SUNBEAM S7
And now, a Showstopper to inspire our own Editor Westworth in his uphill struggle to return a Sunbeam twin to full working order. This example definitively demonstrates that Erling Poppe’s idiosyncratic ohc inline twin can clearly clock up the classic mileage. Before most machines go on display at a show like this, their owners tend to devote serious amounts of elbow grease to their P&J’S greater glory. This Sunbeam, however, is seen pretty much as it rolled off the ferry after covering some 2600 miles in the mountains of northern Spain last year.
That’s exactly how BSA intended the touring twin to be used when it was launched for 1947. At the time, British riders couldn’t travel many miles because petrol was still rationed but, even so, a Motor Cycling staffer covered 500 miles in less than a day aboard the 25bhp machine. ‘He finished fresh, enthusiastic about the relatively high cruising speed possible and, more important, the sheer impossibility of fatiguing the 487cc engine.’
Although the S7 certainly wasn’t the most powerful motorcycle of the late 1940s, nor the lightest, ripsnorting acceleration was never meant to be the sophisticated twin’s forte. It was intended to be civilised and comfortable, to facilitate highmileage travel with quiet competence. And that it did: ‘Here is a machine which fulfils almost every expressed ideal of the motorcyclist who desires luxurious transport. No question of a getaway like a bank robber, but swift and silent progress to fit the varying mood of the tourist – the man who forms the backbone of our pastime.’
So it was 70 years ago, and so it is today. The S7’s owner Shaun bought his Deluxe in 1966 for an entire £12.10s. ‘During my stewardship I’ve rebuilt it twice, he says; ‘once in 1975 and again in 2018, spares being readily available from specialist suppliers. It’s not a fast bike but very comfortable and fun to ride.’
Despite the fact that his Sunbeam was on display at a bike show, Shaun is clear that ‘it’s for riding, not showing,’ and all the placards and mementos from oodles of long-distance events demonstrate that he’s a man of his word. ‘Routes are an average of 150 miles a day,’ says Shaun, ‘and up to 450 riders take part. My Beam has never let me down – any problems have been fixed along the way. Last year we rode in all weathers on the most memorable roads I have ridden in 50-odd years of motorcycling.’