One bike / engine I wish I still had was a grass track bike with a Sunbeam engine (the engine was one that had raced at the TT) The engine was so tall the frame had a crank in the top frame member.
The engine had a large brass sunbeam face on the rockers and the rockers were completely open.
Elcarajillo
There was a Sunbeam road bike on my Godfathers farm parked next to a 500 BSA.
I think the BSA was seized but I’m pretty sure the Sunbeam had the usual problems with the shaft drive worm gear.
I have often wondered what happened to them, pretty sure the shed was bulldozed in the eighties when I was interstate.
I remember those, they were the S7 & S8 often in a green metallic colour.
The BSA’s were very popular, (at that time) gold flash, gold star, rocket gold star.
The one I mentioned in the earlier post predated those and was not made by BSA.
I still have a couple of specialist tools for the BSA’s , clutch and timing gear pullers.
I knew a couple of guys years ago called Sid and Bill. They were comrades in WWII and one married the other ones sister so they were brothers in law and brothers in arms. One had a Sunbeam S7, the other one had the S8. Last time I saw them was at a bike rally, we were up all night drinking round the camp fire. They’d been kicked out of the local boozer for saucing up the barmaid. We ‘youngsters’ fell asleep at about 2 or 3am, so they went and slept under their bikes. When I woke up, they were trying to ride a penny farthing round the car park! Absolute legends.
Apropos of nothing, just going to leave this here 😉
It’s quite amusing sometimes how far people will go to hate on Harleys… never really understood where the chip on the shoulder comes from.
Not saying there aren’t Harley riders with an attitude problem but there are a lot of people on the road with an attitude problem…
Ride what you wanna ride!
Something that does get my back up though… people who drive while on their phones… texting, scrolling, Tweeting or whatever. I rode back from the southwest yesterday, and the number of people looking down, sitting at lights when they turn green as they’re too busy on their phones.
I’d be in favour of an instant ban for anyone caught.
Ernie1 It’s quite amusing sometimes how far people will go to hate on Harleys… never really understood where the chip on the shoulder comes from.
In the olden days, we would all go down to box hill and marvel at the variety of machines…never would anyone hate on a bike. If we all rode the same bike we wouldn’t gone to box hill to look at the variety of machines. which was what made it interesting.
Traded my 3 bikes in for this. Got it today :)
Nice, looks like you could ride it all day long, proper mile muncher!
I’ve just put my last Harley up for sale. Spent the winter riding the Bonneville and as much as I’ll always have a soft spot for ‘old’ Harleys up to about the mid-90s, I think my days of obnoxious noise and bone shaking engines are behind me. I’d love a Panhead one day but it’s likely to be a while before I’ve got a spare £20k…
I also cringe a bit every time I see the blacked out 883 Sportsters roaring up and down the high street with the guys all kitted out in black clothes and a perma-frown.
I’m going to get a new Triumph Scrambler to complement the Bonneville, always liked the look of the scrambler style Triumphs and I think they’ve done a good job with the new ones. I actually prefer the looks of the Street Scrambler but need to try the 900 engine to see if I’ll miss the extra pull of the 1200.
Sadly not! It’s a measly 900!
They do the 1200 Scrambler but a totally different bike and I like the geometry of the little Bonneville frames for negotiating Soho and a gridlocked A40 on my work trips into London.
Having had a STriple, the idea of that engine with single front discs and knobbly tyres terrifies me 😂
Agreed on the Tiger, although I do wish they made an updated version of the 1050 Sport.
Well my Stripler has been in the shop waiting for the fork stanchions to be rechromed after one started peeing oil everywhere, not weeping, I mean total dripping, seal totally gone and the chrome too. Silly money for new legs and because they’re upside down forks it’s even worse apparently, so I’ve been bikeless during all the nice weather. I would be thinking of changing to a T120 or a Tiger but seeing as Sadistiq Khan is wanting to extend the ULEZ right out to fairly near me and in between mine and somewhere I visit frequently, I may be forced to chop in the old oil burner for a newer car, which I am not too chuffed about, not just cos I would rather spend it on a bike, but because I can’t afford to right now anyway, and besides I actually rather like my Tiguan even if diesel is rapidly approaching the price of beer.
So I sold the Harley and got on the phone to a couple of dealerships about finding a new bike. Firstly what happened to decent service when you want to buy a vehicle? I’m there trying to spend £10k on a bike and I may as well have been a nuisance caller…
“Hi there I’d like to try ‘x’ bike please, would it be ok to make an appointment?”
“Sorry we don’t have that on demo and we can only get two of them new before the end of the year and they’re both ‘insert unappealing colour here’”
Looks like I’ll be buying used!
Ernie1 “Sorry we don’t have that on demo and we can only get two of them new before the end of the year and they’re both ‘insert unappealing colour here’”
I see motorcycle dealers have not changed much in the last 25 years…some used to be good, but too many like that.
Amazing. You would think they don’t have targets to meet. I suppose if the manufacturer won’t allocate enough units then they can’t sell them, but I don’t understand the logic of that. Mind you almost every bike I’ve had has been a couple of years old and low mileage, I’ve never had new, and can’t see much reason to spend the extra, especially with that sort of customer service!
Totally agree, especially with how much some new bikes depreciate in the first year. Although that gap has closed with production shortages pushing used bike prices up.
I usually just buy new if I can’t find a used model in the colour/model variant I want. The warranty is also a nice bonus. Although most manufacturers sting you for a first service after you’ve barely ridden it home these days so that’s another £250 to add to the cost!
Our current car’s first service was due at 12,000 miles or two years (we haven’t even done 12,000 in three years) and I think my Bonneville was 500 miles…
