Ariel Owners Motorcycle Club

Hi,
I just joined the link to offer my 1964 Arrow for sale. I recently bought it from a friend who had no place to store it in a dry location. It seemed a shame as it’s had a full restoration. I can’t do the bike justice and after talking an Ariel club member I decided I should offer it to someone within the club first. I’m not looking to make money on the bike. I have lots of paperwork and a box full of spares to go with it. Any questions then please let me know. An Ariel club member started it last week and it runs fine.

I’m an idiot. I posted the images upside down and don’t know how to turn them around. Oops.

Don't worry, it's not you but a feature of the forum software and the somewhat
bizarre JPEG image specification.

The four images visible at first in your post are scaled 'thumbnails'. Click on a
thumbnail to view the unscaled image which should be the right way up.

By the way, welcome to the forum. Is there a price for the Arrow?

It looks at first glance to be a very early 200 but the cylinder heads
are low compression heads from a 250.

Hi Will. I wouldn’t know about the heads. That’s sort of the problem. I don’t know anything about these type of bikes. I want to do the bike justice. Perhaps I should add an image of the box with all the parts as well. The receipts for spares etc are pages long over the years and I also have the workshop manual and wiring loom diagrams etc. I think the previous owner was a proper enthusiast. If anyone wants more images etc then just ask. I don’t know what a fair price would be for it but I assume looking at others that somewhere around 4K would seem fair. That would include the spares etc as seems fair.

Hi Will. What do you think re the price I was asking. Is it fair. I know what I paid for it and what I was thinking is I would leave it on here for two weeks and if no one wanted it then I would put it up for general sale. That way I am doing justice to the previous owner who obviously cherished it.
Regards. Denis

The bike is a much later registration than the 'B' suffix would suggest being
late 1980. The paintwork is unusual with black rims and spokes and the bike
is non-standard in other ways too. I'm interested to know if the engine number
matches the numbers on the oval identity plate which should be riveted to the
the chassis underneath the seat. I'm also interested to know what the suffix
letter is to the chassis and engine numbers - I'd expect one of A, B, S, T, G
or H. I'm also interested in the gearbox identity which will be stamped into the
top of the inner cover of the gearbox and will be either GB55 or GB58.
Finally and much more difficult to do is to count the number f teeth on the
back sprocket. I'd expect either 47 or 49. All of these have some bearing
on what the bike is.

My suggestion is to look at what is currently on offer on auction sites like ebay and
to note what actually sells and for what price - it's inevitably a much better guide
to reality than my opinion.

Regarding the last post, the registration number 'B' suffix is for 1964 so that is correct, 1980's would be a 'B' prefix.

Hi guys and thank you so much for your help. So please excuse my ignorance. I bought the bike as a 1964 bike as it was the year I was born. Stupid reason really. Anyway I have some paperwork which shows it as 1980 on the V5. I have taken two images one under the west and another on top of the gearbox. Where would the other one be as I can’t find anything else obvious.

Regards. Denis.

The 'H' suffix on the numbers on the plate confirm it started life as a 200.
They were not the most lively of performers and were often improved with
a 250 engine which is what appears to have happened to yours. The K 59
stamped on the gearbox suggests December 1959 as the date for the engine
and gearbox unit and the GB55 is the identity for a 250 'box. An engine of
that date would have had the low compression heads as standard.

One issue with swapping a 250 for 200 and vice versa is that the 200s had a
larger back sprocket - 49 teeth as opposed to 47 - and the speedo drive in the
gearbox was altered to suit, hence the 200 gearbox identity of GB58. Without
the correct size sprocket the speedo will be inaccurate.

The engine number is stamped on the drive side of the engine on the top of the
crankcase and below the base of the cylinder. I'd expect the suffix in this case
to be either 'A' from an early Leader or 'S' from an early Arrow.

None of the above really effects the way it goes but some may find its lack
of originality an excuse to devalue it.