First sun beams

[Jonathan Poll]

Hey! Joining the legal moped riding set at last. Be careful though. I came off my mobylette on my first day on a wet man hole cover!

Hehe well last saturday I actually fell in a ditch on my pride and joy... Luckily hardly any damage, only a bit of the chain cover was bent, ad the 2 brackets/plates that hold the headlamp were squiffy. Straightened it all "by hand" and it's fine. The ditch was quite deep too! I went around a corner too fast, didn;t lean enough around it, and there was a medium sized stone on the road... didn't want to catch it on the tyre, so I steered around it... on the OUTSDE of the bend, and the wheels "caight" the grass, and as you may know it's not easy to steer out, I went straight in! Hurt my wrist too but fine now. I literally pulled it out of the ditch, checked to see the damage, judged it was fine to ride, and continued my trip 

Luckily I had no side covers on, as it wouod have probably badly dented them! Suprisingly the flywehel was fine, even without the cover! (the flywheel cover has no holes for ventilaton, the condensors burn outr, people reccomend riding without it if the road is dry).

Bob, my proper license should arrive in 2 or 3 weeks. I passed the test though. All I have now is some blue paper that says I passed, but cant ride until I get the license... They won;t stop me  I need to sort out insurance and registration though...

I rebuolt the engine on that white moped with new bearings (some of them were gritty, so I put new SKF ones on), new oil seals as the old orignal ones were as hard as plastic (brittle too!), new gaskets all around and new piston rings. Ignition is all original except plug of course, I sanded the "edges" of the coils and inside of flywheel. All seems to work as well as it should! Could do with a bit more power, may need to adjust the timing a tiny bit more. I rebuilt this engine on my own,aswell as my Solex engine, which worked fine. Only problem witht he Solex, was that last time I had a g on it, the "stone" that drives the wheel shattered!

This white mooped should be fine though, I think I will odify the ignition and fit an external modern condensor as they are very reliable and don't burn out. Can't wait for the mopped ride sunday! I have no experience on "long" trips. The start is 45km from our place, then its a 55km ride with the "group", then 45km back home... LEt's hope it makes it!

[Bob Purton]

That's quite a long run! Ours are usually about 25 miles all in. I did do the coast to coast though which was 140 miles. Have fun!

This Sunday I'm doing the Reservoir Dogs run. Colchester.

[Big Al]

and so of course did renate hele , stalwart with husband mike ,of bondspares - a year or two on and she is still on crutches - poor thing 

What! That's terrible. I understood that there had been a incident but I had not realized it was something as 'trivial' as trying to enjoy oneself. Another Micro couple who have not had the best of luck with health or would otherwise be doing all sorts of things, well more things, than they do now.

[Big Al]

Jonners, got to get into the Dutch Solex racing. Dennis is into that I believe. Completely bonkers. I expect the French manage to do something equally as daft like climbing one of the mountains for a packet of Galois fags or something. All good stuff.

[richard]

Nice to see the car in question eventually  :)mopetta in the sun is now there at the head of this topic

[Jonathan Poll]

Al, I have a Solex. I have seen Solex racing on youtube, it looks crazy! I bought parts of a guy who goes 100km/h on one... Obviously top end changed, bigger "stone", etc... but I think a lot is still original!

Otherwise, I got insurance this evening, so ready for sunday!

[Big Al]

I was driving behind this Sunbeam last Saturday on the Boston run. Same engine as the Ladybird I believe.

Anorak rustling but yes I get it. This is a kick start two stroke 175cc single rather than the electric start 250cc four stroke twin. Styling stands out though and I quite like it. Bitch to ride as they through you over the handlebars if you try and corner hard and fast. Apparently the geometry was wrong, well not as good as it could have been, and I am crap on bikes.

[Bob Purton]

You may need to re-rustle your anorack Al, I was chatting with the owner back at base and its definitely a four stroke twin, I can confirm this as I heard it run. They are a nice shape arnt they. Nice air intakes too.

[Barry]

I am fairly sure there are two versions.  a 250cc four-stroke twin and a 175cc Two-stroke single?

http://motorbike-search-engine.co.uk/classic_bikes/bsa-sunbeam-scooter.php

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/15622/lot/378/

[Bob Purton]

Thats interesting, it appears the 175 two stroke versions engine  was derived from the Bantam.  As a man once said  " The day I stop learning is the day I stop living"

[Barry]

I think I would prefer to have the two-stroke.  Just so many things to go wrong in a British four-stroke 250cc twin engine.  Reputedly fairly fast though, just too late on the scooter scene to sell in any quantity - and expensive I bet.

[Big Al]

We kind of touched on this before. The 250cc was rather like a double Heinkel engine and was designed by thingy that did the daimlar V8 engine, who's name once again I have forgotten. Like the Hienk its big prob was keeping cool. Thus attention to timing, casings, oil etc etc to give it every chance. Of course some folk did not bother and suffered the consequences for which they blamed the machines. The Triumph unit is a good engine, I feel, and had it been marketed earlier might have made some considerable difference to some of the otherwise Villiers powered machinery, assuming Triumph would supply. A Triumph powered Scootacar would have made mincemeat out of a Schmitt but instead we had to await the MkIII, which is a little thirsty.

The 175 was indeed based on the old Bantam and really not in the same class, not that I am slagging Bantoms off, but just as the Heinkel scooter cruises around like a Guzzi amongst the flat on the tank types so does the Triumph/BSA twin can among the normal fizzing scooters. Chalk and cheese. The kick-start, if fitted, comes out in a different place on the fourstroke as it as completely different engine. If I recall it was a bit of a botch as it had a short chain on the end of it to rotate a shaft. Most were supplied as 12v electric start with two battery chests on the shield rather than one. They tended to be two tone coloured with metallic or polychromatic as one colour. Often a petrolly sea green. Though I think I had blue and red too. The cheaper ones tended to be ordinary paint and not always two tone.

The fourstroke sounds odd as it has a strange exhaust which is effectively two systems meeting in a small football shaped silencer in the tip of the back of the pod shaped rear cowl with a single outlet.

Te other clue on looking at the pictured offered again is it does actually say on it that it is a 175! Doh! Then again this might not be the very scooter you were playing with at the event.

[Jonathan Poll]

Thats interesting, it appears the 175 two stroke versions engine  was derived from the Bantam.  As a man once said  " The day I stop learning is the day I stop living"

Bantams arte great. They are often considered crap, worthless ans boring. My dad has a B14, which is the 14hp 175cc model, best bantam made. It's very fast, feels really safe, sort of eliable. Great bike.

[richard]

Always have to bare in mind that the BSA Bantam is not a British design , it's a pre-war DKW or suchlike . Postwar reparations and all that .

[Bob Purton]

Yes and yes, the Bantam design was nicked and the BSA Sunbeam at the rally last weekend was a metalic green one,   a 250 twin.