Ariel Owners Motorcycle Club

From the WD Motorcycle forum :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-WW2 ... 3811356746

reserve not (yet!) met at 7700,- GBP -wow-
Luckely these where never fitted with a PA

When I was working in Sri Lanka in about 2006 I used to roam around the hills on my infrequent days off. One day I passed a remote house with a BSA B31 in the garden so I stopped and knocked on the door. The man invited me in for some tea and asked me if I like old bikes. When I replied I did he led me into a back room and, with a flourish threw the blanket off a wooden crate. Opening the top he asked me if I knew what it was. It was a Wellbike which had never been used!

The man went on to tell me how his father had joined the British army in WW2, became a paratrooper and dropped into France around D Day. After the war he returned to Sri Lanka (or Ceylon as it was then) and joined the AA as a motorcycle patrolman. There was a great photo of him on an AA Matchless in full uniform on a shelf.

He was well thought of in his regiment and, knowing how much he liked the Wellbikes his former comrades found one for him and sent it as a present. It was such a precious gift he never used it and, even after his death it remained a family heirloom in the wooden crate they were shipped from the factory in, the tyres were perished but apart from that it was totally original.

I often wondered what happened to it but I guess it and the BSA are probably still there.

Only it's mother could love it. Should have helped the war effort by giving them to the other side. Sorry if I upset anyone but I have ridden one. What were they thinking? comes to mind. A quid to be made?? Nev