Sunbeam Cycles made by John Marston Limited of Wolverhampton was a British brand of bicycles[1] and, from 1912 to 1956 motorcycles.

Sunbeam Cycles is most famous for its S7 balloon-tyred shaft-drive motorcycle with an overhead valve in-line twin engine.

Sunbeam Cycles was founded by John Marston, who was born in Ludlow, Shropshire, UK in 1836 of a minor landowning family.

In 1887 Marston began making bicycles and, on the suggestion of his wife Ellen, he adopted the trademark brand Sunbeam; their Paul Street works were named Sunbeamland.

From 1903 John Marston Limited had made some early experiments in adding engines to bicycles but they were unsuccessful; a man was killed.

A quite separate organisation located a mile away in Blakenhall, named Sunbeam Motor Car Company Limited, was founded in 1905.

Sunbeam motorcycles performed well in the early days of the famous TT (Tourist Trophy) races in the Isle of Man.

[4] As the factory was used to sheet-metal working and japanning (the Victorian equivalent of today's oven-baked enamel or 'powder coating') the construction of cycles presented few problems.

At first of similar design to other makers' machines, the company adopted a version of Harrison Carter's Little oil-bath chain case in the mid-1890s.

The top model was the "Golden", with alloy wheel-rims, epicyclic two- and three-speed gears and real gold-leaf pin-striping.

These and other models were made alongside the motor cycles at "Sunbeamland", Pool Street, Wolverhampton until 1937 and subsequently, to the same designs, by AMC until 1943 and BSA until 1957.

The engine was a longitudinally mounted inline vertical OHC 500 cc twin with coil ignition and wet sump lubrication which, through a dry clutch, drove a shaft drive to the rear wheel.