Ariel leader Arrow wheel hubs

[neilchalmers]

Hello all,
I am on the lookout for wheel hubs for a trials bike. The Ariel 2 stroke type look good. What model was fitted with alloy hubs?
Are some hubs constructed from steel and aluminium ?
Cheers

[Roger James]

The early Ariel Leaders from their launch in 1958 into 1960 were fitted as standard with Alloy hubs on front and rear wheels, after which they changed to cast iron hubs. The front hub has always been a popular fitting to trials machines, the trend being set by Sammy Miller. Alloy hubs have also been popular on Arrow racers. I tend to fit alloy hubs to my Arrow and Leaders regardless of the year they were manufactured as I find that they perform better as a brake compared to the cast iron hub. Ariel changed the brake plates three times in the early years as the early versions had a tendency to break up so they added strengthening ribs inside before finally producing the latter type with a flange on the lip to help keep out rain water, these have a number of ribs inside that allow the fitting of anti squeal springs, you can use any of the brake plates with Alloy hubs. As for availability, you can still purchase new old stock rear Alloy Leader hubs from Vale Onslow motorcycles, they usually advertise them for sale on ebay, however, the front Alloy hubs are a little harder to find these days but asking around and appealing on facebook groups will turn one up, hopefully in good condition, the alloy hubs have steel inserts for the wheel bearings, the offside insert has a retaining groove in it for the circlip, the outer edge of the inserts sometimes break off so you cannot fit the circlip, I don't think it means the hub is scrap, once in place in the forks the bearing isn't going to go anywhere, also check closely for any cracks anywhere, not that common but they do crack, the other thing to check before buying is the state of the metal insert that acts as the braking surface, these are often scored or rust pitted if allowed to stand with water in them, they can be skimmed but beware that the steel ring itself is not very thick so wont stand much skimming. Finally, not uncommon to find the spoke holes elongated. Hope this helps. Jess