Does anyone know anything about Sun bikes, specifically the Sun Solo.
Bought one as a cheap (£20) SS conversion and having got it built started wondering what I'd actually got. I suspect it's nothing more than a gas pipe POS.
Came with a mix of Sachs-Huret (deraileurs and shifters) , Sturmey-Archer (stem), Raleigh (Custom SR Crankset) and Maillard (5 spd freewheel) bits.
No braze on's other than pump pegs on the top tube nd cble stop for the rear deraileur.
27" Chromed wheels.
No serial number on the frame that I could find, closest I could get was a number on the rear deraileur that puts it around 1984.
Decals on the down tube and seat tube say Sun Solo. Decal (badly applied) on the head tube says Sun Nottingham.
The most I can find about it is that Sun had a factory in Worksop (which is where I bought it), that was bought out by Raleigh at some point and which retained production of the Sun branded bikes while other Raleigh aquisitions relocated to Nottingham.
Elswhere I found one reference to Sun being used to sell rebadged Raleighs whose build quality wasn't up to scratch.
The bit that interests me is that Raleigh et al were ultimately owned by TI Group (as TI Raleigh) which also owned Brooks, Sturmey-Archer and Reynolds at the time, so there is a chance, admittedly small, that it might be a 531 frame. If it's not badged as such is there any way of telling?
If people are interested I'll put some pictures up when I can get at them.
Does anyone know anything about Sun bikes, specifically the Sun Solo.
Bought one as a cheap (£20) SS conversion and having got it built started wondering what I'd actually got. I suspect it's nothing more than a gas pipe POS.
Came with a mix of Sachs-Huret (deraileurs and shifters) , Sturmey-Archer (stem), Raleigh (Custom SR Crankset) and Maillard (5 spd freewheel) bits.
No braze on's other than pump pegs on the top tube nd cble stop for the rear deraileur.
27" Chromed wheels.
No serial number on the frame that I could find, closest I could get was a number on the rear deraileur that puts it around 1984.
Decals on the down tube and seat tube say Sun Solo. Decal (badly applied) on the head tube says Sun Nottingham.
The most I can find about it is that Sun had a factory in Worksop (which is where I bought it), that was bought out by Raleigh at some point and which retained production of the Sun branded bikes while other Raleigh aquisitions relocated to Nottingham.
Elswhere I found one reference to Sun being used to sell rebadged Raleighs whose build quality wasn't up to scratch.
The bit that interests me is that Raleigh et al were ultimately owned by TI Group (as TI Raleigh) which also owned Brooks, Sturmey-Archer and Reynolds at the time, so there is a chance, admittedly small, that it might be a 531 frame. If it's not badged as such is there any way of telling?
If people are interested I'll put some pictures up when I can get at them.