General Information

Serial #

S-8 2102(FRAME)

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Unknown

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

230.0 cm

Width

88.0 cm

Height

138.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Motorized Ground Transportation

Category

Motorcycle vehicles

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

SUNBEAM

Country

England

State/Province

Unknown

City

Wolverhampton

Context

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

Period

Unknown

Canada

USED IN CANADA Sunbeam was a British manufacturing marque that produced bicycles and motorcycles from 1912 to 1956. Originally independent, it was owned by BSA from 1943. Sunbeam is perhaps most famous for its S7 model, a balloon-tyred shaft-drive motorcycle with an overhead valve in-line twin engine. Serious problems with vibration made the new Sunbeam bikes uncomfortable to ride and all production originally sent to South Africa was recalled. The excessive vibration was cured by mounting the engine on two bonded rubber engine mounts. BSA had machinery they had inherited from Lanchester Motors to produce worm gears. This created problems with the shaft drive, as the gears tended to strip under power. BMW-style bevel gears would have been superior. Sunbeam's solution to this was to reduce the power to 24 bhp (18 kW), which did nothing to help post war sales.

Function

GENTERAL TRANSPORTATION

Technical

OVERHEAD VERTICAL CAMSHAFT TWIN ENGINE, SHAFT DRIVE. The S models were manufactured from 1946 to 1956. There were three: the S7, S8 and S7 Deluxe. The Sunbeam S7 and S8 are British motorcycles designed by Erling Poppe based on the BMW R75 designs that were acquired by BSA (together with the full rights to the Sunbeam brand) at the end of the Second World War. Built in Redditch, the engine layout was an unusual in-line 500 cc twin which drove a shaft drive to the rear wheel. The inline engine made this technologically feasible—horizontally-opposed ("flat") twin engines on BMW motorcycles had already used shaft drives. The early S7 was expensive and over engineered, which is why it is now the most sought-after and commands a premium over the S7 De Luxe and the S8, which were produced with fewer features to reduce costs, while retaining many of the innovative parts of the early Sunbeam and updating some ideas. The S8 was sold as a "sports" model with increased performance from higher compression pistons with a top speed of 85 mph (137 km/h). It also had new forks, a cast aluminum silencer and chromed wheels (with narrower tyres to replace the "Balloon" tyres which had led to uncertain handling at speed).

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

Mfr's plate appears on either side of gas tank: silver crown above sunburst motif and "Sunbeam" printed on blue background/ decals on front forks, rear fender badly damaged and or illegible/ "Sunbeam" appears in raised print on rubber pedals/ "Pagusa" passenger seat & handgrip

Missing

REPORTED TO BE COMPLETE, WITH ORIGINAL PARTS

Finish

MATT GREY METAL & PAINTED SURFACES

Decoration

N/A