THE PRACTICAL ONE

Billed as the ‘British BMW’, the Sunbeam twin is a motorcycle that has actually developed into a viable, usable proposition.

This handsome Sunbeam S8 was a pleasure to look at and to ride – and when it broke down on test, the owner could fix it at the roadside. That’s practical.

Andrew Chapman is a tall, calm, good-humoured man. At his workshop outside Farnham, Foxwood Motorcycle R & R, he fettles, repairs and restores postwar Sunbeam S7/S8s, as well as Ariel singles and twins. As a one-man band there, I imagine the calmness comes in handy. With an engineering background that began with his work as an aerodynamic designer with Hawker Aircraft, he’s been running Foxwood for some five-and-a-half years.

One of his clients is long-distance, high-mileage Ariel rider Steve Carter, whose FH 650 ‘Black Fly’ featured in TCM, in February 2019.

Some five years ago it was Steve who sold Andrew this black 1952 S8, which was in bits at the time. “I just said, ‘I’ll have it,’” Andrew recalled. “I knew nothing about Sunbeams, but I wanted another classic to go with my Ariel VH 500cc single.”

On the day of the test, it turned out that bumping the S8 over a field for photographs had dislodged the nut in the distributor. The timing would need to be reset later, but we were good to go for a quick test ride.

Gunning the engine to preclude a stall, I pulled away along the country lane. The gearchange was clonky, but clean, and when revved the engine felt, given its reputation, surprisingly lively up through the gears. “Hang on to those revs,” Andrew had laughed, “that’s all you’ll get!” But up to an indicated 55, the S8 felt sprightly enough.