200 colt

[bsmart]

hello forum , not sure were to start but here goes . my dad had a bsa bantam 185 in bits under his garage bench, as a child i would sit and polish the tank thinking that one day he would let me put the bike back together but he sadly sold it , i do know that 30 years later its still on the road so thats something . however i have always like tinkering with cars and bikes , restroring a mini pick up and capri and also building a couple of bikes from next to nothing but thats for another forum. but the other day i was offered the bike below for a very small sum so i bought it . i have no knowledge of Ariels other than internet browsing but my dad still has all his classic bike mags so i guess a read through these may help . i have a couple of other projects on the go at present so this one will be a while before i get to it but just looking to gane knowledge for the future rebuild , cheers

[simon.holyfield]

Well, you've come to the right place. You'll find all the help you'll ever need on this forum!

First stop for parts, Draganfly motorcycles in Bungay, Suffolk. Look at http://draganfly.co.uk. They do a great parts list which you should look at straight away!

And search the forum - there is a photographic rebuild sequence on a Colt somewhere.

[bsmart]

thanks for the info Simon , very handy indeed. i have got some plans for it and somefreinds of anther forum have already helped with manuals and info about what other machine the engine was used in , but i found very few parts for sale for this one , think probably have to go to auto jumbles ect for parts but theres very few of them up this way , so maybe a struggle .

[Vincent.vanGinneke]

Hello bsmart, welcome to the club!
I am not a ' Colt' expert either but have a look at the Dutch website ' marktplaats' www.marktplaats.nl and go to ' motoren' and typ ' ariel'.
You get about 30 adverts with various stuff, among it someone offering ' Ariel' (painted red) mudguards.
( Ariel spatborden voor en achter - niet rot-) " mudguards front and rear, not rotten"
Would these be for a Colt? I dont know, but they look tiny to be for a heavyweight Ariel so perhaps they are for a Colt.
Maybe other members can have a look? could be that they are not Ariel at all, but you never know......

Vincent

[simon.holyfield]

Another thought, if you're searching the jumbles & eBay for parts. Since when the later Colts were built Ariel had been absorbed into BSA, I believe that some parts of these bikes are shared with the C series BSAs, and possibly early Bantams (D1 & D3).

There's a good C10, C11, C12 forum on the net which will be work a look.

Where are you?

[bsmart]

hi thanks for the welcome , i think taht this bike could be going to my dad , hes been lookng fo a project for some time now and didnt really knwo what to go for , but hes seen this and thinks it may be of ineterst to him , he would want to retore it to ful glory however i would probably put some modern twists on it . now i know that different people have different opinions and my idea may not sit well with some but if i do take it on then at least itll be on the road and i can keep an eye out for original parts then in a few years or so do a complete resto , mind you that if my dad doesnt want it.

cheers again for the links , vincent i did look at that site but going from the mounting holes i dont think they are for the same machine.

Simon , my dad had bsa's when he was young and recalls the same info , he has 20 odd years of classic bike mags to go back through.

ps , im in aberdeen

blair

[bsmart]

well hello forum members , some may have notice i had the colt up for sale but due to e technical error my ebay add got pulled and then i sat and thought and thought and thought and came up with the final thought that i would actually keep the bike .... oarah i hear you say , so today i started the strip down and manage to get the engine out but i could not get the second nut off the clutch shaft does any one have any advice on how to do so . i now i have to try and lock the clutch but maybe im missing something .

also the barrel will need a rebore but before i get that organised i wanted to know if there is a way to measure the piston to establish the size the top of the piston has some little dents , divits and marks and they are right over the area , i can just about make out front and a + but not what the + is if you know what i mean

it may be just a case of trying to find another barrel but that may not be that easy

cheers for any help

blair

[Paul_Linden]

Well done on rising to the challenge! The first step is the hardest, but you've made it, just remember to focus on the goal of one day riding your nice Ariel Colt.

The inner nut on the clutch has a reverse thread, and it will be a whole lot easier if you can lock the clutch centre up to stop it spinning. If you have two old clutch plates you can weld them together, and if the bike is in gear that should do it. I've seen people bend a strip of hard flat steel in to a flat S shape which can lock the outer clutch to the inner - but be careful not to damage anything.

Good luck! and don't forget to post photos

[bsmart]

hi Paul

thanks for the reply , i have sat and looked at the bike for ages , its not my normal style of bike as i tend to build chops and i can see a nice little bobber style machine in her , i have just been reading through your posts with great interest and did see that the 2 nuts were oposit threads , so i will have a go at that tomorrow. i used a fabric oilfilter wrench to lock the clutch basket so now i ow its RH threaded should be able to get it off .

do you know if i can use a bsa c11 250 barrel and piston , there seams to be very limited sources of secondhand servicable parts other than Ebay and we dont get alot of autojumbles up this way .


got some photos but but they are more for referance for me knowing were stuff goes

[bsmart]

even through a magnafying glass its pretty ilagable , think its + 0.50 but may be + 0.30 , looks like the barrel was left with no plug in and water has been sat erroding away at the bore ( see bottom ) so not even sure if it could be bored out to use a + 0.60 piston , may have to find an engineering company and take it for them to look at



theres a tide mark on one of the valves



corrosion in the barrel may mean its scrap