Sunbeam Bicycle Help Needed in Identification

oldschoolstreak

Retro Newbie
Help needed !!

I just picked up an old Sunbeam bicycle and whilst trying to work out which one it is, I noticed it has rear brakes mounted to the chain stay, I can`t seem to find any other the same.

Any ideas ?

Cheers
 

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  • Sunbeam Rear Brake copy.jpg
    Sunbeam Rear Brake copy.jpg
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That's the normal position for the back brake with rod brakes, which were common on roadster bikes up until the 1960s.
 
The original rod brake Sunbeam and the post war BSA Sunbeam had the rear brake on the seat stays. So this is likely to be London made about 1937/39 by
Associated Motorcycles.

If it has an original Sturmey Archer rear hub it may have a date on it. Some detail pics might help.

Keith
 
We need more photo's :)

One interesting point from the photo above is that the mudguard stays mount to the drop outs, most Sunbeams have the mounts further up the rear stays. It not a lot to go on, but the 1937 ladies Golden Sunbeam had the stay mounts on the drop outs. As Keith has pointed out, check the Sturmey hub for a date.

I'm assuming both down tubes are parallel and that the top tube is not curved?
 
Not my era (but I had to mend them BITD, and yes the rod brake was there) but that hole drilled in the dropout for the mudguard stay does not look in a clever place.....removes a lot of metal just where I would expect a lot of stress.

Shaun
 
Shaun, Sunbeam normally routed the rear brakes under the bottom bracket and up behind the seat tube. The brazed rear ends on this one are about 10 times stronger than the feeble trapped ends on cheap roadsters, which usually had mudguard stays with very poor bent ends under the hub nuts.
BSA did make some variations in the mid 50s when they were running out of everything.
Await some detail pics, and any names on parts. It is easy to recognise BSA bottom bracket fittings. I did sell a few Sunbeams mid 50s, including the dreadful attempt by BSA to make the rear wheel removal easier, where their 3 speed hub would allow wheel removal with the cog still in place by splitting the driver.

Keith
 
Thanks for all the replies and the info, I have (hopefully !!) uploaded some more pictures.
 

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