The Bullnose Sunbeam Model 90 is nothing overly complicated, rather a good formula, executed well. And never better illustrated than by this remarkable example.
Words: JAMES ROBINSON Photographs: GARY CHAPMAN
The Bullnose Sunbeam Model 90. To my mind, one of the most desirable vintage machines of all and, if we say single cylinder, then to paraphrase famous old football manager Brian Clough, I’d not say it’s necessarily the best, but it’s probably in the top one… And of all the Bullnoses (so 1927 and 1928 Model 90s) in the world – and there’s not many of them, somewhere around 50 – then this one is arguably the best of all, though honourable mention must be given to our contributor Richard Rosenthal’s example (featured in our June 2023 issue) which almost has a history to rival this machines; almost, but not quite, to me anyway. Though it is very close, but this one, featured here, I’ve known about longer – ever since I read the feature in The Classic MotorCycle, November 1985, when I would have been aged about seven and already obsessed with old motorbikes; I’d already read Jeff Clew’s Scott book as my ‘read at home with a parent’ book when at primary school… The Sunbeam, though, enraptured me, I think mainly because of its unusual upswept exhausts, as much as anything. I always kept track of it, best I could, and glanced it fleetingly at a few events, even seeing it for sale at Verralls once.
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And guess what? I got to buy it. And ride it. Though, sadly for me, not to own it. And having now ridden it, it’s even more of a shame I don’t own it. But at least I did get to ride it – and at least it’s gone to a good home, albeit one far, far away…
While I was first reading the article at my grandparents’ dining room table in Fakenham, Norfolk, so a boy about my age, was also becoming obsessed with old British motorbikes. And while my case was somewhat unusual, his was even more so, for he was in Japan. He was Masami Inagaki, now a 40-something year old committed Anglophile with a collection of old British machinery, but then a youngster developing a taste not for the high-tech products of his own country, but those made far, far away, and while market leaders in their own time, now old-fashioned and outdated – basically, the opposite of the stereotype we’re led to believe about Japan. Masami – known as ‘Sammy’ – is at the forefront of the Japanese vintage movement and confesses that the Bob Lowe Model 90 was his dream bike; such was his determination to buy it, I was enlisted to help.
My (and TCM’s) friend John Oakes and Sammy are pals, and so, naturally, it would be that John would bid on the bike for Sammy in the Stafford auction where it was coming up for sale – but there was a problem. It was John’s wife’s 40th birthday and they were away for the weekend so he’d not be able to bid for the bike, so would I do it?
The best analogy I could come up with was when you were young and your mate asked you to ask out a girl you knew on his behalf, but, actually, you had a thing for herself… But knew it wasn’t possible, so would act on his behalf. That was a little bit how I felt to be charged with bidding on the Beam; I really, really wanted it, but it wasn’t possible or feasible at the moment anyway, so at least this way, I’d still be involved. Consequently, I said I’d do Sammy’s bidding… just as long as I got to have a ride on it if we won!
That was what duly happened, hence you see it here before you. The Model 90 is an iconic machine, the Bullnose – on account of its petrol tank nose shape – being the pinnacle of all the Model 90s, as a new frame and saddle tank followed it for the 1929 model year. These later models have never been as highly prized or priced as the earlier ones, despite also boasting a Senior TT win; diminutive Charlie Dodson won the race on a Bullnose in 1928, repeating the feat on the new saddle tank model in 1929. And the saddle tank 90 had a much longer life-span that the Bullnose too, being as it ran in the Sunbeam range until 1933, when it was joined by the ‘95’ which was essentially the same thing, and for the next season it was the 95 alone which continued, its last season being 1935, when there was 95L and 95R, the former with a kickstarter, the latter without. By then, though, the Sunbeam sportsters were long in tooth – which is an interesting anomaly with the Bullnose 90 as, in some ways, it was dated by the time it was launched in late 1926. Because by then BSA had its Sloper on offer, with its saddle tank frame and tilted engine helping with the low seat height, while Ariel had effectively copied HRD’s cobby styling for its 1927 range too. These looked modern and cutting edge.
Sunbeam, though, came up with something a bit new, style wise, but not too extreme, simply replacing the front end of the petrol tank, previously with hard edges, with a rounded radius. That was about it, really. At the heart of the new Model 90 was the firm’s famous 493cc overhead valve engine, a power plant which could trace its roots back to Sunbeam’s first ‘over-the-counter’ overhead valve engine, which was made available in the 1924 Model 9s, of which there were Sprint (with a tiny, sloped-back petrol tank and down angled frame top tube) and Parallel, with a standard-type flat tank. We say ‘over the counter’ because the fast and clever men at Sunbeam – whose number included racer and engineer George Dance, designer John Greenwood, another clever and fast man in Tommy de la Hay, plus skilled riders including Alec Bennett; Sunbeamland (the factory’s name) was not short of able people – had been experimenting with overhead valves for some time, Dance in particular competing on such machines. As an example, the first archive picture in our September edition, makes refence to Dance’s ohv Sunbeam at Scarborough in 1922, while he’d been using an overhead valve motor for at least two years by then, already.
That meant that as the general market moved away from side-valves to overhead valve, examples by the fact that Howard Davies won the 1921 Senior TT on the Junior £350cc ohv AJS, albeit sandwiching two Senior TT side-valve wins for Sunbeam, with Tommy de la Hay in 1920 and Alec Bennett in 1922, Sunbeam was slightly ahead of the curve, owing to Dance’s work, primarily. Meanwhile, James Lansdowne ‘Pa’ Norton was finishing off his final-ever Norton design, the overhead valve Model 18, thus arguably the two most iconic 1920s overhead 500cc models, were coming ‘on line’ at about the same time. But Sunbeams took a bit longer to find success and indeed by the time Dodson took the Senior TT win, Norton had already abandoned the layout, in terms of overhead camshaft, a concept which Sunbeam had used for his works racers in 1925, but swiftly abandoned.
Though as alluded to earlier, by the time the ‘Bullnose’ Model 90 was launched, not only was its styling a little outdated, so too was its configuration. Nortons and Velocette, plus AJS, were already going for cammies, while Rudge was using four-valve heads and four speed gearboxes; the Beam was a simple two-valve ohv layout, with a three-speed handchange gearbox, and though it did have a recirculating oil system, otherwise it was straightforward stuff, albeit done well.
Bullnose Model 90s were this made for just the 1927 and 1928 model years, the total survivors known to the excellent Marston Sunbeam Club and Register being 48, split equally between both years. Of the 24 from 1927, this one – registered on December 3, 1926 – is the second oldest known. Its remarkable history is detailed in the reproduced article following this, though we can update on what was written by Bob Currie in 1985. When Bill Price (who was the registered keeper) died, Mrs Lowe continued to allow enthusiasts to borrow the machine, among them Baz Staples of the Sunbeam MCC club, who rode it with a sidecar attached for a time. In 1997, it was acquired by John E Davis, who undertook some restoration work, including having the forks rebuilt. It then passed in May 2000 to Alan Spinder who subsequently offered it for sale via Verralls in February 2006 (it was advertised in Verralls’ advert in our May 2006 issue) when it was acquired by Chris Pile, a well-known Sussex VMCC member. On Chris’s untimely death a couple of years ago, it passed to his nephew, who, in the end, decided to put the bike up for auction.
In the early part of 2025, Bonhams’ Ben Walker called me and said, “We’ve got an amazing Sunbeam coming up for auction, it’s got history like you’d never believe…” I cut him short and said, “Is it the Bob Lowe bike?” To which he replied, “Yes, how did you know that?” Because I’d been tracing it, pretty much, for years and did know about Chris’s sad demise, so it had to be that one, as the only comparable one (the Rosenthal-owned example) was definitely not coming up for sale. Unfortunately, circumstances – short arms, long pockets… – meant there was no way I’d be in a position to bid for it and, not long after, I had a call from John Oakes. I had vaguely thought about having a go for it, but on talking to John, he said Sammy ‘was having it,’ setting an upper limit pretty much double anything I’d have been able to beg and borrow for my bid. Sammy was prepared to thoroughly go beyond the open auction record for a Bullnose Model 90 (in fact, for any Sunbeam) at auction – which was the 1928 example that I’d had on loan in 2017 from the National Motorcycle Museum, just another fabulous machine I’d have loved to own. That one – OX 5193, restored by Peter Woodward and possessed of good history – see our January 2018 issue – sold for £41,400 and we surmised it would take a similar amount to take ownership of the Lowe machine.
In fact, the total price, with fees included but not taxes, was £36,800, making it the fourth most expensive Sunbeam sold at auction, as told to me by my friend Mick Easton, registrar for the Marston Sunbeam Club and Register. It will be going to its new home in Japan, and while it’s sad it’s leaving these shores, it’s undoubtedly going to a new home; indeed, it will become a stablemate to the 1933 Model 90, formerly property of OBM founder and our old contributor, the late Ken Hallworth.
But before it was going, I had, after all, been promised a ride on it. Thus it was on a ridiculously hot July day, we headed to John’s Leicestershire base, where the Sunbeam was staying until it went overseas. And John had also had a few rides on it too, so was confident and happy to let me loose on it.
It started easily and settled to reliable, steady tickover, chuffing along happily on its stand – from the details in Bob Currie’s original article, we know that machine wasn’t delivered in a particularly sporty configuration, which the noise hints at, too. It sounds healthy enough, absolutely, but doesn’t have the harsh bark some of its siblings do. It also has a wide ratio gearbox, with first really low, though playing with the advance/retard lever means that actually, once in top, there’s not a huge amount of gearchanging required. In fact, hardly any such is the engine’s flexibility. I once did a whole afternoon of a club run on my 9/90 (a 9 to 90 specification, complete with close ratio gearbox) using just top gear and ignition control; these are flexible engines.
They have plenty of ‘get and go’ too, though, with the Lowe machine responding wonderfully to an opening of the throttle, smoothly pulling itself and its rider along, a strong feeling emanating from the engine. This good performance is backed up by a strong supporting cast, with brakes and gearbox (with usual Sunbeam graunch into first, of course) being as good as one can expect, while the Eckie Spring saddle provides decent comfort too. And while there are vintage machine of more glamorous specification and higher performance than this Sunbeam, as an all-round machine, I’d reckon it’s just about the perfect vintage motorcycle and if one only had a single motorcycle, let alone just a single vintage motorcycle, then it wouldn’t be bad shout – which was why Bob Lowe probably kept hold of it so long too. It’s just lovely, simple as that.
