For price and purchase, please click here… 
In their catalogues, Sunbeam offered frame sizes from 22″ to 28″. A catalogue, however, only presented suggestions. Customers could actually order whatever took their fancy, any combination of specifications, and a frame size to suit their inner leg measurement.
Priced at 24 guineas, the Golden Sunbeam for Gentlemen with (Sunbeam’s own) three-speed gear was the company’s top model. The cost of the optional extras fitted to this bicycle are as follows:
Special frame size: 10/- 6d
Aluminium pedals: 5/-
Aluminium rims: 12/- 6d
Brooks B90 saddle: 3/- 6d
1924 All-Black Golden Sunbeam for Gentlemen
Tall 30″ Frame
Sunbeam 3-Speed gear
28 x 1 3/4″ Wheels with Roman Rims
Sunbeam patent aluminium pedals
Brooks Model B90 saddle
If you were around 6ft 6 inches tall with an inside leg measurement of 39 inches you would need to order a bicycle specially from one of the manufacturers. In the early days of the cycle trade, the factories offered a bespoke service and a customer was able to order a cycle in his size just as he would order his suit.
This is a rare surviving tall frame machine, undoubtedly one of the tallest Sunbeams made (though there are rumours of a taller one somewhere). It has recently been serviced and is in good order all round. I need to replace one pedal rubber and the missing chaincase cover. It has some nice extras such as aluminium pedals and wheels. The paintwork is original, unrestored; much of the box lining has survived, though only the chaincase transfer (decal) is remains. It’s too tall for me, but it’s ready to ride,.
SUNBEAM REPAIR OUTFIT HANDLE
SUNBEAM PATENT ALUMINIUM PEDALS
ALUMINIUM ‘ROMAN’ RIMS
Dr Reinhard Isidore Romanoff was a pioneer in the application of aluminium, and experimented with the production of aluminium-tubed BIcycles. His company was the ‘Roman Cycle Co’ of 31 Lombard Street, London. He perfected a jointless rim made from a new alloy – aluminium, tungsten and nickel – which he patented in 1897 and displayed at the National Cycle Show. He named his unique alloy ‘Romanium’, and his new lightweight wheels were called ‘Roman’ rims. A manufacture date appears inside all rims, eg 0813 for August 1913.
Bicycle ‘novelties’ such as aluminium wheels were welcomed by the cycle industry, cycling press and public alike. In 1904, the Marston Cycle Co decided to adopt Dr. Romanoff’s famous ‘Roman’ rims and offer them as an optional extra when a customer bought a Sunbeam. By 1909 Roman rims were fitted to all Sunbeams, until steel rims were introduced in 1916.
