Classic Motor AJS 1954, 1954 AJS
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
BSA Motor Classic
Later that day, I met up with Frank and Rowena of this parish and we chatted generally about life, cats, the universe and bikes. I brought up the subject of my hunt for a Beam, and mentioned my unfortunate find that day. Frank nodded knowingly.
'Forget the Sunbeam. You'll hate it. It's slow, doesn't handle well and is fragile. What you want is a nice Triumph, or maybe a BSA. How about an Ariel?'
'No,' I protested; 'Everyone rides a Triumph. You ask any Johnny Foreigner to name three British bikes and they'll always come up with Triumph, BSA or Norton. I want something different - something, oh, unusual - shaft drive preferably'. My perversion for shaft drives is well known.
'Get yourself a T3 - nobody on our staff has one' suggested Ms H.
'I love T3s, I'm a big fan of Guzzis, but it won't enjoy plodding along with the Enfield. Guzzies are only really happy loping along at eighty to ninety when they come into their stride and seem to make some kind of sense,' I protested. Again.
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Sunbeam S8 1921-1947
Sunbeam S8 Search If you frequent the Message Board then you'll know that Steve The Toast has been successful in his search for a Sunbeam. But how did this fascination begin, and what did he initially discover?
At my age, which is sadly no longer in the spring chicken category, but instead heading nerve-rackingly close to the Associate Membership of the VMC (Victor Meldrew Club) era, you'd think that buying a motorcycle would hold not only nothing new, but no fears either. It just goes to show you how, ahem, 'off beam' you can be. I say 'off beam' for a reason - not only is it a good expression, but my prospective purchase is, indeed, a Beam. To be more precise, I'm in search of a Sunbeam motorcycle, of the S8 persuasion.
To this end, I have been reading everything ever written about these bikes, even to the extent of sitting in motel hallways during sleepless nights so as not to disturb my partner. I have digested great works by the likes of D W Munroe who wrote Pearson's Guide to the Sunbeam, and Robert Cordon Champ's two tomes, the Sunbeam Profile and The Illustrated Book of the Sunbeam, plus various website reviews, magazine articles including the latest buyers' guides and lastly, but be no means least, everything on the best website dedicated strictly to Beams: www.classicglory.com
With all that info amassed, I now know a thing or 274 about these bikes. Fear not, I intend not to impart one iota of this colossal amount of info here, so breathe a sigh of relief and pull up a chair.
I replied to many pages of advertisements in magazines, and spent a fortune phoning classified advertisers only to find out that the bike was sold two months ago. Slowly, I began to become despondent, and turned to the Trade adverts.
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