RatFinkABCAN

Anybody have one? or any information on this brand?

At best old roads has one photo...goo-diligence (Google) has nothing. Searching on 'Sunshine' here produces stories of sunny days etc.

Going to look at a 40's vintage one, not that I believe to be 'valuable' or anything. Just interesting.

Thanks...

Im Fixed

I have tricycle from the 50s with origonal ball hitch and wagon that is a Sunshine, made in Waterloo Ontario about 20 miles from me. If Im not mistaken they build Raleighs there now. Divine and bright has one as well maybe he'll see your post. If you get it post some pics of it. later

T-Mar

You're mistaken. The Raleigh factory is in Waterloo, QUEBEC.

divineAndbright

Theres a balloon tire model one on ebay Canada right now which is some kinda coca cola promotional bicycle from the fifties if you're interested. I personally havent been able to dig anything up on them. I met an old guy this past summer whom saw me riding around on my sunshine and he mentioned his neighbor had a one when he was a kid, only a balloon tire model, so they were around, but CCM obvliously dominated back then ergo coming across a surviving one is somewhat rare I assume. I saw a photo of a girls balloon model from the 50s not to long ago that was for sale in St Catharines? Ontario. They all seem to have a sprocket design very similiar, or exactly the same even as ones Shelby (an american) company used. If you ask me they seem to have much more American influence in their design with more curvey frames similar to old American bikes compared to other old Canadian bikes which is rather interesting.

J T CUNNINGHAM

Sunshine was a furniture co In Waterloo , Ontario , that was wholly owned by the

Massey-Ferguson Company . ( They of farm implement fame )

Massey , at the turn of the last century did indeed manufacture a line of bicycles ;

Check out the web re : Massey - Harris / Massey - Harris - Ferguson .

The Toronto Plant ( closed '85 ) had only Sunshine Branded Office Furniture ,

However , I did not see any bikes . ( Sunshine , M-F, or other )


Regards,
J T

thebikeguy

I have some info on this marque. I recently acquired a couple of 1955 Sunshine bikes. I have been high and low trying to find out anything about them. I ran into a lot of " sunny days " *lol* but perserverance paid off. I found this at the National Archives (Canada):

"Incorporated in 1929 by H.V. McKay of Sunshine Harvester Works(Australia) and Massey-Harris(Canada). Sunshine-Waterloo Company Ltd. was formed. They built a 285,000 square foot plant in Waterloo, Ontario in 1930. The company was involved in manufacturing mainly farm equipment before the war. The company diversified during the 1930s adding the production of baby carriages, bicycles, tricycles and roller skates. In 1939 the manufacturing converted to war-related production army trucks, smoke bombs, shells, mines, grenades and gun mounts. Following the war, market changes led to the company adding office products, stoves, shelving and lockers. Massey-Ferguson Industries Limited(formed in 1953 from Massey-Harris-Ferguson) purchased H.V.MacKay's share in 1955, acquiring the Sunshine-Waterloo Company in the process.

This association allowed the company to expand in the office equipment market leading to a switch in focus in 1956 almost entirely to the manufacture of steel office furniture. The name was changed to Sunshine Office Equipment Limited in 1961"

I hope this helps somewhat. If it's a 40s model, it would be from the later part of the decade. Either way, it's a cool bit of Canadiana. I hope you buy it. It's good to preserve some small bit of Canadian heritage. You never know. They might be super rare. By my calculations, they only built bikes for 11-12 years. And I'm pretty sure there wasn't high numbers of them built and sold. I've added pics of mine and some of a Sunshine tricycle for sale on e-bay.

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thebikeguy

....the other
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thebikeguy

and the 50s trike off of e-bay
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thebikeguy

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thebikeguy

The sprocket is designed after the Sunshine logo they used on their farm equipment. Here's a pic of the logo on 1926 Sunshine Harvester. It was essentially the first Combine. It had a major impact on the social and economic development of Australia, and was a significant contributor to the mechanisation of agriculture around the world. They renamed Braybrook Junction(where the Sunshine Harvester Works was located) to Sunshine in 1907.

[IMG][/IMG]

chriskitch

My grandfather was the president of Sunshine when it opened in Waterloo...He was brought over from Australia by the company to fill the roll...
Sunshine did, indeed, make bikes and even did a skateboard prototype that I was unfortunate enough to receive as a Christmas present one year in my youth (there was a good reason it never made it past the prototype stage)...
I don't own a sunshine bicycle but I do have a couple of filing cabinets they made...Don't know what became of the skateboard...

J T CUNNINGHAM

Sunshine office furniture was not only "bullet-proof",

but the range of desks were

of classic design.


Regards,
J T

chriskitch

My dad has one of the desks...It's built like a tank...Same weight too...Everything that Sunshine made was pretty heavy duty...It was like the exact opposite of Ikea...

sunshineboy

Hi Chriskitch,
let me know if you would like a sunshine...
cheers

stopthepresses

I do have one of these ladies bikes,mine orginally was a baby blue in color altho at present it is primed for repainting.Have pics if anybody interested and might even be in the market to sell as I have been laided off almost a year and half and things are tight. Paul

sunshineboy

Hi,

I have asunshine lightweight which I believe to be made in the late 40's or early fifties. They were made just a quarter mile from my house, and I have seen quite a few in town. the are worth serious money to local collectors, as they are quite rare and very well built. look for the sunburst crankset!

fredandsong

Stumbled across this, there doesn't appear to be much on sunshine

"Incorporated in 1929 by H.V. McKay of Sunshine Harvester Works(Australia) and Massey-Harris(Canada). Sunshine-Waterloo Company Ltd. was formed. They built a 285,000 square foot plant in Waterloo, Ontario in 1930. The company was involved in manufacturing mainly farm equipment before the war. The company diversified during the 1930s adding the production of baby carriages, bicycles, tricycles and roller skates. In 1939 the manufacturing converted to war-related production army trucks, smoke bombs, shells, mines, grenades and gun mounts. Following the war, market changes led to the company adding office products, stoves, shelving and lockers. Massey-Ferguson Industries Limited(formed in 1953 from Massey-Harris-Ferguson) purchased H.V.MacKay's share in 1955, acquiring the Sunshine-Waterloo Company in the process.

This association allowed the company to expand in the office equipment market leading to a switch in focus in 1956 almost entirely to the manufacture of steel office furniture. The name was changed to Sunshine Office Equipment Limited in 1961"

I just bought a Sunshine balloon tire bike here in Nove Scotia and was riding it yesterday.
I also have a Raleigh, 3 with wooden wheels, and a few from the 60's.

ralmon

Here's a link to mine

https://i827.photobucket.com/albums/z...e/IMG_0045.jpg
https://i827.photobucket.com/albums/z...e/IMG_0046.jpg

whatjd

I'm picking this one up tomorrow...

Any idea as to what decade this would originate from?

I plan to fully disassemble it, give it an acid bath to remove all rust, and fiberglass over any pitted areas and repaint the whole thing, get a few parts powdercoated (by a friend, on the cheap) and have the lettering hand-painted on by a very talented friend of mine who's looking for a simple unique side project (which I think this would be perfect for)

The restoration is nothing more than a hobby to soak up some free time I have, so the value of the bike doesn't concern me, but knowing the history on it would be great.

chriskitch: I grew up and went to school with a family of Kitch's here in Lancaster, Pennsylvania USA... wonder how far off the family tree they possibly are... Anyway, you mentioned a skateboard made by them that you had. If you ever come across it, I would love to buy it from you! It would make a great addition to this bike.

Or for anyone else reading who comes across a skateboard, please let me know! I have PM's enabled here on the forum.

Cheers,

rhm

Oh, my! Well, I'd date it to 1965-1975, but I have to say it's the cheapest looking thing I have ever seen. The words "bicycle-shaped-object" seem an exaggeration, somehow. Can't you find a better way to spend your time? Sorry, I don't want to be mean, but... oh, man, oh, man.

Jennie

I inherited one of these bikes from a friends mom's garage...and we are taking it apart, cleaning every piece and putting it back together. I loved the look of the bike, and as we started working on it realized it is a well made bike with really cool parts! I don't know what year it is...but would love to know more. It is definitely from before 1970...

clubman 

Yours appears to have fat tires which dates the bike from roughly the mid 30's to the late 50's. Canadian's weren't big on balloon tires which makes yours somehat rarer. Sunshines weren't as common as CCM's but they're well made roadsters and should last another century or so. Post some final pics when you finish it. BTW, the tires made be hard to find.

Jennie

I found some Elektra tires that fit just fine - but I don't know what to do with the old tires - are they of value to other people? I can't believe how old this bike is! Amazing! I feel kind of guilty we already sanded and re-painted it!! We have cleaned all the components, and they still work. Having some trouble figuring out the rear hub....

sauze

A Sunshine bike is up for sale in my area, looks to be in pretty good condition



quote from seller
Asking $200

sunshineboy

buy it sauze, or let me know where I can contact them... please.