustomed to car engines, and it shows; a pity because in some ways it's a very advanced design and had a solid marketing name behind it.

However BMW had done their homework, their post-war designs were much better than the Sunbeam and their R69 ( produced from 1955 ) was everything the Sunbeam tried to be, but wasn't. It's doubly ironic that BSA actually based the Sunbeam, supposedly, on BMW designs they had inherited under War Reparations - but how you start with a BMW and end up with a Sunbeam, I couldn't rightly say.

This was also a time when BSA produced the Bantam from the same basic bike that Harley developed the Hummer from, and the British motor industry turned down the VW Beetle as too unsightly and difficult to make and sell, so there were plenty of dud decisions made around then...

However BMW had done their homework, their post-war designs were much better than the Sunbeam and their R69 ( produced from 1955 ) was everything the Sunbeam tried to be, but wasn't.

Yup,
That's why this is in my garage and not a Sunbeam! '55 R69, #257 in the production run.
Robbie

Have just stripped the motor and i'm impressed by the beautiful design. The worm drive has an undeserved reputation as many have fitted 50 hp inline fours out of different cars. The main reason for failure was keeping up the oil level 25hp isn't too slack, anyway when we have it running we'll have a drag against my mates WL. If anyones interested i'll post some engine internal pics.

Are these 16" Sunbeam rims front and rear the same (that is, with same spoke hole pattern)? I am asking this because I have a set of 16" rims that are definitively not Kelsey-Hayes rims or modern far-east rims, and that have, like 16" Kelsey-Hayes rims for 45 ci Harley-Davidsons, different spoke hole patterns. I do not know of any motorcycle company other than Harley-Davidson, Indian or Sunbeam using 3" x 16" rims....
JW

BSA spent a lot of time and effort over the Sunbeam, proving among other things that you shouldn't listen to readers' suggestions in motorcycle magazines, and that engineers who have specialised in designing buses are probably best left doing that.

That, and you need to do your concept testing BEFORE starting production, not after.