1958 Sun Cresta by Sun Cycle Birmingham England.
 

1958 Sun Cresta by Sun Cycle Birmingham England.



An original bike given to me by the original owner who purchased it in 1958 in Birmingham UK.

"lightweight" steel frame
celluloid fenders
27" Dunlop chrome steel wheels
GB brakes
Sapphire & Turquiose paint
Top tube pump pegs
alloy bars
Williams cranks
5 speed Benelux RD

All original except bar tape and tires. I will be cleaning it up for a special occasion rider.

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I need some new friends, :). What a lovely bike. It is an adventure fixing up a bike that old. I just finished fixing up a 1960 Olmo gran sport. It reminded me a bit of working on an old house; nothing goes together quite right but everything fits after a fashion with a bit of elbow grease.

Everything about that is awesome. Congrats! What a fantastic bike.

Beautiful and neat! Spectacular colors. Thanks for sharing.

I love everything about that bike. Congrats for such an awesome gift!

beautiful bike.
can you check on the engravings on the Williams crankset?
Williams component dating

the undated Sun catalogue on the threespeedhub site
http://web.archive.org/save/_embed/h...g-1950s-UK.pdf

has the Cresta model as a 10 speed, and different components, so we might be able to establish if yours came before or after that catalogue.
I would think the V-CC Sun Cycles Marque Enthusiast would be very keen to know about your bike for their Register.
More photos of the lugs, decals and the individual components would be appreciated.

Dang. That is the bomb.

All your other bikes are crying! Seriously, nice gift.

Will look forward to the clean...er pics as that one seems to be quite near there.

A few more pics.

This is my second post on this thread but seriously this is a radically cool bike.

I will second your second post. Awesome piece of history to admire.

Anybody else realize this is the second purple bike to show up for a new find ?

The original owner Jim, told me that when he went back to his home town of Birmingham England he tried to sell it to an LBS and they only offered him 10 pounds ($15) so he had it shipped to his home in Canada. Sun also sold bikes under the " F C Parkes " name, the family that started and owned Sun Cycle. Unique on this side of the pond!

Some more details.

Wow, with every set of pics, it just gets more handsome and handsomer.

Holy hot dog, that's a beauty. Congrats on a major score. :)

Awesome color combo, digging that bike.

Gorgeous Bike!

The Williams component guide shows the Chain ring as AY and Crank arm as AY as being 1957 and 1958. This helps confirm the 1958 date. Thanks for your help!http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=519941http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=519942

Wow! Incredible bike that has me in lust. Looks like my size too. :lol:

The bike gods have shone down on me for sure! It's a 23" frame. I am using this thread to post details as I scrape and scour 58 years of crud off it.

Trying to research this bike but not finding a lot. Built with EUUT tubing whatever that may be.

I will echo all the wows here. Or at least pretend I just did.

So? How does it ride? What does it weigh? Oh, and what size tires does it use?

I thought I heard some echoes all the way up to the north shores of Lake Erie. Although some advertising by Sun stated "Sun Cycles Lightweights of Quality" the actual weight measured by my luggage scale was 30.2 lbs. It feels lighter when riding and looks lighter with its small diameter seat stays. The frame feels stiff yet lively and steering is very centered, like on rails. The type of bike you might want to take on a tour of wine country or a pastoral picnic. I've ridden it about 5 miles and want to make sure that everything is cleaned and working but so far I'm impressed.
As a recreational cyclist I usually lean toward bikes with lots of gear range and the Sun falls a little shy in that area with a Williams 48 tooth chain ring and a 14 -22 5speed freewheel. Our LBS (North Shore Cycle) sponsors a group here called "Different Spokes", a totally non-racing group that rides anything and everything almost anywhere. I hope to use the Sun on some of these rides.
It has Dunlop special chromed steel wheels clad with 27" X 1/14 tires replaced in the 90s. It would have come new with white walls.
The Wrights "Olympian" reg. 56 saddle is surprisingly comfortable with springs and horsehair? under the thick leather.

The original owner said shifting sometimes required what he called "double clutching" but I found it worked fine, http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=520371http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=520372http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=520373http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=520374http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=520375http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=520378http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=520379http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=520380but with its chain operation did have a different feel than regular DT shifters.

Beautiful. Love the color too, feel like it's not often to find a mellow color of purple on a bike frame.

The Sun is now ready to ride! I have had to make a modification to the rear derailleur which I will detail later.