My Black Ariel

[ian cochrane]

Although I have been a club member for several years I have never introduced myself or told the history of my Ariel so here goes.It is a 1926 500ccOHV mod B,it was purchased new in December 1926 by my father,it was on the road till 1935 when he crashed it,he was hospitalised for almost a year after the surgeon peaced his shattered ankle and lower leg together.During the war it was used on my grandfathers farm to drive a circular saw,lots of bits were lost during this time,after the war it was put in a shed on the farm where it lay until the mid 60's when myself and a friend persuaded him to get it going,there were no controls other than the throttle(the clutch cable was tied round the centre of the handlebars),after putting fuel in and a few kicks it burst into life,pulling the cable up he got it into 1st,but on releasing the cable as slow as possible the clutch snatched the bike took off with no brakes it crashed into the undergrowth badly damaging his bad ankle,it went back into the shed and remained there until after his death in 1980.
I then decided to restore it,putting fuel in it,it started after 4 kicks,amazingly when stripping the engine I found the top ring broken,the other ring seized solid,the big end bearing fell into bits,the small end bush was non existent.2 years later and the bike partly restored I moved to Aberdeen and the Ariel lay covered in my garage,due to work commitment it lay untouched until the end of last year.
Having retired a few years ago I decided last year to continue with the restoration,sadly a great deal of the work done had deteriorated due to the damp garage.
This year so far,new rims,forks refurbished,frame,forks,rims etc.all been powder coated,new valves,guides(still to find new valve collets to complete the head rebuild)brake rods,wheel spindle nuts etc,rocker brackets have been replaced with stainless ones,petrol tank threaded mounts have been replaced with nuts brazed on the mounts,still need to de rust and seal the inside of the tank.
Although I have sourced a few bits from club spares there are still quite a lot I need,up here there are few auto jumbles,I have spent hours on the net.searching for bits,but even there a lot of replacement parts are on sites in Europe.So any details of suppliers,technical help will be greatly appreciated,will post a list of parts next week.
Ian

[Steven.Carter]

Welcome Ian, wow, great story. I'd love to see a picture of an Ariel powering a circular saw!

[nevhunter]

Powering saws is not a good thing for motorcycle engines, but it has been a means of their preservation at times. Often the rest of the bike would go to the tip and the engine kept to power a saw. They usually overheat and the piston gets to look a bit sad. Nev

[steve.clarke]

Hello Ian
89 years in the same family now that is priceless history,hardy engines these Ariels to start and run in that condition can't say I know much about Ariels of that vintage but I guess my late fifties 500 singles are descended from it so that gives me a sense of pride in the make, I would love to see a few Photo's good luck with the restoration I hope my 500's can meet their great Granddad 500 one day .
Regards,Steve.

[andyhughesflattankarielpre25]

Greetings all,its nice to see another vintage Ariel coming back to life,good luck.