Ariel flat tanker at Beamish Steam Fair

[simon.holyfield]

OK or not, it seems to work!

[leon.mitchell]

Thanks Jerry - a very interesting little booklet. Note that the bike Newey is riding is very clearly a single speeder.

All the Ariel talk before the 1913 Shows (in November 1913, to display the new 1914 models) featured the new gearbox, fitted to both singles and twins. The Motor Cycle took a 3 1/2 single with gearbox (chain to the gearbox, but still belt to the back wheel) to North Wales and flogged it about. It was written up in the 31 October issue.

I assume that the 1913 Show was the beginning of the end for the single speed and hub-gear Ariels.

Cheers

Leon

1914 Ariel

1913-11-27-mc-ariel.jpg (46.71 KiB) Viewed 3049 times

1914 Ariel gearbox

1913-10-31-mc-gearbox.jpg (32.65 KiB) Viewed 3049 times

1914 Ariel gear change lever

1913-10-31-mc-gear-change.jpg (20.36 KiB) Viewed 3049 times

[Eero.Korhonen]

Yes, pdf is working fine.
Br, Eero

[adrie.degraaff]

All the Ariel talk before the 1913 Shows (in November 1913, to display the new 1914 models) featured the new gearbox, fitted to both singles and twins.

So they used the box 2 years, maybe the war distoyed the boxes.

[john.deeth]

I have a copy of the 1914 catalogue that proudly displays four models:

3 1/2 h.p. Countershaft Three-speed Model
3 1/2 h.p. Hub Three-speed Model
3 1/2 h.p. Single Speed Model
5-6 h.p. Twin Cylinder, Countershaft, Three-speed Model

[jerry.mortimore]

Gearbox pdf. Undated, by the sort of Art Nouveau outlines are the same as the records booklet so 1913?

[leon.mitchell]

The illustration from Jerry's gearbox leaflet was used in a description of the gearbox in the Motor Cycle on 30 September 1915, so yes Adrie I'd say that the early gearbox with the open kick start quadrant on the drive side was 1914-1915 (model years), with the new gearbox with enclosed kick start 1916-on. The rise of the counter-shaft gearbox - and the death of the hub gear - was swift!

Leon

[leon.mitchell]

Browsing last evening, I noticed something interesting about veteran Ariel frames. Some, but not all, frames around early 1914 have the very sharp kink in the top frame rail, just like the one on the bike that is the subject of this thread. These frames seem to be fitted with tanks that come down to a genuine point at the lower rear. See below, from October 1913.

Other bikes from around the same period - see the illustrations above in this thread - have a nice curve to the top tube, and tanks with a slightly blunt lower rear end (despite the lining that goes down to a point).

There's a story in there somewhere, although I don't know what it is. Could it be something to do with Abingdon, who began supplying Ariel with twin cylinder motors at exactly this time? Their bikes had the very sharp kink in the top rail. Did Abingdon supply Ariel with some frame sets?

Another point of interest is that a 1914 Sturmey Archer advert listed Ariel among the makes who used their hub gear as standard, so it may be that some late veteran Ariels used SA hubs rather than Armstrong.

I'm going to stick with my original comment about the Beamish bike, and modify it just a little: "Very nice. 1914-ish?"

Cheers

Leon

Early 1914 Ariel with sharp kink in top tube

1914-ariel-oct-1913.jpg (60.06 KiB) Viewed 2970 times

[adrie.degraaff]

Did Abingdon supply Ariel with some frame sets?

That would explane for the wide rearforks the same as the gearbox frame, as always it's down to the numbers.

The Ariel could be much better than i thought.