Help/information about Sun Worksop bikes needed please!

[roadking]

I bought one of these bikes in the summer of 1970 as a "tall" 13 year old and it did me for the next five years. I paid 35 pounds for it which was probably equal to 600 to 700 in today's money so they weren't cheap and nasty machines by anyone's standards. I "permanently loaned" it to an uncle and never looked for it back. Mine was a lovely blue 5 speed with Simplex gears and except for an all chromed DAWES 15 speed bike was probably the nicest bike in the school shed.
Good luck and enjoy

£35 in 1970 is £444 today using the Bank of England inflation calculator.

During the period that Raleigh owned Carlton, Sun etc a great deal of grey porridge was made. But it is also worth remembering why Raleigh bought Carlton in the first place.

The top end Carltons were very good.

Rk.

 

[roadking]

British Ferrari.

A few Sun bikes from the Raleigh Catalogue around 1972/3

This brochure is quite interesting but only (for me) for the reason that the first racing car (the red blurred one) is a BRM (British Racing Motors). Based in Bourne, Lincolnshire BRM won the F1 World Constructors Championship in 1962, and Graham Hill won the World Driver's Championship in a BRM - other great drivers associated with BRM are Bonnier, Surtees and Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda and many others. In the livery depicted - Marlboro - the drivers were Beltoise, Ganley and Lauda.

I wouldn't put Sun in the same class as BRM - despite the amateur copywriting!

Rk.

 

[Some Guy]

Re: I'm the new owner!

Hope it pleases you to know that the bike is being well looked after and much appreciated!

Wowser! :shock:
I'm really pleased you're enjoying it. The new wheelset sounds fun and I hope you enjoy your tour on it.
I'll PM you now the specifics on the paint and decals.

 

[renaultvation]

Hi, I am new to this forum, but was interested in this thread as an owner of a Sun Snipe, which I bought new as my first full size bike in 1972. I had saved up £17 towards the bike and on my birthday my parents gave me the remaining £17 so I could afford the £34 purchase price, on condition that I looked after it. 40 years later I still have the bike and have recently recomissioned it for my daily commute to work.

As this is my first post I cannot attach a picture, so will attach a picture to my next post!

 

[renaultvation]

Here is a recent picture:

Since the photograph, I have replaced the saddle with a brooks B17 and fitted full length polished alloy mudguards to replace the original shorties in deference to my age. I converted the bike to a 10 speed in the 1980s as the frame had the necessary lugs etc. The rear stay wraps around the seat pillar like a Carlton and the original wheel nuts are Carlton items with a red 'C' in the centre. The front wheel is original, but the rear was replaced in the mid 70s following damage and is not in such good condition.

I appreciate that the bike is not valuable, but to me it has tremendous sentimental value and I have kept it largely original. My parents are now both in their 80s and I recently asked them if I had looked after it sufficiently well. They were happy and said that I did not have to repay the £17.

 

[Dead Rats]

my old Sun... c1980:

 

[jujupunk]

Great thread, just what I needed... I think I may have one

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... highlight=

 

[bagpuss]

Just spotted this post.Excellent content.
My first drop bar bike was a Sun plus if i rememder right.Sold it to a mate,back in the early 70's.Propably still in his dads barn.
Will find a picture later {cringe}

 

[Broadacus]

Hi,

I am a newcomer to this Forum. I have just purchase a Raleigh Zenith 10 from E Bay, however this thread has taken me back to my childhood. In the late 60's early 70's my parents purchased for me a new racing bike. I now believe this to have been a Sun Snipe. I owned it for many years and can remember in being Gun Metal, with small mud guards and centre pull brakes. It took me to school and back each day, to work and then eventually to Manchester Polytechnic along the Oxford Road. The last time I placed eyes on the bike, it was in a sorry state and had been replaced by a car, it was left in a basement of a student house that I rented in the Whalley Range area of Manchester.
It was good to read the thread of the Sun company based in Worksop. I would love to find a replacement Sun Snipe and strip it and return it to the original Gun Metal bike that I had as a teenager.

 

[Midlife]

Spokesmann on here has a Sun Snipe

Manchester poly is now the Metropolitan University of Manchester, I worked at Manchester Uni for 13 odd years, leaving in 2011 for sunny Carlisle LOL

Funny we all remember our first "proper" bikes. Mine was a Carlton Cobra 1972, I keep a sneaky eye out for one but they don't come up that often

Shaun