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Difference between revisions of "1955 Ariel HS"
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“I understand from the previous owner Hugh Simpson that it was delivered along with the [[Scott|Scott]] in the back of a meat lorry to his home in Northern Ireland in 1986 or ’87. I’d met Hugh a couple of times at the British bike Bonanza and was aware that he’d bought this HS Ariel although at that time I knew little or nothing about its former history. We kept in touch by phone and one day in early 1988 he asked me if I was interested in buying it: better still he would deliver it to Gloucestershire for the Bonanza. This was all with the understanding that if I didn’t like it he would take it home again so there was no sort of pressure to buy an unseen machine. We duly met and with just a quick glance I could see it was just as how he’d described it: a ‘new’ – but thirty plus year old – bike. Needless to say I immediately fell in love with it, wrote him a cheque, loaded it in the van and took it back home to Cornwall with me. | “I understand from the previous owner Hugh Simpson that it was delivered along with the [[Scott|Scott]] in the back of a meat lorry to his home in Northern Ireland in 1986 or ’87. I’d met Hugh a couple of times at the British bike Bonanza and was aware that he’d bought this HS Ariel although at that time I knew little or nothing about its former history. We kept in touch by phone and one day in early 1988 he asked me if I was interested in buying it: better still he would deliver it to Gloucestershire for the Bonanza. This was all with the understanding that if I didn’t like it he would take it home again so there was no sort of pressure to buy an unseen machine. We duly met and with just a quick glance I could see it was just as how he’d described it: a ‘new’ – but thirty plus year old – bike. Needless to say I immediately fell in love with it, wrote him a cheque, loaded it in the van and took it back home to Cornwall with me. | ||
Mr Simpson had bought the Ariel along with some other bikes at a sale in London and on purchase it was covered in a black coating indicating that it had been moth balled and been in dry storage for quite a number of years. The last registered owner in the USA was shown as Bud Ekins so I can only assume it came from his collection when he decided to downsize in the nineteen eighties. Unconfirmed reports suggested it was also ridden by Steve McQueen or possibly used as an ‘extra’ in a film but whether this is true or not I guess we shall never know. Whoever had put it into storage had certainly done a good job and it took us hours of work to wash off the black coating which had got everywhere including the inside of the | Mr Simpson had bought the Ariel along with some other bikes at a sale in London and on purchase it was covered in a black coating indicating that it had been moth balled and been in dry storage for quite a number of years. The last registered owner in the USA was shown as Bud Ekins so I can only assume it came from his collection when he decided to downsize in the nineteen eighties. Unconfirmed reports suggested it was also ridden by Steve McQueen or possibly used as an ‘extra’ in a film but whether this is true or not I guess we shall never know. Whoever had put it into storage had certainly done a good job and it took us hours of work to wash off the black coating which had got everywhere including the inside of the carburetor. After we’d got it cleaned up it needed nothing more than some petrol, a new spark plug and a good swing of the kick-starter to get it fired. The engine – which was still lubricated by the original Castrol XL oil - gave that lovely whining noise that you only get with a new and tight motor and the noise from the open pipe exhaust was like music to my ears. We had a bit of a problem with a sticking carburetor float but other than that it ran absolutely perfectly.” | ||
Knowing what best to do with such a machine was not an easy decision but with other restoration projects on the go the HS got pushed to the back of the Gwillam workshop and other than the occasional polish there it remained for the next twenty years. However in 2008 – and spurred on by the restoration of the Cotton/Cross Cougar – Glyn once more turned his attentions to the Ariel single. It was a bit grimy but it took little more than a few hours of some spirited elbow grease to get the HS looking like new again and soon the Cornish hillsides were reverberating to the healthy crackle of the big four stroke single. | Knowing what best to do with such a machine was not an easy decision but with other restoration projects on the go the HS got pushed to the back of the Gwillam workshop and other than the occasional polish there it remained for the next twenty years. However in 2008 – and spurred on by the restoration of the Cotton/Cross Cougar – Glyn once more turned his attentions to the Ariel single. It was a bit grimy but it took little more than a few hours of some spirited elbow grease to get the HS looking like new again and soon the Cornish hillsides were reverberating to the healthy crackle of the big four stroke single. | ||
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Why it wasn’t used we shall never know but we now fast forward fifty three years and it’s my time to fire up the same bike which is now standing in a beautiful setting in rural Cornwall. Some decent priming of the TT | Why it wasn’t used we shall never know but we now fast forward fifty three years and it’s my time to fire up the same bike which is now standing in a beautiful setting in rural Cornwall. Some decent priming of the TT carburetor – this was changed to a smaller Monobloc in ’56 – retard of the manual ignition followed by a hefty swing of the kick starter soon had the big Ariel booming into life through the unsilenced high level pipe. It certainly brought a smile to my face but I couldn’t imagine the cacophony of noise a pack of several hundred such bikes would have made as they lined up for the start of the Moose or Big bear run across the California desert. My ‘test track’ however was not in sunny California but on private estate kindly loaned by Glyn’s neighbour John Crinks and on a damp day we had no worries about sand or dust finding its way into the carburetor which as standard was fitted with a very efficient pancake type air filter. Getting the opportunity to ride a ‘new’ fifty year old bike is a rare and possibly unique experience so a degree of caution was paramount in my head as I selected first gear in the Burman four speed box and headed off down John’s long drive. Period tests suggested that the engine was at its happiest between 3,500 to a safe limit of 6,250rpm and in their advertising brochure Ariel said – somewhat uncharacteristically of the normally reserved British manufacturers - that the engine was only in its element at ‘full noise’. Out of reverence I decided not to explore the upper rev limit although it only took the slightest twist of the throttle to feel the fairly hot cam waiting to come on song and the open pipe exhaust took on a far more menacing growl. When it was originally tested with lights and a speedo in 1955 it went through the timing lights at 88mph so there was obviously no lack of ‘Go’ in the 499cc single. | ||
The front forks on the HS are Ariel’s own although these were changed for BSA ones for ’56: that year - when the model was catalogued as the HS Mk1 - the same company also supplying the full width 7inch hubs which replaced the single sided – and rather puny - Ariel items as fitted to Glyn’s bike. Throughout the bikes four year production run there were few changes to the frame or suspension although later engines had their cam chests modified. This meant that the cams could run in the precious lubricant which alleviated the problem of high cam wear created by Ariel’s rather archaic double plunger oil pump. From my all too brief ride I can vouch that the all alloy motor is an absolute gem and while it may not be quite such a free revver as one of AMC’s short stroke singles it is incredibly tractable. At a shade over 300lbs it also feels incredibly light and it’s easy to see how with an expert scrambler like Ron Langston in the saddle the HS took on and often beat the heavier and more ponderous BSA Gold Stars during the late fifties. | The front forks on the HS are Ariel’s own although these were changed for BSA ones for ’56: that year - when the model was catalogued as the HS Mk1 - the same company also supplying the full width 7inch hubs which replaced the single sided – and rather puny - Ariel items as fitted to Glyn’s bike. Throughout the bikes four year production run there were few changes to the frame or suspension although later engines had their cam chests modified. This meant that the cams could run in the precious lubricant which alleviated the problem of high cam wear created by Ariel’s rather archaic double plunger oil pump. From my all too brief ride I can vouch that the all alloy motor is an absolute gem and while it may not be quite such a free revver as one of AMC’s short stroke singles it is incredibly tractable. At a shade over 300lbs it also feels incredibly light and it’s easy to see how with an expert scrambler like Ron Langston in the saddle the HS took on and often beat the heavier and more ponderous BSA Gold Stars during the late fifties. | ||
Little could Billy Kimbley have thought in 1955 that over fifty years later his bike would still be running with its original | Little could Billy Kimbley have thought in 1955 that over fifty years later his bike would still be running with its original tires intact or that the engine was not yet run-in: although I think that it’s a little late to book it in for its first free service? | ||
== Footnote == | == Footnote == | ||
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[http://cv-writing-services.org.uk/ cv service] | [http://cv-writing-services.org.uk/ cv service] | ||
[http://www.shopeastwest.com/med/ Generic drugs] | |||