My 1955 Ariel VB 600. One previous owner.

NicM
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My 1955 Ariel VB 600. One previous owner.

Post by NicM »

Hi
I thought I would just post about my Ariel VB 600 1955.
I bought it from the original owner in 1978 in North Wales.
I still own it so it is a two owner vehicle.
IMG_20220514_193050.jpg

As a very young man I rode it as it was.
Things like a license, MOT, insurance, tax, didn't seem a necessity. I got convicted of the lack of all four twice!
Apparently the Police car of choice, the Mini van, can out run a 600 VB. Dam, I nearly got away.

I visited Dragonfly twice when they were in London and started to restore the Ariel as I was old enough to have a license and had bought a Suzuki 185.

In 1985 I returned the Ariel to the road and re registered it. KSV 298.
Myself and my wife (girlfriend at the time) attended various Ariel rallies at Oswestry and Norwich during the late 1980's.

At the last one at Norwich my wife got very bad food poisoning and was admitted to an isolation ward in a hospital in Norwich.
I went back to the rally and told various club officers and then becoming ill myself also got isolated in hospital.

We were diagnosed with E.coli. My wife was on a drip and we were there until Thursday after the rally.
I returned to the showground to find the bike had been thrown on it's side in the bushes at the end of the ground and my tent and all our belongings gone. Public health interviewed us in the hospital and three months late back in North Wales. We were extremely ill. I had a letter from them six months later saying the had investigated the caterer at the rally and found a lot of inadequacies and they had to comply with many action points but could not prosecuted due to lack of evidence.
I wonder what the last person thought as they left the rally with one bike left. My wife lost two stone. We were very ill indeed.
We then left the club and have never re joined.

The Ariel VB is very original as it only had one owner before me. It runs very well on all it's original parts, carb, gear box, engine, magneto, dynamo, regulator, forks, tank, horn and right had side hooter switch in the original bars.
Motorcycles have come and gone way way too many to list but the Ariel stayed.

Turn the petrol on, tickle the carb, half choke half advance and quarter throttle and hoof it and bang bang bang away she goes.
It has never let me down, I've always got home.
I saved it from being turned into cat food cans back in 1978. It's nearly 70 years old, runs better than I do now.
Without me it wouldn't exist, as I've said I'm the second owner.
I'm thinking of selling it after all these years, it's time for a new chapter in it's history.
I do wonder how many 1955 VB 600's there are in this world that left the factory.
Will the next owner have it for 44 years?
Thanks for wading through.
Regards
Nic M.
JohnnyBeckett
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Re: My 1955 Ariel VB 600. One previous owner.

Post by JohnnyBeckett »

that was a nice club nicked all your gear and dumped your Ariel in the bushes waiting to be nicked :evil: :evil: and did not care to find-out what happen to you :evil: :evil:
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Roger Gwynn
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Re: My 1955 Ariel VB 600. One previous owner.

Post by Roger Gwynn »

There were 1367 VBs made in 1955, 41 are on the register with the correct but not necessarily the original engine and a further 30 with an incorrect prefixed engine. A survival rate of 3 %, which is a bit lower than average as many will have had other engines fitted.

A sad story about your experience at the Norwich annual, I know damn well that had any of the members known of your plight they would have looked after your bike and gear as well as you. I didn't hear anything about this at the time. If nobody knew and saw a bike and tent on the field they would naturally assume that the owner had wandered off and would be back soon.
Roger Gwynn, Membership Secretary, curator of the Machine Register and the works drawings. Director of Draganfly Motorcycles, Craven Equipment and Supreme Motorcycles mostly retired.
NicM
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Re: My 1955 Ariel VB 600. One previous owner.

Post by NicM »

Hi
Sorry but the first reply seems to be missing the point a bit. My post is not about some crappy camping gear from 35 years ago and sitting here fuming about it for the whole of my adult life. It was about owning the first bike I ever bought for the whole of my life and getting arrested on it. When was the last time your mother read in the local news paper that you have been convicted of riding your Ariel. 1988 myself. (Three endorsements and 60 pound fine, band for a whole year).

Roger thankyou for your lovely reply. 1367 VB's made in 1955. Considering Ariel were making lots of models it's a shocking amount. Also 3% survival rate is also surprising and a very reassuring figure. What % would have done so if you didn't start Dragonfly?

I first met you in London, the bikes looked older than us. The passage of time doesn't seem to have effected the bikes LOL. Still I suspect we can both polish up a bit. I remember meeting your first baby in Oswestry sometime during the last century.

As for all those VB's that were made it is my personal opinion that side valves are far more reliable that overhead vales which will, as time proves, fall out of the cylinder heads. Gravity will have it's way. It's basic physics. I don't think the overhead valve configuration will catch on. I certainly won't buy one.

:D :D :D
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Re: My 1955 Ariel VB 600. One previous owner.

Post by JohnnyBeckett »

hi the first time my mother seen me in the newspaper i got 54 endorsements and had to have extra pages put in my driving licencee and i was 15 years of age and the next time there was 6 of us in the dock at 16 :roll:
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Re: My 1955 Ariel VB 600. One previous owner.

Post by admin »

NicM wrote: Sun May 29, 2022 7:24 pm Sorry but the first reply seems to be missing the point a bit.....
Nic - I think you're mis-reading Johnny's comment in that post, it's about the attitude of the folks who chuck other people's bikes in the hedge and go round stealing camping gear. It's NOT about you!
(But any competition about who's had most endorsements quickest is going to have to continue elsewhere, not in this topic thread...)


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Andy H
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Re: My 1955 Ariel VB 600. One previous owner.

Post by Andy H »

Greetings Nic,can you remember where in N.Wales you bought it from?
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Re: My 1955 Ariel VB 600. One previous owner.

Post by NicM »

Hi yes.
It was in a barn on a farm in Trefor. On the llyn peninsular just up from Caernarfon. I went to see a Norton commando owned by the farmers son but when he started it, frankly it scared me. They were Welsh speaking only.

The Ariel was under a blanket. It started so I rode home on it £75. Crunching gears and stalling a lot.

Regards.
Last edited by NicM on Tue May 31, 2022 10:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
Andy H
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Re: My 1955 Ariel VB 600. One previous owner.

Post by Andy H »

Thanks,I just wondered as a bloke down the road from me sold one in the early 80s, thought it may be that one but its not.There are a few strange people that far into Wales.Have a good day.
NicM
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Re: My 1955 Ariel VB 600. One previous owner.

Post by NicM »

Ah yes it's all dungarees, harps and welch cakes up there.

We used to ride from Caernarfon down the Llyn to Aberdaron, Tremadog , Beddgelert and back to Caernarfon.

Now that's a ride.
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