Ariel Owners Motorcycle Club

Ehhhh, that should be 45° .............

Hi Vincent[attachment=0]
Yes, well spotted. It is another motor in the picture I have made from the Adrie original crankcase. I to do not want to take over your story so I may make a new thread sometime.

After I decided on the pully ratio I have made the g/box mainshaft and crank centers fixed. It has to be because of the starter gear. I to made an outrigger bearing but have since taken it off at this time. There is no problem fitting the belt on and off. You need the belt to just about turn through 90 deg when fitted and there will be no problem. Don't have it tight it will break, I know.

The original Ariel V twin which I wrote about in Cheval some time ago has covered about 3 1/2 K miles.
At this time the engine is on the bench but out of the second set of crank cases I have made a 1000cc engine. Although based on the Adrie modified crankases I have uses my own barrels and Norton M50 heads.

I have made many upgrades and will in time update the Ariel engine and mount this into mid 50's Ariel s/arm frame as I alwasy wanted to.

I have also made a Egli type frame to but the new engine in and it's made a very nice toy don't you think.

Cheers for now Tony

Oh Dear ! you think a engine like that suits the SpAriel.............?.
Looking at the crafstmanship involved it firmly reminds me I am just scraping the surface !
Very, very nice bike -Norton- !

I (we all, I presume) await your topic about it ! Thanks. Vincent

I humbly agree, would never be abel to built this high quality.

Hopefully the other V twin will be closer to a 1956 Ariel, as if the factory had made it, at least that was my intention with it.

Yes lads The Norton ish bike I have made is a play thing and will be under constant change I think. It all looks a bit to modern I know but the forks and wheels were what I had in the shed so on they went to keep costs down.

I have writen a three part artical for the Norton owners club which I have been a member of for some time. It's not appeared yet in Roadholder (the magazine) but will sometime soon. Adrie has a lot to answer to

When I am finished updating the Ariel engine I want to make the complete bike look like an Ariel from the 1950's as near std as cost will let me.
This I will write about for the Ariel lads when finished.

I have a couple of other projects on at the moment like a Commando f/bed I have just started building (with Harley electric start) and a 4 valve ES2 engine I have made. Hopfully these shouldn't take to long to sort out WHEN the weather gets warmer so I can get in the workshop.

All the engines have my own ignition systems on as as I did own BT-H magnetos where I developed and made self generating electronic mags. I have now sold the bussiness and retired about 18 months ago to play in the shed.

If you need anymore info Vincent let me know but keep the good work up as the bike looks Brill. Love the carbon tank.

By the way, my 59 VH runs XT350 86mm piston to make it a 550cc

Cheers Tony

Some progress on the electric boot for the Norton.
Alloy plates are more or less finished now (need some polish)
Now it's time to refit the lot to the frame and see how and where I have to cut & shut the alloy Commando chaincase.
Wooden block visible at the rear is the proposed battery ( Odyssey )

you are a smart boy

Thank you Chris !
I spend most of my time just looking at it & trying to figure out how not to fuck up the alloy plates when drilling the next hole....
But it is also a lot of fun and when it works in the end I will be one happy bloke.

Only just caught up with this - excellent stuff, really interesting thread. Love seeing this sort of engineering and problem solving... your bikes do look good. I was going to comment on the new shape tank being a little B25 but I see someone already said that, not a bad thing at all in my book.

I wish more folk could see this, there is a fairly widely held perception that the classic world is all stuffy old blokes debating the correct positioning of oil pipe clips... home made v-twins, carbon fibre tanks and unique fabrication couldn't be further from that misconception. No offence meant to the most fastidious restorers either...

The stuff in this thread is truly inspiring!