Ariel in Motor Cycling 1930/31

[GuyH]

Thanks everyone. It's good fun going through the old volumes but I keep getting waylaid by interesting articles. Many many years ago I heard of an old Ariel Leader in a garage, tracked down the owner and bought it for the princely sum of £42. It had all the extras and all I did was hoover the fuel tank out, put a battery on it and away it went. I rode that bike for thousands of miles without a problem. I've always thought that one day I'll have another.

Today's articles are from the Motor Cycle from 1955. This time it's the turn of the Ariel trials machines to come under the spotlight including a test of Sammy Miller's bike..........

[john.mitchell]

Great articles about Ariel trials bikes, Guy. I have sent a copy of the sidecar article to Ron.

[JohnnyBeckett]

HI Guy that is a good right up about trials riding i like the hats they are wearing no health and safety then looks like they are just going across the fields to get to the pub quick very good again today thank you KEEP SAFE and TAKE CARE

[GuyH]

Thanks Johnny and everyone - and John - it's nice to hear you've been able to send the trials article on to Ron who was actually in it - amazing! I'll keep an eye open for other articles or reports featuring him.
Today's feature is a four page article on the VH engine from the Motor Cycle in 1955 plus one workshop tip which, as I said yesterday weren't as interesting as the 1930s when everyone was trying to keep their bikes working and the depression meant this had to be achieved with a piece of string and an old sticking plaster. It seems that as time wore on 'The Motor Cycle' focused increasingly on technical aspects of motorcycles while 'Motorcycling' concentrated more on sports while also including smaller articles on the bikes themselves. I guess the clue to the contents was in the names!
Enjoy!

[JohnnyBeckett]

HI Guy that is a good writeup about the Ariel 500 red hunter i have got a 53/54 350 NH Red hunter on the go rebuilding it at the moment lots of good information to think about thank you for posting it take care and KEEP SAFE

[GuyH]

Glad to be of help Johnny! Firstly apologies for the difficulty in reading some parts of the text close to the spine of the volumes. Some of them are too fragile to risk flattening to place on the scanner. Today's pieces are from 1957 and 1962. The first is the review of the 1958 range from the Motor Cycle. It's not exactly scintillating and I suspect is virtually a verbatim copy of the factory press release. Tomorrow I'll post the same from Motorcycling who appears to have at least added a few bits to the information from the factory and posed questions about the factory policy. It's interesting to see how both publications deal with the unprecedented situation of the Ariel factory making no changes at all to their range for 1958. From 1962 there are some tips from the factories including Ariel for the home mechanic of the day...

[GuyH]

And for today the announcement of the 1958 Ariel range only this time from 'Motor Cycling' in September 1957. Reading between the lines I think the reporter was questioning why there were no changes to the range for 1958 but it keeping with the motorcycling journalistic practices of the day it seems very uncritical. Interestingly no mention of the two strokes though...

[JohnnyBeckett]

HI Guy the last two days of posts have been very good about the changes to the Ariels and and more works shop tips thank you for spending the time posting them and giving me something very good to read KEEP SAFE and TAKE CARE

[GuyH]

I missed yesterday as I was working on a 1994 Moto Guzzi 1100 Sport which has covered 116 miles in it's entire life. It's in remarkably good condition considering it's spent much of its life covered up in an open fronted barn and a lot different to work on than my old pre-war Ariels!

Today's offering includes an article from December 1943's Motor Cycling on a team of Ariel entrants in the 1936 Scottish six day trial. Wartime meant the printing wasn't of the best and the photo reproductions are a bit grainy. There's also some pages from Motor Cycling of 1928 and I've posted a couple of pictures which may be of interest to our friends in the Czech Republic and Slovakia....

[JohnnyBeckett]

HI Guy as they say a change is has a rest and thank you for today's posts very good reading and good tips KEEP SAFE and TAKE CARE