1928 Ariel 'shop manual'

[cmfalco]

As background to a question I have, some of you know that I documented the complete rebuild of my 1928 Ariel Model C on the Britbike Forum

https://www.britbike.com/forums/ubbthre ... Post691207

when preparing it to ride in the 2018 3500-mile cross-U.S. Cannonball, followed by my ongoing re-rebuild of it at the end of that ride. All the information is on the above site for anyone to read for free in the equivalent of ~550 single-spaced pages in 10-point font. "Everything" about a total rebuild is covered there at an unusually detailed level, from machining valve guides from Ni-Resist, to reclaiming rockers with Stellite and cast iron heads with Al-bronze, to Magnafluxing forks, to installing a hardened exhaust seat. However, with over 2800 posts in that thread, locating specific information of interest can be problematic.

Although I don't expect to re-re-rebuild my Ariel a third time, much of the material actually is quite relevant for other machines that I'll work on in the future so I'm in the process of reorganizing the content by subject matter to make it easy for me to find. Although doing this is no small task, when finished it will be by far the most comprehensive shop manual in existence for a 1928 Ariel. While that is a very narrow niche, as I mentioned, quite a bit of the information is of use to anyone rebuilding an old motorcycle.

Presently I'm editing it only for myself so most of my effort is in locating and moving large amounts of text around, so I haven't been too concerned about eliminating redundant, extraneous, or inane text. However, just the effort to edit, copyright, and format it for print-on-demand on Amazon would take significant additional time and effort (and cost, to register the copyright), which I wouldn't do if it were only for myself.

Finally, this brings me to my question. Would any of you be interested enough in having such a detailed and heavily-illustrated "shop manual" that you would pay the equivalent of, say, $50/£40 for a paper copy of it? I'm not asking for any sort of commitment, just for an indication of possible interest to help me decide how to direct my efforts. The contents would place it in roughly the same category as Radco's 'The Vintage Motorcyclists' Workshop' and Purnell's 'Motor Cycle Restorer's Workshop Companion' so if you don't own one or both of those you probably wouldn't be interested in buying this presently-hypothetical one, either.

[Vincent.vanGinneke]

Hello Charles,
As you know, I have only just entered this niche and opened this 1928 vault.
In other words, yes I am very interested !
Thanks !

[Damien Towning]

Came across this today so I am a bit late. The answer is yes! Am constantly adding to a growing collection of pictures and odds and ends. Would love some sort of more coherent compiled shop manual. For example I am still chasing various frame dimensions and ideas for a jig to assemble my frame back together with. Seems a few of us 28's are about.

[cmfalco]

Came across this today so I am a bit late. The answer is yes!

Late, but not too late, since in the meantime I wrote the book:

https://www.amazon.com/Ariel-Chronicles ... uage=en_US