Vintage Thing No.64 - the Sunbeam Model 90

I spotted this Sunbeam Model 90 at Wiscombe Park earlier this month and managed a brief chat with then owner who told me that only 9 of this model were made and that an example was destroyed in the fire at the National Motor Museum. In view of its rarity, I said I thought it was great that he was using it for what it was designed.

To me, Sunbeams typically mean the hot versions of Hillman Imps. I also associate the name other with badge engineered Rootes-mobiles and the occasional sportscar.

But Sunbeam - like Triumph - had begun by making bicycles. There's something endearing about the post war Sunbeam in-line vertical twins. I can imagine my dad having one as a lad if he could have afforded one. They seem to me to be a kind of British Harley-Davidson.

But that's not what the Sunbeam Model 90 was about.

The TT Model 90, to give its proper name had a string of racing victories, cost £90 and would do 90 mph. Bore and stroke were 80 x 98mm to give a capacity of 493cc and in their day they could challenge ohc Nortons.

But their day was largely over when this bike was built. The Model 90 was conceived in 1923 so was considered an anachronism when this machine was built. They were designed by John Greenwood who invented the hairpin valve spring and that's what the racing, roaring 90s got. Early ones had a three speed box and hand gear change but this one has the later four speed, foot operated box.

Model 9s were similar 500s and 600s built more for road use or to be hitched to a sidecar but both Model 9s and 90s sported twin port cylinder heads for a while. That was about as trendy as the 'Beams got, though.

On this single port Sunbeam Model 90, the tyres and silencer are modern and the front brake looks big to me. Big brakes are good, though, and make me like this bike all the more. The bars are raised for hillclimbing instead of being dropped down for the usual racer's crouch and there's a modern steering damper.

The Motor Cycle magazine gave the bike the kiss of death in 1930 by hailing the Model 90 as the sportsman's ideal. Sales slumped in the face of more recent competition and falling quality standards. ICI had bought the firm in 1928 to learn the trick of Sunbeam's enamelling process and by the mid thirties their accountants were encouraging cheaper, less well-finished models. The Model 90 soldiered on to 1934 and in 1936 ICI sold Sunbeam to Matchless but there was a fascinating Model 95R prototype in 1934 that was the last design from John Greenwood before his retirement, a design that was not taken any further.

Greenwood also designed an overhead camshaft engine in 1925 but this, too, remained a one off. In some ways, it looked a little like a cammy Velo but was said to be very tappetty. The ohv Model 90 responded more positively to development and brought Sunbeam successive TT wins in 1928 and 1929.

Greenwood was a dude. Although no motorbikes were named after him, in the twenties he was as respected as the late and great "Pa" Norton. But who has ever heard of him today?

I'm guessing here but maybe the bike at Wiscombe was a very late Model 90 as the only photos I've seen show much smaller brakes on bikes dated to 1931. It would explain the rider's assertion that only 9 were built, presumably in that model year alone. I wish I'd asked him more about his machine and managed a shot of the timing side of the engine as well.

I have a very tenuous personal connection with vintage Sunbeams. As an impressionable 17-year old I rode my Honda 125 to the West of England traction entry rally and spotted a very distressed side valve Sunbeam single for sale. I think it was a Sunbeam Lion. It was incomplete but very cheap and I nearly saw myself having it. But it had a lime green tank. It would have taken a lot to restore it, especially to get that paint right. I fantasised about making my own ohv head for it, which shows unrealistic my thought processes were back then. In many ways, I haven't moved on....

I've always liked the black and gold of a Velocette and I think this Sunbeam Model 90 looks just as good. I'll keep my eyes peeled for it again.