THE SHED

At some point in every bike project there comes a moment of truth. In fact, there are several moments of truth, but listing them would seriously reduce the dramatic effect. I found myself standing and staring at the Sunbeam S8, a rusty dusty survivor of several Shed relocations and years of neglect. Too many years of neglect. I was brought up a Roman Catholic – I deeply understand guilt.

Enough of that. I closed last month’s Shed doors revealing that the Sunbeam was a runner again, after a mere couple of decades. But, as you know, there is running and there is running. The engine starts and runs. This is good. It’s no more rattly than I would hope for an all-alloy ohc engine from the mid-1950s, and it doesn’t smoke at all. These are good things. No new oily drips sullied the bench beneath it, either. Another good thing.

However... Sunbeam saw fit to present their riders with a pair of early warning lights in the headlamp shell, one red and one green. They both lit up obligingly. I distracted myself by wondering whether they were the correct way round to be nautical navigation lights, but that only worked for a moment. There was no avoiding the awful truth: both lights stayed resolutely lit while the engine was running. This is not a good thing, as you may already be aware.

But first a moment like the great restart needs to be treasured. I switched off the engine – which showed little interest in ticking over, to be honest, and then started it again, just to see whether it would. It did.

Sunbeam’s twins feature what might be one