classic motorcycle forum

Hi Martin,

The Type 6 is an AMAL carby introduced in 1929. 6-011 isn't in my parts. I assume this number is on the mixing chamber, and in the parts list it just says "According to motor". I suppose 6-011 is the mixing chamber used by Horex.

Re the thread, you'll have to measure it yourself. Not too hard: a micrometer (or even a vernier caliper) to measure the outside diameter of the thread, and a thread gauge to measure the TPI. Both are on the list of "must have" tools.

Parts for the Type 6 should be quite easy to source.

Cheers

Leon

Hi Son of Dave!

Nice photo, but I think we're closer to 1910 than 1920. Certainly the lightweight bike is 1910-ish anyway, and with a Brown and Barlow carburettor (with control on the handlebar), BSA-ish chain wheel and Powell and Hanmer gas lights it's almost certainly British made. Is it something like a Centaur? You might be able to read the name on the tank with a magnifying glass under a bright light.

I'm surprised the magneto chain is out in the open. Perhaps the cover has come to grief in a fall.

Cheers

Leon

Unbutted 10g spokes are certainly in the "cheap and cheerful" category, and a bit unexpected on a Sunbeam. But it was 1931 and times were tough. Provided the wheels are well built and the spoke tension is OK, there should be no problem at all with the roads and type of riding we have these days.

Leon

Cork in a clutch has all the properties you need: original (!), cheap, easy, satisfying, adequate performance and durability. I'm sure Mr Google (or even a search on this forum) will give a description of how to do it.

It may be possible to adapt a Ducati racing clutch but hey, what are we doing with these old things?

Had a long day tidying a huge shed and sorting Rudge stuff. Plenty of nice bits.

Cheers

Leon

Hi Ian,

That's a tidy-looking bike! I hope you are enjoying it. The Model 10 has one of those fabulous features that, somehow, never caught on - the gear shift lever mounted on the rocker box. The show Edition of The Motor Cycle (13 November 1930) had an artist's sketch of this feature, which it described as "unusual".

Leon

The position of the grooves depends on everything: the length and angle of the lug on the change lever, the length of the arm on the gearbox, and the angle between the gearbox and the change lever. Not to mention the gearbox internals.

I think you'll have to put the lever you're going to use on the pivot bolt, set up the length of the coupling rod you want to give the angle of the quadrant you want, then mark out on a template the point at which the various gears engage and disengage. The various grooves and shoulders will then be correct for your bike. Locate second half way between where the gear engages and disengages if you can't see inside the box.

Good luck.

Leon

Interesting comments - I don't know where all the vintage fans express their vintage thoughts! If the scene here (in South Australia) is anything to go by, the number of vintage (pre 1930) enthusiasts is pretty low at the moment, regardless of the Marque.

I'm a Sunbeam enthusiast, but I don't own one. I very much like "Beaming" which is the "Journal of the Marston Sunbeam Club and Register" which I get from a friend who has Sunbeams. I read it cover to cover. I enjoy it very much, but my comment would be that there is not much variation across the entire range of Marston Sunbeams from 1913 into the 1930s. That said I'd be just as happy with a 1913 sidevalve 350 or a 1930 Model 90.

I suspect the "one marque" clubs are doing OK. I know the Douglas people do well with http://douglasmotorcycles.net , the Rudge people with http://rudge-whitworth.com , Ariel people with http://forum.arielownersmcc.co.uk and so on. You don't need to join a club to join in the forum - this may be a key to success?

That said, I doubt the vintage movement will flourish if we all confine our interest to the bikes we own. What would we read at night! There are only so many times you can flip the pages of Bob Cordon Champ's Sunbeam books - bad example as Bob understands the vintage motorcycle and is shows in his writings.

Sorry, can't help with tool kit detail, but will ask my friend who has a delightful unrestored 1929 Model 1!

Cheers

Leon

Hi Nick,

We have lots of frames that look like this in Australia: mostly/all Sun lugs and pretty conventional geometry. The photos below show two local frames with Sun lugs. The upper bike was rebuilt from a very original machine and is a c1920 Carbine-MAG twin. The lower bike is a Lewis, c1917, built from Sun lugs when Chater Lea stuff ran out during the war. The origin and date are confirmed by the frame number and period reports in the newspapers. Note that the c1917 uses D section tubes for the lower rear frame (as did most earlier Sun frames) where-as the later Sun set uses round tube.

The cross-over on the rear engine plates and the lug on the right rear stay for the brake shoe points to hub-clutch or hub-gear. What makes you think Armstrong?

Mark2: Re the restored "New Comet". Maybe it is New Comet (c1912), but without knowing its provenance I'm always healthily skeptical. I know of too may bikes restored from bits that have names affixed by whim rather than research. The bike uses the earlier style lug from the engine plates to the rear fork which is Sun or a copy of Sun.

The frame number, its location on the frame, size and font might give a clue?

Cheers

Leon