Ariel W/NG

This article was first published in Real Classic Magazine

Introduction

Back in 2016, I’d finally got some miles on the SQ4 (featured in RC in 2015) and had learned a bit about Ariels, mostly through the splendid AOMCC which had started me thinking about buying a girder forked single. During idle moments, I’d look at the eBay advertisements, club magazine, RC small ads and the various online retailers.

Snooping around the internet one day, I found a likely candidate advertised on Car & Classic as a 1948 Red Hunter and located in Castiglion Fiorentino, a small town in Tuscany. It was a rather good price that I could afford and I started asking questions.

 

 

Ariel’s Military Single

The W/NG was developed from Ariel’s existing 350cc single following submission of several other Ariels to the War Department for assessment. Val Page, who had been at Triumph since 1932 returned to Ariel in May 1939 to develop the machine which was based on the single port NG, the lower-spec version of the 350 cc single.

The 72 mm x 85 mm 348 c.c. engine was in a relatively soft state of tune, with a compression ratio of 6.5:1 and the ‘F’ cam, first used in the 1926 Model C, giving softer valve timing. New for 1938 were two cast rocker boxes creating an oil tight housing for the valve gear for the first time. The engine was a simple design, proven over many years which would enhance reliability in the harsher service expected from the military.

The NG also provided the Burman CP gearbox though for the military this was fitted with lower ratios for the first three gears, and reverted to a speedometer drive taken from the front wheel to simplify the gearbox and improve reliability. Ariels normally carry a needle roller bearing on the selector shaft, but this was deleted for the military bikes in favour of a simple bush.

The primary transmission used the standard NG components – the cases, shock absorber and clutch. Around the war years Ariel specified both cork and fabric friction plates with corresponding springs for singles and fours; I’m not sure why this was. W/NGs were fitted with fabric clutch plates. Neither military primary chain covers nor gearbox cases were supplied polished.

The bike used the single loop rigid frame common to other Ariels of the period, modified for the W/NG with a bend in the seat stays to provide additional ground clearance to the rear, and was complemented with Ariel’s own girder forks again modified for the W/NG with a 1 1/2” extension. This was similar to the arrangement used by Fred Povey to win the 1938 Scottish Six Days Trial for Ariel. The frame was provided with a lug for the long field stand and a bolt-on sheet steel plate to protect the crankcases, as required by the military specification.

The fuel tank was simplified, losing its tank top panel, instruments and inspection light – the speedometer moved to a central position on the forks. The oil was held in a standard civilian tank, though both oil and fuel tanks had their caps retained by a chain – the fuel tank cap chain produces a rattle as you ride along, which is intriguing until you remember where the noise is coming from.

The bike was provided with standard mudguards and front stand, and a standard Ariel luggage carrier.

Ariel fitted the conventional civilian toolbox, with a second, smaller toolbox mounted above it. The two toolboxes held a significantly upgraded tool kit for the military, including several additional spanners, chain spares, an oil can and a luggage strap and a roll of insulating tape. The larger box was provided with a pocket for the vehicle documents and a chain to prevent the lid from opening too far.

From the factory, machines were generally finished in paintwork appropriate for the service; polished or bright chromed parts were left dull or painted – contemporary road tests & photographs suggest exhausts were dull chrome plated but handlebars and wheel rims were painted. Of course, in theatre paint would be splashed anywhere and everywhere…

 

Success with the War Office

It’s often written that Ariel, as one of the smaller concerns, were late to the military motorcycle market and indeed in comparison to BSA, whose prototype M20 was tested in 1936 and who had shipped more than 2000 bikes to the War Department by 1939, they were. Norton’s 16H was tested in 1935, and they had built 1000 bikes by 1937; Matchless were shipping G3s in 1936 and G3Ls by 1939, so Ariel were playing catch up. Throughout 1939 and the early part of 1940, an example of virtually every Ariel single had been sent to the War Office for evaluation – sometimes in twos and threes, sometimes in larger batches; sometimes as solos and sometimes as sidecar combinations. Even the Square Four was evaluated, though back in 1936 – and presumably not for off-road use.

The first batch of W/NGs was despatched in July 1940, and 153 of the 2,700 strong batch went to the French government. According to legend, these went unnoticed for the duration of the war and were returned to England as unused war surplus after hostilities ended. Production continued through to May 1945, in batches of 2-4000, sometimes at 650 bikes per month. In addition to these, there were batches of engines, gearboxes and some frames provided as spares.

So, despite being late to the market, increasing military needs resulted in something like 46,000 W/NG machines being ordered before the conflict was over; in comparison, BSA shipped 129,000 M20s and Norton & Matchless both provided something like 80,000 16Hs & G3Ls. Of course, the Army was not the only customer for W/NGs: both the RAF and the Navy took them as well – something like 5000 bikes were shipped for the Air Ministry and a further 2000 for the Admiralty, where they were used for despatch duties & transport on and between airfields and shore bases.

 

Did the military like it

Ariel’s experience with off-road competition showed in the machine the War Office bought and it established itself as a favourite, alongside the Matchless G3L, proving more agile than the pedestrian 16H & M20 which were provided in much higher numbers.

Legend has it that W/NGs are lighter and faster than the side valve M20 & 16H – they are certainly lighter, though not by much, but I am not sure I believe the oft-quoted 17 bhp especially as the contemporary NG is quoted at 13 bhp and has more aggressive valve timing. Of course, the OHV G3L & W/NG will produce their power at much higher rpm than a heavy side-valve and that will enhance performance both in terms of acceleration and top speed.

The only time I have met an M20 on the road, I was riding my SQ4 on three cylinders and the BSA flew past. It was embarrassing.

So, the W/NG should have decent performance and indeed it does – Arthur Bourne recorded 65-70 mph on a new machine, picked from the production line in October 1940, with a fuel consumption of 84 mpg. Arthur seemed happy with the handling, especially off road but claimed he had not managed to get the saddle springs to bottom out. My own experience suggests they handle pretty well over even rough roads, and the brakes are very good but he can’t have been trying very hard as I know what the regulator feels like when it hits you through the saddle!

Evolution

During the conflict, the design changed in detail only.

In 1941, a decision was taken to rationalise military motorcycle contracts to six models – the BSA M20, Norton 16H, Matchless G3L, Ariel W/NG, Royal Enfield WD/CO and Triumph 3HW. Other models already in service were slowly replaced on the front line and moved to rear guard units such as the Home Guard. The War Department began to develop a system of standardisation, starting with the rationalisation of headlamps, switches, regulators, ammeters and rear lamps. The number plates were also removed at this time.

In 1942, the Ariel pattern luggage rack was replaced by a standardised rack and pannier frame set used across most of the manufacturers supplying motorcycles to the War Department; at the same time, all machines were required to be provided with pillion facilities. Elements of the design engineering were clearly done in haste, or perhaps the standard designs suited some models more than others – the introduction of pillion footrests prevents the main tool box lid from opening, rendering the retaining chain largely pointless; something I puzzled over for ages.

 Today, we see manufacturers issue ‘Product Recall’ notices to alert suppliers and riders of issues which affect their motorcycle. During WW2, the Ministry of Supply issued similar notices from their Director of Mechanical Engineering. These DME Circulars make interesting reading:

• Circular B.125, July 1940, ‘Provision for Immobilising’ The workshop manual makes reference to ‘unscrewing the immobiliser’. I’ve not seen one in the flesh but the bikes were fitted with a rubber & brass connector to enable you to remove part of the HT cable
• Circular B.141, May 1941, ‘Fitting of new headlamp mask and removal of dipper switch’. From this date, military machines had a dual filament bulb fitted, but only one filament was used.
• Circular B.214, July 1942, ‘Locking plate for rocker box caps’. Military bikes are fitted with two little spring clips, retained by the rocker box bolts, which prevent the caps from coming undone.
• Circular B.278, May 1942, ‘Modification to clutch, gearbox and rear stand’. There are no part number changes associated with this date, so it is hard to tell what Ariel did. We may never know…
• Circular B.289, July 1942, ‘Kick starter safety spring clip’. The kick start lever is retained in position by a spring steel clip, which stops it moving without some extra pressure. You can see the one on my bike, behind the lever

The handlebar mounts changed around this time to a solid two-part clamp, removing the rubber mounting which had been a feature of Ariel civilian machines for some time, on the grounds that handlebars had been known to rotate in the field. Curiously, this change happened at engine number BH23937 which shipped in 1942, but later than my bike, which doesn’t have the rubber mounts…

Later, after Japan had entered the conflict supplies of rubber from South East Asia were restricted and rubbers were used for essential tasks – items such as footrest rubbers and handlebar grips disappeared, to be replaced with patterned cast footrests and canvas grips.

The speedometer moved from its central location, suspended between both fork blades to a position on the right-hand side of the headlamp, mounted off the headlamp and fork blade.

In an effort to conserve supplies of aluminium for aircraft production, in 1943 the magneto chain cover and primary chain case was changed from an alloy casting to a painted steel pressing. Later changes were few, limited to the standardisation of handlebars and levers across manufacturers and the further simplification of the electrical system, which included the relocation of the light switch to a position under the seat and the removal of the ammeter.

The bike’s life in Italy

Starting at the beginning, the records reveal that the bike left the factory on 27th Oct 1942 bound for the No. 3 MT Stores at Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire (which still exists as the ‘Defence Storage & Distribution Centre, Ashchurch’) and beyond that it’s impossible to track it with surviving data. The contract was C12540, which was for 2000 machines equipped with pannier frames and pillion equipment at a price of £62.

If we take a look at the AOMCC factory despatch records strangely enough we find that the engine and frame numbers match – unusual for a military bike. The lack of an engine change suggests that the bike saw little use and it may be that it was left behind as the allies advanced north perhaps being left in a stores dump until the war ended. There is no evidence of the brass plates usually riveted to a machine to record REME workshop activity. So, as the Allied campaign in Italy began with the invasion of Sicily on 3rd Sept 1943 we can reasonably guess that the bike was provided to support the campaign and was left in Italy afterwards, probably unused.

Years later, when I pulled the engine apart to find a tired big end and a very non-standard piston whose bore needed to go out to +0.040", I developed the idea that the bike had seen little military service but had been well used in it's civilian life...

 

Post-war – state of the Italian industry and the ARAR

After war’s end Allied forces had a huge quantity of war surplus in their inventory which they had used in the Italian Campaign. Since shipping it back home would have been expensive, they decided to leave it behind at the disposal of the new Italian government.

Any surplus, with the exception of combat equipment, could be bought at auction by civilians at the so-called ARAR compounds. ARAR stands for Azienda Rilievo Alienazione Residuati, roughly translated as “Enterprise for the Collection and the Disposal of War Surplus”, and this organisation was active between 1945 and 1958.

Trucks such as the Morris, Dodge, GMC, Bedford, and even M3 halftracks started a second life in civilian business, particularly agriculture. The Italian Army also benefited from this business, obtaining Willys Jeeps, Shermans, M3s, Dingo and M8s & Studebakers. The Italian Police and Carabinieri were also issued Jeeps and Greyhound scout cars. Old Guzzi motorcycles were joined by Harley Davidsons in highway patrols.

Ferruccio Lamborghini had served as a fitter in an Italian Royal Air Force motor pool during WWII, on the island of Rhodes. In peacetime, recognising an emerging post-conflict market, he started his own business building his “Carioca” tractor based on the engines of Morris trucks from the ARAR compounds. Within a few years he had progressed from one tractor per week to 200 per year and later became the manufacturer of world famous sports cars out of a dispute with Enzo Ferrari.

Motorcycles were abundant in the ARAR camps until the 1950s; one could buy an ex-military motorcycle for about 4 months wages and many small businesses started as a result of this ‘feedstock’. Machines would be painted black, the tanks chromed and the rigid frames sometimes modified with springing to provide some rider comfort; Benelli restarted post-war selling suspension kits to convert ex-military machines.

 

Civilian life

Why am I telling you this? One of the documents that arrived with my W/NG was the original Italian registration document, showing the bike registered to Sr. Marco Gatti in 1950 and sold by the ARAR. The document showed that the bike was wearing its original Italian registration number when it came to Britain, and that it had not strayed far after it had left the ARAR – Sr. Gatti lived in Terni in Tuscany, and I bought it from a collector in Castiglion FIorentino, some 140 km away.

Another document that arrived with the bike was a photograph, produced nearby. Marco Gatti is shown with the bike and his son on the pillion in the picture marked 1953.

What we can see helps piece together the story of this bike a little. It’s noticeable that the bike has no speedo, no small tool box and no bash plate, but it does still have its DU42 headlamp and the original handlebars. Gatti Junior, seated on the back, has something to hold on to and has his feet on the still-present pillion footrests. I’m guessing here, but I think that Sr. Gatti probably removed the carrier and pannier frames that would have been factory fit and put his young son on a carrier from some other machine – the existing carrier is certainly period, doesn’t fit too well, has lugs for a padded seat and crucially has further lugs for a grab rail at the front. 

It’s interesting too that the 1953 picture has tank knee pads. My bike was built before the rubber components disappeared, but the jury is out on those pads – are they the standard Ariel shape or the John Bull style grips currently fitted?

Refurbishment in Italy

The bike, still registered in Terni, passed to a collector in 2016 from Sr. Gatti junior. Knowing this, we can deduce that at some point in the Gatti family ownership the bike had more refurbishment – the frame, mudguards and wheels have no trace of military paint but, tank aside, the paint is very solid and very old – and applied with some care. There is no over spray and even the CVC unit has been removed and painted. To my eyes, the handlebars resemble those of a 1955 Guzzi Turismo: ace bars with faded white grips - maybe what was available. They were not of a modern style and the grips are certainly more than 4 years old – maybe Gatti Junior inherited the motorcycling bug from his father.

The tank paint threw me for a while. It’s very recent, much more so than the rest of the red and for a while, given the obviously reproduction tank cap, headlamp and small toolbox, I thought it too was a reproduction. However, help from the ever-helpful AOMCC Forum and comparison with other tanks proved otherwise: it has the characteristic Ariel construction and the tiny hole for the chain to retain the cap.

Other odd departures from standard bits include the rocker caps, which are both brass, the oil tank cap (which I think is BSA?) and the cable operated baffle on the end of the exhaust, which on reflection was probably added relatively recently to compensate for the absence of baffles – it’s not the only Italian Ariel with such a device. Both rider footrests were missing and replaced with some two – part BSA like items.

 

Coming to the UK

I mentioned that I found the bike on the Car & Classic website advertised as an Ariel Red Hunter. Looking at the pictures I realised I was seeing a W/NG from the bent frame and the field stand, and a very complete one at that. A long email correspondence ensued with a English speaking gentleman assisting in the sale, with a lot more pictures changing hands, questions asked and answered until I was convinced of what I was getting and struck a deal.

Speaking to various folk, including a colleague with a penchant for vintage OHC bikes (think Velocette KTT, Norton International, Ducati etc and you will the idea) I lucked upon Chas Mortimer Ltd.

Chas began his racing career at Brands Hatch in July 1965, aged sixteen. His father Charles Mortimer Senior raced cars and motorbikes at Brooklands in the 1930’s and then after the war both his parents raced cars at circuits such as Goodwood and Silverstone. Coming from such a family it seems inevitable that speed was in his genes and that Chas went on to become an official Yamaha factory rider during the 1970’s and 80’s winning eight Isle of Man TT races during the same period. Chas's love for motorcycles led him to form Chas. Mortimer Ltd. and you can be sure that your vehicles will be treated with as much care as one of his own motorcycles.

Chas and his team collected my 1942 Ariel from sunny Tuscany, where it had spent the last 74 years. Really helpful, great to deal with, and they handled the cash as well. The bike arrived one morning, well strapped down in the van in perfect condition.

 

Starting Recommissioning

Where do you start? Knowing that it was coming, I had gathered a few parts together. Pete Kemp, he of AOMCC Single Spares fame provided a kick start and a horn bracket; I found a nicely patinated military Altette on eBay.

The W/NG finally arrived in our little corner of Norfolk in August 2016. It didn’t run despite the best efforts of the previous owner and several of his friends, but by this time I was confident that I wasn’t being scammed.

My first impressions were that I’d got a great deal. The engine turned over without and horrible noises and the gearbox and clutch worked – but the main thing was that the pictures had told no lies, it was a very original W/NG. The first steps were to clean up the magneto and sort out the carburettor. It had a 276 fitted, with a float bowl that was inclined when fitted to a W/NG – I needed a 15° float bowl to get it to sit upright. When I’d got it in the right place, I could get a fuel line connected – I made a nice curly copper one for it.

Knocking around from the SQ4 rebuild were an old set of footrest rubbers. I bought some reproduction footrest irons from Draganfly for these to go on, and welded a replacement pin into the engine plate so they would stay in position. 

Next, electrics – there were none. I built a new wiring harness for it, from cloth covered cable; the dynamo motored but unsurprisingly was full of muck, was filthy and needed new brushes. No problem there then – the bearings were OK. Once I had that in place it was time to give it a kick. It went straight away and we thumped off up the road for a hundred yards or so, then back to the workshop where I left it on the stand to have a look round – when I saw the fuel leaking.

One of the problems of buying an old bike that has been overseas is that the fasteners get replaced with whatever is to hand. I discovered after a bit of wet and smelly poking about that I had M8 bolts holding the tank on, and that they had pierced the tank in four places. I found this product called ‘Seal-All’ which is much like that clear glue you put Airfix models together with. I made a small hole in a tin can, similar in shape to the holes in the tank and sealed it with the glue – then I left it for a couple of months. It held up fine, so I dropped some sealant through the bolt holes onto the cracks in the tank – it is still there 4 years later.

 

Finishing the Recommissioning

In the intervening months, I sent the magneto off to Tony Cooper – the first one I sent to him. It had been working, sometimes intermittently and I had got it to be reliable by just cleaning the pickups, but like a lot of these things it didn’t work for long. I was astonished when it came back – aside from looking like a new magneto, it would spark with a loud crack if I turned it over by hand.

Another job I did whilst waiting for the ‘Seal-All’ testing was to put a V-Reg regulator in the old MCR1 box. It always seems a shame to remove these old regulators, but the charging systems on my bikes have always been robust with them fitted, and you can’t tell from the outside.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the speedo had disappeared during the bike’s long Latin layover. I found one on eBay that was good enough. Right model for the Ariel; brass bezel, but it has a light and a trip so is probably civilian. I made some mounts for it with the help of the folk on the AOMCC forum and a W/NG at our local Norfolk Motorcycle Museum at North Walsham, and a cable from Draganfly. I got the speedo serviced by Russell Smalley at Chronometrics Nottingham – he does all my speedos and is excellent. He didn’t touch the exterior, so it works beautifully but is still properly patinated. All well and good – for the moment…

The Ariel had arrived with some peculiar CEAT tyres, 3.00 x 19, which looked very stretched, polished, and rather old. They were binned in favour of a pair of Dunlop K70s, with new tapes and Michelin tubes. I learned about cheap tubes the hard way, like all the best lessons. While changing the tyres I got the brakes relined by Villiers Services and ground them in with abrasive paper in the brake drum. They are excellent, by the way. While I had the rear wheel out, I fitted a lower chainguard that I’d bought earlier, thinking it would fit my Anstey Square Four.

Next job was the toolboxes. I’d spent a while collecting Ariel tools for the SQ4, and had amassed a decent set but the military tool kit is something else. Assisted by Ray Tolman of the AOMCC, I collected the whole set and made a matching tool roll – Ray had an original civilian and a military tool roll, and he made the dimensions and some pictures available for me to copy. Then the toolboxes needed new knobs, and their threads all needed welding up and recutting. The new TIG set I had bought at Christmas was getting a work out.

I found that the kickstart would jam periodically, necessitating a bit of an in-gear rock to free it. A quick look inside revealed a broken spring and loose bushes – I shortened the spring and remade the end hook, but I must confess 3 years later I still have not repaired the bushes…

I’d noticed on a dusk ride that there were sparks travelling between the magneto and the timing case, and that the magdyno would rock around. The magdyno was bolted down correctly, but one of the fixings retains the magneto chain case to the rear engine plate – and this had broken out of the alloy. Getting this fixed involved a trip along the coast to a friendly welder, with an AC TIG set (mine is DC only) who built the case up and repaired a couple of other broken thread bosses I found when I pulled it apart. 

I cleaned out the crankshaft sludge trap at the same time, which was full of crud all the way to the big end oil way. It all went back together the following week and all was well and good – until I found a chunk of metal in the drip pan. This turned out to be part of the cup that the inlet pushrod rides in, so that came apart again. John Budgen supplied a new cam follower.

My TIG set, which was quite a new toy in 2017, came in handy for fixing the fork damper wing nut and the engine plates, which had lost the footrest pins.

I had my first proper ride out on it in September 2017, a year after it had arrived and it was pretty good. The front brake made a clonk, which turned out to be a poorly fitting torque arm, the clutch dragged and the primary chain was pretty noisy.

Riding it around

It starts very easily after the Tony Cooper magneto rebuild, though the tick over is rather fast. It had an Amal 276 a carburettor from a Triumph 3HW, which it has worn since I acquired it from Italy – it would be interesting to know if any 3HWs ended up there – or did Sr. Gatti fit the carburettor when he refurbished the bike? Since it didn’t idle too well it really needed a new one but for a while I resisted replacing something that has been with the machine for such a long time, but it was very worn. Eventually I found a very good 275 body and jet block on eBay which I rebuilt into a new carburettor for it.

It’s not quick, but then standard W/NGs are not intended to be quick. It cruises at 45 mph or so and would probably top out at just over 70, but I tend to use it for local trips and use the SQ4 for more open road stuff. It has the standard ‘F’ camshaft and it has the military gearbox ratios, which means it will climb a wall in first and I can pose through town in first on full retard and get overtaken by swarms of mobility scooters, but thrashing up a steep hill leaves me running out of breath as I make the giant leap from third to fourth. Ariel folk fit a more sporty cam and put the civilian final drive pinions in the gearbox.

It’s pretty loud – my son had it for a while and his neighbours complained that it had woken the baby up. It has the original Burgess exhaust, untouched by me apart from the replacement of a 2” section at the cylinder head which was so ragged I could see the exhaust gas flying along it. Walking the dog along the road to my garage the other day, I found a rusty scrap of perforated steel in the road – once round, but flattened by a passing car – which, I realised, was the last remnants of the gauze holding the glass wool in my silencer. Surgery followed a couple of years later with some perforated tube and loft insulation.

As to the going of it, it is as rock steady as you might expect a girder/rigid bike to be. It’s a blast around the country lanes, though it does tend to run wide around corners but then that may be me wimping out from cranking it over in wet, gravelly, pot holed corners. It’s done several winter’s service since recommissioning with a lot of local trips usually laden with tools for building projects – bikes are very easy to park if you are refurbishing a house in a town centre! Rides home again are great fun, but as a virgin girder forker I have learned that you watch out for potholes, raised iron and road ripples lest you get whacked in the backside as the saddle runs out of spring travel. I spend a bit of time on more modern bikes too, notably a Mash 400 and an Interceptor in addition to my own CX500, and riding these I’ve come to realise that I like the low saddles on my rigid & Anstey frame Ariels.

Since using it a bit, I’ve realised that the dropped Italian handlebars are none too comfortable and the riding position doesn’t really suit the character of the bike – it’s good for pootling around sightseeing, so it got some higher, tapered Ariel bars last summer with the proper Ariel pattern levers and switches.

Braking is very good. The rear has the 7” drum with Ariel’s fulcrum adjuster, which means you can get the shoes in good contact with the drum – the brake will lock the wheel easily. The 6 ½” front brake has no such adjuster and is much less powerful, though still useful – a big handful would probably lock the wheel on a damp road but I don’t have any suicidal tendencies, fortunately. What it does do is reveal the poor state of the girder bushes, which I will attend to when the SQ4 is brought out for the summer. Maybe. If various Hondas don’t keep getting added to Dad’s job list by my Interceptor-riding son.

I’ve only covered 800 miles or so on this bike, probably a lot more by the time this gets into print and I have only stopped at the roadside with the tools out — 4-5 times! Each time through my own incompetence and my desire to get out on it. The first time was a blocked main jet – easy fix. Take it out, blow it out, put it back, and go home. The second time? Bogging down, won’t run past half throttle. Take off the jet cover, wonder where the jet has gone. What? You didn’t tighten it properly last time? And yes, that scenario did repeat itself a month later. The petrol tap has now had new corks and a new filter which ought to help.

No other problems have shown up, apart from a riding buddy telling me my headlamp works intermittently. That will be another dodgy BPF connector then… Oh – apart from one, which came as a dawning realisation as I read of another of the AOMCC gurus who had realised his speedo was under-reading. I was wondering why, while indulging a fascination with Google Maps, my trip counter never matched the calculations Google came up with – always 12% low? That will be the speedo gearbox ratio… speedo works perfectly when you drive it with the right cable speed. And another one – the rocker feeds leak. Getting the hang of sealing those took a while, with not only the right parts (soft aluminium washers) but also the right tightening sequence.

Next Steps

So, almost four years in it has been great fun, as all the bikes are really. I’m looking forward to developing it a little more – I repaired the exhaust this summer and I’ll fix the kickstart bushes, but mostly it is just for riding about now – or it would be if it hadn’t started eating spark plugs, a seemingly innocuous problem which had me inside the engine with the endoscope looking at the oil running down the bore. 

I’m never short of jobs in the workshop though – I have had a 1958 Ariel Huntmaster kit lying about for 5 years or so and the bench is freeing up from the grandchildren’s Honda QR50 project, and there is a 1930 Model A waiting in the wings – but they have all stopped because the W/NG is demanding some attention to the top end…

Life is never dull.

You can read the whole story of this W/NG in this blog.

Bibliography

• Ariel Story – Peter Hartley
• Matchless – Peter Hartley
• AJS & Matchless – Roy Bacon
• BSA Singles – Roy Bacon
• Ariel – C.W. Waller
• Black Ariels – Dave Barkshire
• List 15 – Draganfly Motorcycles
• British Forces Motorcycles 1925-1945 – Orchard & Madden