Silver Sunbeam cycle

Late twenties Silver Sunbeam.

Here's the latest completed project to emerge from the shed. A late twenties Silver Sunbeam. I bought it as a scruffy but original and complete cycle at the Banbury Run a couple of years ago. I've already got a very original oily rag Silver Sunbeam so wanted to do something a bit different with this one. Nothing has been irreperably modified and discarded parts have been kept. In fact the only real difference from standard is that the very heavy steel mudguards have been removed. The canvas matress saddle has been put aside and replaced with a Brooks B17. 

Silver Sunbeam close up.

The Sunbeam 'Little Oil Bath' chaincase is a very distinctive feature and despite weighing a lot and being very out of shape I persevered with it and spent a long time getting it straight again. The tyres are white Schwalbe Delta Cruisers. Very nice and period from a distance but the reflective band lets them down a little. All the same they are the only really decent period style tyre available for vintage cycles. You can get tyres a lot cheaper but in my experience they will crack and perish in a very short time whereas these Schwalbes really last well. It's pretty depressing to have to replace tyres on a cycle after a couple of years when the thing has at best only covered twenty miles....

The brakes are the lovely and fairly effective Sunbeam cam operated ones. The 'bars have the strange plasticised coating that Sunbeam liked to use and I've added some Brooks leather bar tape on to the grip area for comfort and looks.

The carbide lamp is a well used Lucas autojumble cheapy that completes the look nicely. Plan is that this will be a regular rider and not too original or shiny to be worried about.

    

T'other side of the 'Beam.