The SUNBEAM side-valve
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PHOTOS - Sunbeam side-valve engines spanning the decades:-
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Above: 1914 (Brighton, March 2008) Contact the web-site:
What's New on the web-site? 1 February 2010 Info on T.T. rider Tom Sheard added (at last!) to Sunbeamland section 31 January 2010 Up-dated 'Events' section for 2010 15 January 2010 A new 'sales & wants' section added to the website Link to Petrolbug's Japanese blog detailing the restoration of a Model 8 1931 'Know your Sunbeams' up-dated and photos added 6 January 2010 Illustration of 1916 MAG-engined v-twin to 'Know your Sunbeams'. 1916 General Service model and 1936 Lion photos / requests for info from owners in 'Running 'n' Riding section. 29 December 2009 Info on setting the ignition timing in the 'Running 'n' Riding' section. Post script to the AJS Centenary event to remind those who attended and have not received their badge. Up-date for 'Know Your Sunbeams' 1920-1923 including images of 1920 3˝ h.p. and 1922 4˝ h.p. models.
28 December 2009
30 November 2009
8 November 2009
2 November 2009
15 September 2009
10 September 2009
23 August 2009
12 August 2009
8 August 2009
7 August 2009
Site launched: 11 May 2008
Site last up-dated: 15 January
2010
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Welcome! And, 'how bin yer' to use the Wolverhampton vernacular. I hope there's something here of interest if you are a keen Sunbeam fan. Like most web sites it's an on-going work. Somewhere to up-load, as and when time allows, all those bits of info that gather up. Sunbeam Side-valve Motor Cycles Sunbeam motor cycles are delights of mechanical engineering; the Sunbeam side-valves no exception. The most sporting version of the side-valve was rivalled for speed only by the equivalent Norton of the 1920s, although the 'Beam had the edge! Throughout the 1920s Sunbeam justifiably advertised it as the fastest 3˝ hp side-valve motor cycle supplied as standard to the public . In 1922 Sunbeam gave us the last side-valve machine to win the Senior TT. Sunbeams are arguably the finest side-valve engines ever produced. Some of us think so. The most notable amongst the Sunbeam side-valves is the legendary race winning ‘Longstroke’ engine of the 1920s. With its origins in the factory's 1921 French Grand Prix winner, it saw service right the way through the 1920s and '30s. With a stroke of 105.5mm it really is a grand old thumper. The Sunbeam side-valve in its 600cc Model 7 guise also has a certain notoriety. It was the last flat-tank motor cycle to remain in production, still available in 1932 when most major manufacturers had changed to 'saddle tank' models before the end of the 1920s. John Marston Ltd Sunbeam motor cycles are the product of the former John Marston Ltd, based at the world famous 'Sunbeamland' works in Wolverhampton, England. Production spanned the years 1912 to 1940. For the last few years, after their take-over of the company in September 1937, Associated Motor Cycles (AMC) of London assembled machines from Wolverhampton-made parts. For three years until 1940 AMC also produced their own new, Sunbeam-badged models based on Wolverhampton precedents. Then, war brought civilian production to a halt. AMC's sale of the Sunbeam trademarks to BSA of Birmingham in 1943 effectively ended the lineage of the Marston motor cycle. A Lasting Legacy Production may have ceased in 1940 but Sunbeam side-valves have been running since then, championed by those drawn to neither the sporting pretensions of later overhead valve and cam machines, nor the glamour of the big v-twins. The earliest are light, bicycle-like machines propelled by exceedingly sporty engines. A revelation in the present era when motor cycle design has evolved to provide us with far weightier machines requiring all the complexity of a two-wheeled motor car! The later models, to quote a 1931 reviewer in 'Motor Cycling', are, ' a thoroughly sound and a particularly attractive machine ... with an engine which gives an excellent turn of speed coupled with extraordinary docility and tractability, it is a splendid steering model which can be thoroughly recommended to riders - of no matter what class - who are looking for a machine which will accomplish arduous work pleasantly, easily and nigh on indefinitely.' Tempted?! Use the 'links' at the head of the page to find your way around the site to view the following:- * An evolving catalogue of contemporary photos and illustrations of all the motorcycles produced * The fate of the original Sunbeamland factory, lying vacant on the outskirts of Wolverhampton city centre, and how its wider heritage legacy lives on * The running and riding of old Sunbeam motorcycles * Hints and tips from the workshop * A little about the Marston Sunbeam Register - the marque club for Wolverhampton-made 'Beams * A listing for events where Sunbeams are likely to be featured should you want to go out to meet like-minded enthusiasts
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Use of photos on the web site All photos on this site are my own with certain exceptions - notably historic photos from Marston catalogues which I have taken to be 'public domain'. In the small number of cases where other photos appear on the site, I have tried to credit the source. I am happy for my own photographs to be used on other non-commercial web sites. Just drop me a line first and acknowledge the source as www.sunbeamsidevalve.com.
I photograph motor cycles at events
open to the public.
However, if you or your motor cycle feature on the web site and you would
prefer that the photograph did not appear, let me know and I will remove it.
On a brighter note, if you are happy to find yourself or your machine on the
site it would be great to hear from you.
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