Who rides motorcycles?

[Quebecguy]

I finally got around to taking my first ride of the year on my 1946 Ariel Square Four. The photo was taken just after I had started it and gone up and down our dead-end dirt road to see if everything still worked. Before going on the longer ride I put on my helmet and jacket. I'm only a little over six feet tall but the bike does look small under me even though it has four cylinders and a 1,000 cc motor. The starting procedure is, with the fuel tap turned on, one kick with the ignition off to "charge the cylinders" and then, with the ignition on, one kick to start it. After sitting for six or seven months it fired right up.

 

[Darth_DMack]

I finally got around to taking my first ride of the year on my 1946 Ariel Square Four. The photo was taken just after I had started it and gone up and down our dead-end dirt road to see if everything still worked. Before going on the longer ride I put on my helmet and jacket. I'm only a little over six feet tall but the bike does look small under me even though it has four cylinders and a 1,000 cc motor. The starting procedure is, with the fuel tap turned on, one kick with the ignition off to "charge the cylinders" and then, with the ignition on, one kick to start it. After sitting for six or seven months it fired right up.

Now THAT is a cool Scoot!!!!

 

[RobertN]

I finally got around to taking my first ride of the year on my 1946 Ariel Square Four. The photo was taken just after I had started it and gone up and down our dead-end dirt road to see if everything still worked. Before going on the longer ride I put on my helmet and jacket. I'm only a little over six feet tall but the bike does look small under me even though it has four cylinders and a 1,000 cc motor. The starting procedure is, with the fuel tap turned on, one kick with the ignition off to "charge the cylinders" and then, with the ignition on, one kick to start it. After sitting for six or seven months it fired right up.

What is the control layout on the Ariel?

It wasn't until 1972 that the US made regulations to standardize control placement

 

[3930dave]

I finally got around to taking my first ride of the year on my 1946 Ariel Square Four. The photo was taken just after I had started it and gone up and down our dead-end dirt road to see if everything still worked. Before going on the longer ride I put on my helmet and jacket. I'm only a little over six feet tall but the bike does look small under me even though it has four cylinders and a 1,000 cc motor. The starting procedure is, with the fuel tap turned on, one kick with the ignition off to "charge the cylinders" and then, with the ignition on, one kick to start it. After sitting for six or seven months it fired right up.

Beautiful Time Machine you have there !

Rgds, D.

 

[Mi-Troll]

To go a step farther, I have a very cool little old car that gets 48mpg. It looks sporty, fun to drive, and thanks to the .gov we can't have this anymore.

View attachment 871888

Curious, what was it that the gov. did that you can't have it anymore, was it something specific to this car or older cars in general?

 

[FPGT72]

Curious, what was it that the gov. did that you can't have it anymore, was it something specific to this car or older cars in general?

EPA, same reason as this.

 

[TractorTYMe]

That Ariel is a nice machine.

 

[3930dave]

Be Well Noraly. Godspeed on your recovery, and moving along to Season 8 !

Rgds, D.

 

[Quebecguy]

What is the control layout on the Ariel?

The control layout of my Ariel is the same as most British bikes of that time: left foot rear brake pedal, right foot four speed gear shift lever, clutch lever left handlebar, front brake lever and twist grip throttle on the right.
There is a small lever on the left side of the handlebar for magneto spark advance but I have converted the ignition on mine to coil/electronic with an automatic spark advance.
I have added a brake light switch operated by the rear brake pedal with an LED cluster inside the original tail light housing in order to have a visible brake light. Braking intentions were originally communicated via a lowered left arm.
I would now be very hesitant to ride a modern bike and risk mixing up rear brake and gear change functions!

 

[Rockbadchild]

it was nice to take a ride with all 3 of my bikes … (one is now sold) the Tenere handles pretty good with these tires pretty impressive.