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**psycho 98** · 04-26-2009, 01:41 PM

Sir welcome to xbhp, its glad to have a senior person like you on the forum.

P.S: Sir are we allowed to see the bikes in person and meet you also

**sudharma** · 04-26-2009, 02:31 PM

All are always welcome. At present I am in UAE . Will be back in Bangalore by the end of June. You may have to wait till then.

**sherry_unicornlover** · 04-26-2009, 02:42 PM

Originally posted by sudharma View Post

Noticed it now only. This bike does't have dediated swingarm. Chassis is integrated to work like swingarm.
One question:- How is the handling of this bike??

**sudharma** · 04-26-2009, 02:50 PM

Originally posted by HydBiker View Post

oh man... that Sunbeam looks like one hell of a bike even today and I cannot imagine what it could have been for its days of glory...

Going by how the exhaust looks, it should be firing missiles (that kind of sound) when revved.

Those pictures were taken more than 20 Years ago.! Nothing much has changed in the appearance other than loosing a bit of paintwork shine. I was thinking that if I could post a Video clip with sound, I would gladly do it when I am back in Bangalore by the end of June.
With Regards.
Sathish.

**sudharma** · 04-26-2009, 03:05 PM

Very stable bike to ride. The plunger suspension is very good and with the sprung seat the ride is comfortable. The engine being mounted inline with the frame, slight torque reaction is there while opening the throttle. At low speed slight vibration is noticable. The vibration dampers are to be set as per specs (there are 4 of them) to avoid vibration. Once you cross 30 MPH, everythings smooth out and the exhaust sound is really like music. In my experience the Sunbeam handles much better than the BSA A50.
Will keep all posted.

**powertwin** · 04-26-2009, 08:09 PM

Originally posted by sudharma View Post

All are always welcome. At present I am in UAE . Will be back in Bangalore by the end of June. You may have to wait till then.

sudharma sir,
Wonderful bikes in there

Your A 50 ,will look majestic with the any one of the below posted seats>>>>>>

what do you say??
cheers!!
Muthu kumar
ps: A50 is suppose to have the Bullet tail light ( old type)

correct me if Iam wrong

**sudharma** · 04-27-2009, 12:07 PM

Originally posted by powertwin View Post

sudharma sir,
Wonderful bikes in there

Your A 50 ,will look majestic with the any one of the below posted seats>>>>>>

what do you say??
cheers!!
Muthu kumar
ps: A50 is suppose to have the Bullet tail light ( old type)

correct me if Iam wrong

I am having the original Number Plate on the A50. but some in the forum commented that it is of bullet and as such had to be changed. Thats why I put in the question. But the lamp is of bullet (with the bubble in the middle) and I need to get the original one. Any Idea if they are available in India?

Where can I get the seat made (in India?) like in the pictures?. Mine is a locally made one since the original one corroded away.

Regards,
Sathish

**sudharma** · 04-27-2009, 12:30 PM

Originally posted by HydroXidE View Post

Welcome to XBHP Sathish .. enviable collection of bikes there!..
I wish you had the Machless 500 too ..
Glad to see a Sunbeam in bangalore! ..

All your pics are here:

xBhp.com : The Global Indian Biking Community

http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/members/sudharma-albums-my-bikes.html

To insert, you could open one of the pics. Right click > Go to Properties, and copy the full URL of the picture, which is like this (http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/members/...33733-3866.jpg).

When you post a message here with the rich text interface, you'll see yellow icon with two hills and a sun. That's the one you use to insert an image. Put this image URL in and the picture will be part of the message.

I'm inserting a pic of your bike here

In fact I have seen another 2 sunbeam S8s within 1 km of my house. One had a Pondichery registration with a Jawa alternator instead of the Lucas dynamo. This was in running condition and the spedo had details in French. The one other was a non-runner with lots of non standard parts. This one was one of the four machines (A Norton Dommi, BSA 650, and a Matchless) the owner had in his dining room. These were later sold off and the owner was after me to sell him one of my machines!!!

**sudharma** · 04-27-2009, 12:36 PM

Originally posted by kar1zma View Post

its an honor for sure

please tell us ur experiances of biking in the early days what kind of bikes were on the roads which bikes were cool and which were the junta bikes.
how were the maintance of bikes those days etc etc

where are u in the middle east im in ksa myself

I had been working in Abudhabi (Offshore) till last September. Retired since. Now on a social visit in Dubai. What I am putting down here is only my recollections and should be taken in that sense only.

In the 60's in Kerala, we had Royal Enfield Bullets, Rajdoot, Vespa, Lambretta ( LD & LI, one of them is a shaft drive machine I think its the LD), Jawa, Royal Enfield

I learned riding on by brothers Jawa. But I have taught a few of my friends riding on a BSA 650 with girder forks and no electrics (head light is a candle in the shell), fuel is good old house hold kerosene. Riding classes in the night as there will be ver little fraffic on the road (NH-47)

Road side mechanics carry out the maintenance of these bikes. No hitech tuning equipments those days. Timing is determined by removing the plug and inserting a thin stick in the plug hole and measuring the pistion position. From experience they knew the exact position of the piston for different bikes for setting the breaker point. Most of these mechanics uses a Hacksaw blade to set the Breaker Point and Spark Plug gaps. Of course the indian bikes could be serviced in the dealer's workshops.

Riding comfort on the Rajdooths were good due to the different front suspension and was considered as a very reliable machine.

Tinkering work was done by the Black Smiths who were very very good by the modern standards. Sadly these Black Smiths have mostly disappeared.

I will stop my boring history lesson for the time being.

Rehards,
Sathish

**ken cool** · 04-27-2009, 01:14 PM

Great to make your acquaintance Mr Sathish. And great to see your passion for bikes and vintages. Will be waiting to see your videos.

Finally someone older than me at xBhp!

**powertwin** · 04-27-2009, 05:01 PM

Originally posted by sudharma View Post

I am having the original Number Plate on the A50. but some in the forum commented that it is of bullet and as such had to be changed. Thats why I put in the question. But the lamp is of bullet (with the bubble in the middle) and I need to get the original one. Any Idea if they are available in India?

Where can I get the seat made (in India?) like in the pictures?. Mine is a locally made one since the original one corroded away.

Regards,
Sathish

Tail light....... you can get Lucas replicas (from UK or from any other online shops) but our own Indian MINDA Tail lights,are far more superior to their foreign counter parts.
If you have that "O.E" seat plate is with you ( even though corroded badly).........its cool, we can reproduce it.
Seat foam fabrication & covers can be made as original

just contact me, when you reach Bangy>

**sudharma** · 04-27-2009, 06:14 PM

Originally posted by ken cool View Post

Great to make your acquaintance Mr Sathish. And great to see your passion for bikes and vintages. Will be waiting to see your videos.

Finally someone older than me at xBhp!

Its my pleasure to make your acquaintance. I joined here recently and still struggling to get the hang of the site features.
Regards,
Sathish

**ken cool** · 04-27-2009, 06:24 PM

Originally posted by sudharma View Post

I will stop my boring history lesson for the time being.

Rehards,
Sathish

Loved your boring history lesson. Somehow I can relate to it since I have seen my father tinkering with his Jawa and the way I tried pumping the kick when I was 9! I saw my father open up everything in the Jawa and later the Royal Enfield. Some of his colleagues used to open up their Crusaders and Rajdoots as well. He even occasionally got me "foreign" bike magazines and I used to wonder at the "multicylinders".

**sudharma** · 04-27-2009, 06:26 PM

Originally posted by powertwin View Post

Tail light....... you can get Lucas replicas (from UK or from any other online shops) but our own Indian MINDA Tail lights,are far more superior to their foreign counter parts.
If you have that "O.E" seat plate is with you ( even though corroded badly).........its cool, we can reproduce it.
Seat foam fabrication & covers can be made as original

just contact me, when you reach Bangy>

The seat plate was reproduced almost as the original. its the foam and cover that I am not happy with. I can get the Tail lamp from UK, but since you mention that our MINDA Tail lights are far more superior, Do you know of any location where these are available (or how to get them).?
I may still have to source the S8 Tail Lamp from UK.

Any way I will contact you once I reach B'lore. And thanks for the information.

Regards,
Sathish

**sudharma** · 08-06-2009, 09:09 PM

Vintage British Bikes - Instruction & Maintenance Books

I have a collection of 10 Instruction & Maintenance Manuals (original prints) on British Bikes made from 1928 to 1951. These books were printed between 1948 & 1950 and covers Vintage Bikes such as :-

Rudge, BSA, Panther, A.J.S, Sunbeam, Ariel, Royal Enfield, Triumph. Also there is a Manual of a German Bike called Maico Typhoon. Another book I have is one called "Modern Autocycle".

I have also hundreds of "classic Bikes" and "Classic Motorcycles" magazines from 1987 onwards.

Also I have a very good collection of modern books on Vintage and Classic Bikes covering almost all British Bikes.

I would be happy to assist any one who needs any Information from these books and manuals.

I tried to upload a list, but the size of the file was more than the allowed size.

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My Classic Bikes : Introduction

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