Ariel Owners Motorcycle Club

Mike The gearbox number G6L45 says the gearbox is October 1945. The speedo drive is in the outer case and has been blanked off with some sort of plug (arrowed) in your picture.

Pete

There are 4 entries for this bike in the register, 2011 Guy Hovey, still a member, 2012 Anton Pegels as on the certificate, 2017 David Hindley Lancashire and 2024 H&H Auctions. All give the numbers as on the certificate. The registration was UR 5184 but presumably this was lost when it went to Nederland. It is likely that the gearbox and front wheel came from the same donor machine as they are contemporaries, late 1945. If the bike has the original tank the tube for the speedo cable will enter from the rear and will be a PA, be prepared to spend several hundred of his majesties finest pounds to buy one, if you find one that is. If the it has a later tank with the cable directly below the speedo's location it will use a chronometric, much cheaper. The gears to drive the speedo are different so will need to be checked to see what you have, probably driven gear.
My advise would be to use a decent cycle speedo.

Thank you for the info. I had assumed the bike had never been registered in the uk but shipped directly to Holland. It appears to be the correct tank with the rear entry. I’ll look out for a speedo but fairly happy with a gps app on my phone. I bought the bike at the H&H auction a couple of weeks back and so far very pleased with it. Unlike most of my other bikes it starts easily but difficult to stop! Upon inspection it had a home made valve lifter that was almost useless. I don’t like the Allen bolts everywhere or the random mix of bscy and metric. I suspect Acme stainless
will do very well out of me in the coming weeks
Do you keep track of all Ariels?

Yes I keep track of all Ariels. This bike was originally exported to Nederland as the certificate says but must have been returned to the UK at some time, then gone back there before coming over again. It is a well travelled bike! You could ask Guy if he knows any more, I can pass on a message if you like, contact me membership@arielownersmcc.com
You will find that generally Draganfly are cheaper and more accurate than Acme, yes I am biased but I believe it to be true

Hi Vincent, you very quickly recognised my front hub as an NG, what does an LG one look like? How does it differ from the NG?
Mike

Hi Mike, I took another -better- look at the front wheel.
The brakeplate is from a WNG or early postwar NG but I think the hub is earlier as it looks like a pressed steel one.
perhaps that is correct for a LH ?
Not sure, but I think a pressed steel drum did not have a frontwheel speedo drive, but I could be wrong!
others perhaps can tell more?

The answer to the hub question is that the pressed steel hub with front wheel speedo drive is from a lightweight 1939-40 OG or OH. I was as baffled as everyone else but I have a photo of an OG / OH front wheel taken at the Amsterdam Rally in 2018.

The hub and many components from the earlier Colt of 1929 were used on both the 1939 Colts and the W/NG as can be seen by all the -29 part numbers. The brake plate was new for 1939 though.