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Ariel Trials Models


laird387
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Both of the above were at a Midland Classic trial on 16th July 1989. It was a round of the British Bike Championship.The results
dont say where, but it looks like Critch Chase near Ambergate.
You were entered on a Greeves, Deryk.

(I'm glad your memory is better than mine, Mick - did they call that area Ambergate - or am I totally lost!!! I have some images of that Greeves somewhere, cheers, Deryk)

Edited by laird387
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Hi,

George Greenland coaxed his Ariel into third place in the pre-65 class at the Perce Simon, in the background? Why, Gil Francis and Ralph Venables, with Gordon Francis busy this side of the lens!

Enjoy.

post-19290-0-06465100-1394097658_thumb.jpg

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Hi,

Terry Wright (The Rodley Ram) was one of a clique of thwarted engineers in West Yorkshire. People like Fearless Fred Fletcher and Peter Gaunt all met and rode against each other regularly, each determined to produce different, better bikes.

Terry's real skill was with his hands and sheet aluminium, which he could weld with the very best, so his bikes always looked very sleek.

Many people thought the whole bike was very 'trick' but I 'climbed' very carefully over several of his creations, particularly like this Ariel - since I was busy restoring Ariel's back to showroom condition myself at the time.

Terry's Ariel, if you took off the tank/seat assembly and forks, was very close to bog standard - but certainly didn't look that way.

And before all the purists dance up and down about pre-65 eligibility, Terry wasn't entering a pre-65 class - he was taking on all the Bultacos and Montesas in the standard class.

Enjoy.

post-19290-0-36554000-1394704017_thumb.jpg

Edited by laird387
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Hi,

Just had to add to the spice of life with yet another variant on the theme of what makes a trials model - and here is a genuine old slogger, seen on Hungry Hill at the Old Codgers trial, a SIDE-VALVE Ariel trials rigid.

We used to see the rider regularly in the Talmag and the Arbuthnot - so he enjoyed his relaxation - but that's as much as I can tell you - 'cos he features in my pile of negatives with lost identity.

So can anyone add to our fund of knowledge?

Enjoy.

post-19290-0-46809100-1395248832_thumb.jpg

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Hi,

An interesting Ariel HT5, virtually still as it left the factory - still with the original air filter and oil tank (two of the items likely to be changed early on) and also the original spring steel footrests. Obviously the front hub is now an Ariel Leader item - but the rest looks 'original'.

Enjoy

post-19290-0-84227400-1395580908_thumb.jpg

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Hi,

Tony Davis started trials riding with a 350 Ariel before riding for the BSA, Greeves, AJS and Cotton works - but when he 'retired' and joined in the pre-65 trials he happily reverted to the Ariel.

Enjoy.

post-19290-0-84291800-1395585587_thumb.jpg

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Hi,

This totally irrepressible character is Richard Percival from Suffolk - the East Anglian answer to Fred Dibnah! Yes, Perce has an agricultural machinery engineering business which always seems to be busy with immense devices driven by steam.

Richard competed in just about every trial in the British Bike championship cum Sammy Miller series, etc. Trouble is, his is obviously a girder-forked rigid but he always wanted to ride the 'harder' versions of any sections where we made a variation - we normally, for example, had a sidecar route that the girder-rigids also took. Not Richard. "I don't want the 'cissy' sections!!"

Trouble is he usually beat most of the rest of the entry - pre-70 unit-construction and all!

He won the Girder Rigid class of the championship every year.

This photo shows him on my first section at Cwmcwefru (pronounced Kum-kweh-vri) in the Frank Jones round of the first British Bike championship.

post-19290-0-18616900-1395645574_thumb.jpg

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