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Resto show

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Post by Alan H Thu Dec 29, 2011 8:20 am

Dunno if anyone fancies going to this one on Monday. I shall be there.

Donington Park (clicky link)

Went to one a couple of years ago, loads of stuff and the bar was open so that folks could buy pissy beer at inflated prices in plastic containers.
I didn't bother.
Alan H
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Post by motocuz Fri Dec 30, 2011 7:28 pm

they do that beer thing here too.charge you 4 or five dollars for a little cup of cup of beer.my solution; take a pint or half pint of some strong fire water.
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Post by Alan H Sat Dec 31, 2011 8:24 am

Sounds like a plan!

I'll report what I buy. Or if prices are stupid, what I would have bought if they had been cheaper!!



My mate's going. He wants some bits for his BSA C15. (A friggin ceefer FFS. You'd have thought he'd have gone for the 350 at least.)


Last edited by Alan H on Sat Dec 31, 2011 10:01 am; edited 1 time in total
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Post by Bill (the boss) Sat Dec 31, 2011 9:42 am

I had a B40, done thousands of miles on that thing, only thing, apart from servicing, that cost pennies was a silencer as the one on it disintegrated on the M2 and I rode the remaining 50 odd miles on a open pipe!.

I know the unit singles get knocked but that B40 was a trooper. As they made it bigger and faffed about with it to make it competitive with the Japs it became more fragile.

The best description I have ever heard was about the BSA Barracuda, lovely looking bike but basically a C15 with lumpy cams, the description was 'it's like a hand grenade looking for somewhere to go off', that was certainly true!
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Post by Alan H Sat Dec 31, 2011 10:07 am

Got to agree with that Bill. A mate had a B40 as a winter bike and ended up using it more & more as it was more reliable than his Norton 88. The Barracuda & Starfire were piss poor, instead of using the base 250 twin engine in the Triumph Tigress/BSA Sunbeam and developing it - first thing putting twin carbs on a decent manifold.

The Ariel Arrow should have been developed more as the engine was very advanced at the time with stepped port timing later used in the Suzy Super 6 series and GT380s.
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Post by Bill (the boss) Sat Dec 31, 2011 10:12 am

Thing is with the Arrow, there was always the tantalising rumour that the 200 was faster than the 250.
I have never seen the two racing against each other in street trim but as the bore/stroke ratio is totally different it makes me wonder,was it true?
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Post by Alan H Sat Dec 31, 2011 4:57 pm

No. The 200 was IIRC the same stroke but smaller bore to get in a different (cheaper) tax bracket.

The original Leader was low compression about 8.5/1 or similar with the plugs angled towards the front of the bike and about 17.5bhp. The Arrow engine had higher comp squish heads with central plugs (easy to identify) with a heady 18.5bhp or so and would do about 75. The 'Golden' Arrow had a bigger carb as well, up to (wow) 20bhp.

I think the first Leader I had, had cast heads, might be wrong about that - although it was a very early 1959 model so was one of the earliest. All the barrels were cast except for the special 'works' ones which were sleeved ally.

My mate had a 200 Arrow and a decent 9E or 175 Bantam would give it a run for it's money - I think these were about 15bhp.

I race tuned one, Dykes rings, ported, GP carb, stuffed crank webs, skimmed heads (taking 20thou off gave you 12/1 compression) but as the heads had a chamfer in the combustion chamber this had to be skimmed out as well or the pistons hit the heads and the engine wouldn't turn. Don't ask how I found this out!

A pair of cut 'works' spannies finished it off and I raced (and beat) a YDS3. The YDS5 was a bit quicker, and I just couldn't 'do' one of those.

Couple on eblob etc

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ariel-Leader-Arrow-/120803309206?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item1c20703696

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ariel-Arrow-200-1965-Project-Classic-Collector-Vintage-/160661308149?pt=UK_Motorcycles&hash=item25682902f5

http://www.classicbikeshed.com/index.php?a=2&b=3238

And a manual/specs HERE



I had a quick scan in here and the difference is bore & carb mainly. 200 heads wouldn't go straight on the 250s, but 250 heads would go on a 200 (but made the comp lower). Barrels were the same but had to be bored out (natch!) more for 250cc.


Last edited by Alan H on Sat Jan 14, 2012 8:12 am; edited 1 time in total
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Post by Alan H Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:15 pm

Went today, but bugger all for Japs. Bought a nice set of metric taps & dies and a few other bits & bobs, tool-wise.

Quite a few bikes there, but forgot the camera! Nice 500 Manx Norton and a lovely tuned (genuine) Shelby Cobra among other stuff.
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