You're quite right that it deserves to be built as a complete bike and there certainly weren't that many made - Mk 1's like yours probably a couple of hundred at most. They are great fun on the road too DSCF0582a.jpg Mine is a little earlier - hence the wheels and you can see what I mean about the s...

Looks good to me, especially the oiltank and air cleaner. The fork yokes and seat I'm not so sure about but the original seat was pretty horrible anyway. The propstand lug is a stranger too and the PRF has been modified with an extra boss on the chain side. One thing to be a bit careful of is the ra...

The speedo cable goes in further than you might think - once you've got the tongue on the cable aligned with the slot in the drive. DSCF0805.JPG I push gently on the cable while turning the back wheel until things line up. You may have to pull the cable up slightly to get the screw to go in but once...

On my 1952 Mk 1 the oil feed pipe doesn't split into feeds for the rockerbox and pressure gauge until it's above the rockerbox where there is a 'T' piece. The pipe is 3/16" OD and (as near as I can measure) 1/8" ID. The bit that matters is the hollow stud onto which the bottom end of the p...

Found under the bench - the bar joining the two legs has snapped, both stops would
benefit from welding up and the pivot holes are probably in need of TLC too. Yours if they are of any use.

I've finally found time to strip out the brake plate I have. it's pretty much as you describe it with the spigot of the brake cam holder projecting through the brake backplate. However, on mine, the washer doesn't sit over the projecting spigot, it sits on it, keeping the cam and the shoes away from...

The following might be of some use: wheel_1.jpg The above shows the arrangement of spacers on the drive side, spacers are 9/16" thick and yes, the brakeplate is wrong. wheel_2.JPG The above shows the spacer inside the brake drum. wheel_5.jpg The above shows the other side. wheel_4.jpg wheel_3.J...

Hello Wade, You ask if I have the rest of the bike. The answer is 'sort of''. The wheel and forks came from my local motorcycle dealer who had bought them as 'new' surplus in the '50s. I bought them in the mid '60s to fit on a rigid frame 500 I had. The front brake was not at all up to stopping the ...

Hello Wade, Some images of a wheel and associated nuts: w_ng_hub_4.JPG The brakeplate retaining nut is on the right and is back-to-front the nut on the left being the wheel retaining nut. w_ng_hub_3.JPG w_ng_hub_2.JPG w_ng_hub_1.JPG The nut retaining the brakeplate is 5/8" long overall with a 3...

That's the VCH/VHA head/barrel I was writing about previously - there isn't a lot of metal just above the bottom flange. Compare it with the later versions as below - Ariel felt the need to considerably strengthen things before going to 9:1 in the HS. The head you have has a bigger exhaust valve tha...