any vintage sunbeam fans on here?

[mini-me]

I have a 1929 Model 1 in more or less untouched condition,apart from the toolboxes which I have made.
I have a couple Sunbeam spanners but would like to know if anyone has a list of what tools were issued with Sunbeams of vintage era.
Can anyone help?
The Sunbeam sidevalve site seems to be dead, and the Marston site wants me to pay  £23 to register before I'm allowed into its forum. Having seen the fatality rate of Vintage sunbeam sites I'm not keen on that.

[cardan]

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

[R]

II have a couple Sunbeam spanners but would like to know if anyone has a list of what tools were issued with Sunbeams of vintage era.
Can anyone help?

Is there a parts book for these ?.
The tools are nearly always listed, and sometimes even illustrated.

There are several dedicated 'toolies' on fleabay, and its impressive the number of kits they come up with.
And the plices they ask for some of them.
Suspect they are finding stray tools and making them into kits, but You'd have to know your stuff to make them look correct, as they do. And stray tools come up all the time, its worth doing a regular search. Might cost an arm and a leg if they are sought after though.

[mini-me]

thanks
I have made up what I consider to be a representative tool kit but curiosity compels me to see what Sunbeam supplied.
Yes one make clubs seem to do well, but Sunbeam sites seem to pop up, get going and then die.
The Marston register has re-invented it self at least once, maybe twice to my knowledge; indeed the first words you read are "Welcome to the latest incarnation of the website ..." last item on it is from 2014, the  Sunbeam Sidevalve register is  definately dead. No posts since 2012.

Not knocking the folk who run these sites, but I find most posts on the rarer bike sites seem to be pop up posters looking for unobtanium spares, or how much is it worth...

I don't think Sunbeam ever did anything so ordinary as a parts list,  as for variation across the range...... they might all LOOK the same, but................
I'd like  to know what original kit is in your friends toolbags though Cardan please. Its same year as mine.


Failing all else I suspect I will end up stamping 'Sunbeam' on all the tools and then nickel plating them..........naughty eh?

[Don Vosper]

I have a 1938 Lion. Post vintage I suppose. Made when Sunbeam was owned by AMC.
Wanted a Model 9 but couldn't afford one at the time, or now even.
Had the original cycle parts and tinware but no tools. It is on the road as is my post war S7 and Sunbeam Talbot 90 saloon.
None of which are related apart from by name.
Don
I too declined the opportunity to join that group to get onto the forum, The subs tend to add up if you have varied interests.

[cardan]

I too declined the opportunity to join that group to get onto the forum, The subs tend to add up if you have varied interests.

Yes they do. I have bikes of different makes, including Douglas and Rudge, but it's hard to join one-make clubs when you're not really a one-make person.

I went for a spin on a 1930 Model 90 Sunbeam (the racy model, for those who don't know) a couple of years ago. A very cobby riding position, but awesome performance.

Leon

[mini-me]

Good to see I am not alone re the 'pay as you go' forums; after all there is no guarantee they'll exist for the time of the sub. I don't need any more magazines either.

The Lion is a great touring bike, the later ones with the Burman box do not have the refinements of the early ones but remove the worry of gearbox spares for the crash boxes which have suffered lot, mostly due to owners not understanding the role of the clutch stop.

I have always wanted one of the '38/39 AMC Sunbeams but they are few and far between now, and I am no longer buying bikes.

There is a charm about 1920's Sunbeams that is hard to put into words; for me its knowing that I have a bike that was hand made and assembled by one man who took pride in his work; little things like finding the testers/foremans  initials on various parts.
The high survival rate of Sunbeams is proof of how much they are cherished.
Get on one on a quiet road on a summer evening and plod along with the engine just chuffling happily away...does it for me anyway.
My 'Beam is on the list of  my bikes that'll stay with me till I pop my clogs.

[R]

Sunbeam published some sort of parts lists.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8299/7793195968_4de361e599_n.jpg

If there is one there are likely to be more, it may only be a matter of seeking, and ye shall find.... ?

[Don Vosper]

I'm quite pleased with my Lion really. I know it doesn't have the appeal, of some, of the ohv and earlier models but it does go well for a sidevalve.
As far as clubs go, their  aim nowadays seems to be to provide a glossy magazine posted at great expense to all members every month which takes up most of the subscription. I'd sooner see a simple  newssheet and more money spent on getting spares made.
Looking at prices in OBM I won't be buying any more bikes.
Cheers
Don

[mark2]

sunbeams are very well made , they also made nice push bikes , I have a model 10 and they go well

[mini-me]

rummaging about the net I found this about tool kits, from 1926 bikes I believe.
It'd be interesting to see pics of same.

Sunbeam tools

The 1926 manual contains a full list of the tools supplied. These can vary slightly from model to model, but basically the list is:
Double ended bent spanner
D/E open spanner 1/4 x 5/16
D/E ring spanner Large
D/E ring spanner Medium
D/E ring spanner Small
Spanner for valve caps and exhaust pipe nut
Spanner for adjusting tappets, rear chain and rear brake
Adjustable spanner
Screw for withdrawing mag sprocket
Mag spanner
Tool for replacing gudgeon pin
Tube spanner 1/4 x 5/16
Screw for with drawing cush drive centre piece
Punch
Spanner for locknuts on inlet pipe and gearbox sprocket.

[R]

They're not illustrated in the Service Manual ?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Service-Manual-for-Sunbeam-Motor-Cycles-4th-Editiion-1928-/151695278445

[mark2]

That’s when people knew what they were riding, or had to know, Tool for replacing gudgeon pin, just in case you had to on the side of the road. Now if there is a tool kit on your ZXRRFERSA 1000 it might contain your break down card, how times have changed in less than 100 years, but is it progress

[mini-me]

yes, I saw that manual, but at 75 quid my curiosity stops

I havejust bought for £15 one that allegedly covers Models 95, 8, 250 Longstroke, Lion; looks to be about 1930, we shall see soon enough;

Would a ZXRRFERSA 1000  have any tools? I used to have lovely little wooden cups for a Model H Triumph that held a valve, a spring and its collets, and with the little gizmo supplied one could change a valve by the side of the road.
add to our tool box a couple of belt links and a spare tube you were all set.

I have couple of decent  puncture repair kits in little tin boxes about 3in square which are a little tool box in themselves.

Not needing those things might be progess but I much prefer the old way.

[mark2]

I know im old and don’t want to start ranting (again) but the quality of the older machines looks to me like they were built with pride, I have my old tobacco tin from when I smoked many years ago, it has a winged head badge inset on top of the hinged lid and looks to have been nickel plated, I recently found out that this tin was sold new with a spark plug inside, the tin alone is well engineered I would love to see the plug , sorry ranting again