Topic: Vintage British Four Cylinder Bike

[bill440cars]

       Check this Four cylinder bike out. Quite a bike for the period.

     http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ARIEL-SQUARE-FOUR-MKII_W0QQitemZ190062029744QQihZ009QQcategoryZ6719QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[angeldeville]

HOLY HAPPY HORSE SH&T!!!!   my friggin dream BIKE!!!!!!!

that my friends is an Ariel Square four!  I'm going to watch this one intently! a fully restoed bike goes for $20,000+


this one should fetch $12,000-15,000

[bill440cars]

               Oh Yeah! A Genuine, Not In Bad Shape At All, Ariel Square Four. Curious about the final price
     on this one. You're probably in the ballpark though. Definitely a head-turner, when fixed up. Two
     crankshafts turning inside that motor. You ought to hear one with 4 straights on it. Not too loud
     (like you'd think), but a nice rumble sound. You'd have to hear it to know what I mean.

                                                        Later on, Bill

[aptech77]

The guy I work for has about 5 Matchles's from that same era. NO #$%*!

[RRRToolSolutions]

Yep, I'd love to have this one too. Nice original for sure.

[bill440cars]

The guy I work for has about 5 Matchles's from that same era. NO #$%*!

                      Lots of folks don't even know about them or AJS. About my favorite Matchless was the
           600cc 1 cylinder Typhoon. Super Thumper, back then! I'll see if I can come up with a picture.
           They weren't as popular as the BSA 500cc Gold Star but, pretty good runners all the same.

 

[bill440cars]

 Well, I found a 61' Matchless Typhoon but, you're gonna have to use a link , cause I can't seem to post a picture. Too large I guess and I don't know how to correct that. Maybe I should change the title to "Notable Vintage British Bikes"

http://www.techno-obscura.com/~delgado/moto/MassBIA-Fall2005/Pages/Image4.html

Edit: Bill, hope you don't mind, I thought it deserved to be right here in your post.

[aptech77]

I few of them are  60'ish.... 650'ish twins.

[dusterdude]

suweeeeeet

[bill440cars]

          Hey Bob,

                    About the edit,     Thanks, I needed that! I still haven't gotten that down
          completely and did all I could mange to do. Thanks again Bob.

                                                       Later on, Bill

[medic09]

A curious accomplishment on an old British bike...this was posted by one of the Aussies on SR500 forum:

"In the early 80's I competed in a fuel ecomonony run with my local vintage bike club. Over a 110Km run I manage 83mpg (about 30km/L). The winner,Bill, on a 1950's Ariel 500 single achieved 175mpg!! I had done the following to reduce fuel usage: In the carbie went 2 size down on the pilot jet and dropped the needle to its lowest setting(raised the clip to it highest position). cleaned the chain (non oring) and lightly oiled plus inflated the tyres to about 60psi. Cleaned the wheel bearings of grease and oiled them with light weight oil. Pryed the disc pad away from the discs at the start and didn't use them until I had to stop at the finish. Rode the entire distance at about 60kph at a near constant throttle with out lugging / loading the engine. Bill on his Ariel, rode the bike as it came out of the shed, rode at normal pace about 50 - 55 mph!

CJ"

[bill440cars]

          Hey medic,

                  Thanks for posting that. That mileage was Awesome!! Hey, most folks don't really know much about the old Ariels. There's a lot I don't know about them but, I do know that they had the Square 4 (that ended up around 1000cc, by the end), the 500 single and a streamlined bike also (can't remember what size, 250 or maybe 500cc, not sure). I figure that there were more models than that but, my memory fails me. I used to have an old bike magazine with a road test on the Norton Manx (another old British bike Icon) and the speed in each gear was incredible, especially for the time. While Hondas are my mainstay, I'm always interested in learning more motorcycle history. I am one who believes that you can never know enough, or too much, about motorcycles.

                                                           Later on, Bill

[nickjtc]

Ah, the good old 'Squariel'! Great in concept; maybe a little less great in execution. One of Edward Turners (he of Speed Twin and Bonneville fame) earliest design exercises.

And like the Vincent there are several modern frame companies offering product for orignal engines to be fitted into.

[bryanj]

Whatever the frame is dont go there! rear cylinders overheated badly if you asked for too much work for too long and they were a nightmare to get parts for in the 70's in the UK god knows what its like now in the US