Sun bike frame .

[Richard dickson]

Hi again.
Just been trawling the Web for info on sun bikes. Mainly photos. And came across this other name to do with sun cycles. Parkes.
Trawling the Web for info on parkes bikes. I discover that the fork crown has major similarities with mine. Q?.
There are no name labels left on my frame. And the serial no is what it is.
So even tho mine has the wrap around seat tubes on the frame , and with the decorative detail in the fork crown,
We're any parkes bikes built in the early 60s?
Also my frame has cast rear dropouts. Benelux and cyclo.
Most of the pictures I have seen in the forums and on the Web they have had pressed steel ones.
The dropouts on my front forks are pressed steel.

 

[Spokesmann]

Parkes owned the Sun brand. They sort of disappeared as far as I can tell when everything was swallowed up by TI, who bought Raleigh, who themselves had bought a load of other makes... Sun was moved to Worksop (Carlton) around 62. It (Sun) was gradually diluted/run down to the bargain basement of cycling, disappearing in the mid 80s.

 

[Richard dickson]

Parkes owned the Sun brand. They sort of disappeared as far as I can tell when everything was swallowed up by TI, who bought Raleigh, who themselves had bought a load of other makes... Sun was moved to Worksop (Carlton) around 62. It (Sun) was gradually diluted/run down to the bargain basement of cycling, disappearing in the mid 80s.

So this could have been a previously made frame . And gradually put in to the production line. And badged as all most anything.
Some one thought it worth while to put cast lugs on the frame. It's the pump peg locations that to the small amount of recearch I have done so far makes it a bit of an odd one. Most sun bikes seem to have the pegs on the underside of the top tube. Mine are on the seat tube.
Could this have been a cancelled special order?

 

[classic33]

The lugs don't appear to match/be part of the same style. You've already said the forks don't belong on the frame, possible replacement.

 

[Richard dickson]

The lugs don't appear to match/be part of the same style. You've already said the forks don't belong on the frame, possible replacement.

Hi thank for the reply. Yes I thought that the forks may not have been original. But.... the same black paint was on both bits! Or this combiation was cobbled together out of NOS parts just to make up a frame. ( lucky customer ).
If you look at some of the parkes bike photos on the Web a very similar pair can be seen re the fork crown. the filing is very similar. Either way I am going to restore this fame and make it 10 speed. And badge it a snipe prestige which I would like to think it was originally.

 

[Richard dickson]

In an earlier sun brochure 1958. A fancy cast fork crown was sold as an optional extra. Mine has this crown.