1935 (or so) Sunbeam
 

A contact of mine is an Estate Removal Specialist (junk hauler) in an area north of New York City who keeps me posted on bikes he finds. He found a black bike of an unknown brand in an out building and offered to me for a very reasonable two digit number. I knew it was old and had an odd rear rod brake and not your typical Raleigh chain case. I spent about an hour on-line at various sites and finally figured I had a mid 1930's Sunbeam. One give away on the age of the bike was the Brooks S22/1 saddle. The bike is a single speed and still rides! And on probably the original 80 year old tires! Now the question is: what's next? I could find a period correct SA shifter and wheels with a hub to make it easier to ride. Finding parts for the rod brake system will be difficult and may end up having them made. The rear brake works but is quite rusty. The Sunbeam brand goes back to the late 1800's for bicycles, while Motorcycles, cars and appliances came later. The bicycle side of the business was purchased by BSA in 1943 and production continued until 1955. I have attached a few pics. I have to wonder how an old English made bike found it's way to here??

What a find!

That is very cool and certainly C&V. Are those wood rims? Sew ups or wired ons? more pics are always good. :)

Heck of a find and the paint is in awesome shape for a 80 plus year old bike. Perhaps there was an importer for the bike or perhaps someone brought the bike back with them from England. It would be great to know the backstory to that bike.

While I typically don't like this style...it is always nice to see! Thanks for sharing...

They appear to be steel, Westwood, rims for wired-on tyres, which were standard for most British rod brake bicycles. Wood rims were pretty rare in Britain, unlike America, though by the 1930s, steel had taken over as the rim material of choice, even in Canada and the USA, unless you were a racer.

Sunbeams can be roughly dated from their serial numbers, at least for the first four decades of the 20th century. Here's a table compiled from an old sales book, courtesy OldBike. It's worth checking the serial number, as saddles are easily and often changed.

If the chain ring is Williams(and it looks like it might be) it will have a Williams stamp on the back side The bike can be dated by that stamp. I see nothing that looks very bad the rims do have rust and need to be cleaned--the brakes look complete. The old saying is" rod brakes will never wear out---or stop a bike"

I have yet to find a serial number. Where is it located? I can see the Sunbeam decal under the paint on the head tube.

Try the rear dropouts, the seat lugs etc

Single speed rear wheel is original, Why change it? Id get the rust off and leave it as is.

During this era the Sunbeam serial numbers were typically stamped on the seat lug.
.

The serial number is "S 5044" as on the rear dropout. It appears this is a post war bike according to the serial number chart I saw on-line?? Need some help here.

Thanks, Jeff

Interesting find!