In the mid sixties myself and a friend turned our rather 'tired' Arrows into Cafe Racers. we junked the tank and seat assembly for a new fibreglass racing type seat/tank unit, a new set of handlebars called Stearwell conversions which gave clip on adjustability ..Motorcycle Mechanics described how to ''tune'' the engine, which l wont go into, suffice to say it involved expansion chambers of UNBELIEVABLE volume, plus we put a little Castrol R in the fuel... ....The volume attracted police like flies on you know what!...(l was eighteen years old and rebellious ).. soon after finishing and riding for a few months l joined the Merchant Navy so never rode it again....Forty years later that same friend bought a good condition Golden Arrow... When l rode it l realised l'd forgotten just how smooth running it was, albeit with a vortex of trailing smoke.... by todays standards its quite primitive but with a bit of good spanner work and tuning the Arrow runs very well.. Enjoy your new purchase...

good work .. nice bike.. I remember Airfix had a kit of it when I was a kid !

@olethorhermansen5696

Жыл бұрын

They did indeed! It was the very first kit I built, when I was a kid, and the start of my passion for motorcycles. I have had a soft spot for the Ariel Arrow and Leader ever since, very cool bikes.

@thematlockbiker

Жыл бұрын

Me too, I think it was that colour which is what reminded me about it

@Robutube1

11 ай бұрын

Me too! It was steerable, how flash is that?😅

@MrBoehol

5 ай бұрын

Me too it was my second Airfix model after the Austin Mini .i like the Ariel model very much ,An odd bike . 🙂

Lots of great memories as I had a golden arrow in the early seventies. I also had a racerized Leader with twin carburettors which had neccessitated removing the engine mount that the engine hangs off and fabricating a support. Also on the Leader I cut the bottom loop of the scavenge ports on pistons and barrels and the bike was noticably quicker. These motors aren't rubber mounted by the way. Mine used to loosen the exhaust clamps which is usually what sprayed oil onto the mudguard. What I loved about these bikes was that you could rebuild the engine entirely in situ as the crank halves could be separated. I remember an article where someone had added an extra crankcase half and crank half making a three cylinder 375 cc Ariel. They used two left hand cylinder heads on left and centre which looked a bit odd but the bike was very quick. Great times and thanks for the video.

Best handling bike I ever rode. Shame about the front brake.

I know a few guys that ride these and love them to bits. They sorted all the factory issues years ago and have no problems riding them in modern traffic.

Bought a brand new Leader in 1962. It was the only one up the local coffee bar. Wasn't really accepted amongst the Triumphs and BSAs but I loved it. Everywhere you went you left clouds of blue smoke. I loved it my only complaint was the front brake was useless. Thanks for the memories.

@brianperry

Жыл бұрын

l remember the vortex of smoke trailing behind. l owned a very tied Arrow in 1966. It was possible to buy a tank/seat conversion and expansion chambers then. Rearset footrest plus the necessary linkage and the rear brake converted to cable operation completed the ''rocker era'' machine. l remember it was very smooth but because of the exhaust extremely noisy..l got 'nicked' a couple of time because of it. Years later l rode a restored example. It felt really nice to ride, smooth running as l remember and docile. l agree, it was a great memory of ones youthful exuberance ..

a friend of mine lent me his leader, it was fitted with drop handlebars, and expansion box exhausts, local copper complained of noise, and he stuffed a Brillow pad up each exhaust stub, to lessen it, ran it from Manningtree to Harwich ran fine, handled very well, but you could hear it coming from about three miles away. ! was in red and white colour, seeing this one gave me good memories of the old days of the sixties.

@brianperry

Жыл бұрын

Sure remember the expansion chambers....l got 'nicked' twice...!! l owned a Cafe Racer style arrow in the mid sixties..

The advantage of old type of 2 strokes , so easy to pull apart and sort out.

@smithgroove945

11 ай бұрын

True

11 year old me made this as an Airfix kit in the '60's. One of the models I remember most fondly. Thoroughly enjoyed your post as a result!

I had one of these, A, the black and white low tension lead can break, B, The timing backplate is adjustable via the small side cover, ie, won't start when hot after a long run, say Liverpool to Grimsby, a quick adjustment...sorted. C,. The small low tension capacitors don't last long, I replaced 3 on mine, and your exhausts must have had the baffles taken out, way to noisy. You can hardly hear them normally on startup. I used to slip megaphones on mine, and being a milkman at the time woke up half of Grimsby at 5 in the morning. Oh and watch those batteries under the seat, if water gets there, a short will happen. Ok cheers mate. I found these where one of the best bike on the road.200 miles no bother. And standing in the garage and shaking the bike from side to side to mix the two stroke oil was a laugh.

Saw one of these in the mid sixties in my local town. Lad came over the bridge at a rate of knots and was concentrating on who was looking at him and not the vehicle that had stopped in front of him. After attempting an emergency stop he clobbered the car and all you could see was his legs and bum in the air.still holding on to the bars he dropped back on to the saddle. Outcome was hurt pride and bent forks but I think the real killer was this happened outside the town of Abingdon police station. Fortunately next to the police station was Bridge Street motorcycles where the bike was deposited awaiting repairs.

Back in 1975 I was working in a bike workshop. And next door we had an old garage to store "scrap". One day a scrapdealer came to clear the garage out. We loaded three Ariel Arrows onto the back of the truck. They were in perfect condition, but no one wanted them.😭

This is the firs of your videos I have seen, very good! What drew me to it is I am an ex Arrow owner myself. A couple of things, when I stripped off the heads on mine I found exactly the same marks around the squish band, one thought was something had been sucked into the carb and had been bouncing about but I doubt that idea? Anyway we always shook our pre mix 2 stroke bikes before opening the petrol tap if it had stood a while say overnight as the oil would sink to the bottom of the tank and oil the plugs. Secondly we had to regularly clean out the silencers as they were notorious for clogging up because of the 2 stroke oils way back then, not so bad nowadays! We would take the silencers off and plug one end, a carrot or potato was usually used then filled them with a mix of HOT water and caustic soda crystals and leave for an hour before emptying, if they are really bad you may have to repeat but don't spill any on the chrome or paint!!!! OR YOURSELF DANGEROUS STUFF!!!

@whatsintheworkshop4478

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for your kind words, much appreciated. Yes, I did have a look in the silencers, I think they are pretty new, as not clogged up yet, but I'll keep an eye on them!

@williamnethercott4364

Жыл бұрын

My dad used to do that with the exhaust on his Bantam but I was too young to get involved at the time.

As a 75 y old ex mechanic was so nice to view your vid thanks, very nostalgic.Before starting my apprenticeship most mornings wake to the sounds of older lad next trying to get his leader going unfortunately he was totally lacking in mechanical ability. It was red n white man was I envious always went better in summer, I just loved 2T sound. Robbo

Had a friend who had one back in the sixties, one day whilst riding a silencer separated from the exhaust pipe and being supported at the end dropped down and dug into the road and bent the rear mudguard and frame up. Woth watching out for if you own one!

My first bike was a BSA Bantam (less said the better) but I dreamed of having a customised Arrow with an alloy tank/seat, mini mudguards, drop handlebars and expansion chambers all of which could be bought off the shelf. I used to draw doodles on my school books but that was as far as I got.

I had an Arrow back in '67. It had a fairing which was quite unusual. Apparently made by a company called Avon. It cost me a fortune - £35. So many memories.

I had the Arial Leader in about 1966, good to see there still around.

Golden Arrow was my first bike. 518 CXB. Bought it with a bent frame for £5 in 1970. Got the frame straightened and learned a lot about bikes messing around with it. I suppose I would rather have had a 4 stroke, and I never got used to its ugliness. But as a schoolboy with a paper round beggars can't be choosers! I used to drool over a Bonneville round the corner and a BSA tester developing the Rocket 3 used to live up the road. I used to wait for hime to come home so I could hear it. Then I discovered girls ....

Had one in the 70's and reliability isnt a word they understand lol

First bike I ever brought loved it

On my 16th birthday, I had a Golden Arrow as my first bike in 1967, I had no problems until coming home from Basingstoke teck the engine locked up. Thinking the engine had seized up and needed transport my Dad bought me a 250cc Honda CB 72, after a month or 2 the Honda blow a piston not good. I bought a leader as a doner for the Golden Arrow, on striping down the Golden Arrow engine I found the problem was the alternator had overheated and locked up, easy fix parts from the leader. I passed my bike test on that Golden Arrow, Honda parts were a nightmare in the 1960s, but when the Honda was fixed I sold the Golden Arrow to a friend.

A good friend bought a sports arrow new, he was very disappointed when it developed a rattle , he took it back to the dealer and was told that's what the Arrow did and told him to get used to it, he stripped the heads and barrels off and found the rattle was from the little ends! he replaced them and not long after it started to rattle again so he got rid of it. I used to like the Arrow to ride, it handled very nicely but the ground clearance was very poor, down the back lanes it used to ground too easy and knock the exhaust clips off.

It's a Golden Arrow, the heads are shaped 'squish' heads giving 12-1 compression. Standard Arrow/Leader had dome shaped 10-1 heads. The Carb may be bigger than standard which was 7/8". Mods? block or pad the flywheel holes to increase crankcase compression, a larger Carb should fit but you may need to file out the engine inlet port. This is old 'boy racer' stuff so best left alone for grown-ups. I remember one sunny day going for a spin, weather was so good that I did over 300 miles and enjoyed every one of them. It's a quiet & smooth easy rider.

Had a couple of these when I was a kid for off road hay it had an engine and went well

I think your bike is absolutely gorgeous.

Excellent video Thanks

I have a Leader with a Golden arrow motor, on expansion pipes that was radically customised back in the early 1970,s. It needs to be all sorted out, but needs to stay customised, just updated. Perhaps I should do a video and upload it?

I had a golden Arrow in the 60s , great note out of the one I had , I could bank it over till the pegs scrapped the floor, the book said it did about 80 m p h , I got a lot more out of mine , it was great fun in the day , only problem I had was the timming and points had to be adjusted very frequently, if I had another one I'd get electronic ignition on it , super easy to work on . Thanks for the Happy memories 😊, hope you get it how you want it , you could always strip it right down lose a bit of weight .

i remember in the late 60s in Motorcycle Mechanics a guy made a 3 cylinder Arrow

419 NFK was my Ariel golden arrow super sports with full Avon fairing it was fast and a brilliant safe bike to ride my friends had arrows but couldn’t keep up with mine it was ahead of its time it was the best bike I’ve ever owned and I’ve had a few great bikes if I could buy a new one now i would I wonder if my bike is still around? 419 NFK

I had one and my mate had a BSA C15 😄👍 Thats in great condition.

Great Video !! thanks for sharing. Subscribed !

@whatsintheworkshop4478

11 ай бұрын

Thanks!

A smokey Joe! Cool!

Phwooor, what a ride!

I had a Leader. Nice bike but it would seize if you ran it fast with a strong tailwind: small throttle opening, not enough oil. On the other hand, after idling around town for a while it would blank out a dual carriageway with smoke when you finally opened up! Comfortable, decent handling, quick for its day.

I am 78 and owned one of those it was a great handling bike .. unfortunately the petrol tap used to vibrate to the closed position and the sudden lack of fuel / lubrication caused the engine to seize . It only happened when having a good old thrash around the local lanes .The brakes were pathetic . The cable front brake cable used to fail causing a lot of excitement . Excessive use of the rear brake allowed a sort of controlled sideslip into the braking zone . OH for twin front discs . I would recommend replacing the fuel tap with a locking one which cannot vibrate shut . From memory the turning circle was not the best . One notable thrash now with a full depth fiberglass fairing leaving white fairing lines on the double farms corner and the farmer was happily moving his cattle dogs and farm hands across the road just out of sight of some luny giving it rock ape (ME).. The sound of that two stroke twin on full chat echoing off the buildings in Nuneaton town centre was mouthwatering .and was what dreams were made of . . Now that was quite an adrenaline rush if ever there was one . Mr Plod used to know the sound of my golden arrow and would wave me down for a little CHAT. Personally I believed he was jealous . He was an old codger around early forty year old .. OOPS should i say a young now I am 78 coming on 79. ex 1980 Donnington Gt champion in my own designed and fabricated ground effects one litre GT class hillman imp look alike . I and my wife jane took top honours in the 1970 something IOM hillclimb me outright FTD and Jane ladies record . ex Melmo show car F3 GRD with modifications and 1600 BDA . The rear frame as standard used to work loose and the rear end would flex and let go bigtime .. Turning into the old woodcote on silverstone gp circuit was a bit of a lottery at 168 mph . I broke the Cadwell Park outright lap record in practice for a Libre race there which I walked away with .with that F3 grd with the rear engine frame suitably redesigned to get rid of the potentially lethal stepping out of the rear end . Turning into copse at insane speed and having a bit of autocrossing after hitting a big fat hare was yet another adrenaline rush event .. It is a wonder I am still here to tell the tales . Memories . Loads and loads of wonderful memories . The excitement floods back like it was only yesterday .

Thumbs up mate.

I had a 200 Arrow rebored to 25 it went really well. The were supposed to run on 4 star petrol at about 32-1 ratio. it probably needs super unleaded now to run well.

@whatsintheworkshop4478

Жыл бұрын

Yes, that's the ratio I've gone with. With some decent quality oil and super unleaded.

Get the baffle back in, trust me,Noise is noise, They should sound like rolls when baffled. I loved mine and went everywhere, Had a fairing, racing seat and tank, all in white with the yammy racing stripes of red and green, Looked really fast, did about 60-65 tops, happy days.

@whatsintheworkshop4478

4 ай бұрын

The baffles are there, everything is just quiet these days so anything old and fun seems loud!

Jolie moto et bon travail !

The head has particle damage probably from a past component failure I would recommend using Platinum thin electrode plugs as these are less susceptible to oiling but it may be worth finding an Arrow/Leader forum to get some more model specific advice, I had one of these 50 years ago it did the job but could not compare to the modern Japanese two stroke twins of the time I swapped it for a Norton 99 in boxes which was a pretty good deal as the Norton was worth more when built that was my last British bike though.

@mikewilson631

11 ай бұрын

Definitely not detonation damage. Probably a plug electrode fell off or something similar. I would check that the squish clearance is equal on each cylinder. Use a length of thin solder wire through the plug hole. I would have expected head gaskets to come in various thicknesses to equate the cylinders easily.

Just imagine if they'd continued to develop this bike - by 1973 it might have been able to compete with the Benelli 2C and perhaps some of the Japanese 250s. Especially if they'd given it conventional British styling.

@huudielbo728

11 ай бұрын

There was one 500cc Leader built just before they went bust, someone has it.

Such stylish motorcycle.m

2 strokes are always work. But she sounds and runs great. 👍

I had an Ariel Pixie....for a little while, never really got it running properly

I love these bikes - saw lots of them around when I was a kid - personally I think its Val Pages best design by far, radical and clever, stylish and imaginitive - if only the Four Cylinder grand tourer had been produced !! . . . P.S. You mentioned that the Ariel is a 250 but I believe its a 200 cc . . .

@whatsintheworkshop4478

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for your comment. That 4 cylinder would have been the saviour for sure, had the army's budget not been cut. The standard arrow was indeed a 200cc, but the SS and Leader were 250cc

@angelastanmore3363

Жыл бұрын

Had a62 std arrow it was a 250cc and it out paced the local sport arrow, the last basic arrows were 200cc

@vonryansexpress

Жыл бұрын

@@whatsintheworkshop4478 thanks - I've learnt something !! . . .

@buzzinadventures4217

Жыл бұрын

@@whatsintheworkshop4478 The Ariel Arrow 200 where built with a smaller capacity of 200 cc, achieved by reducing the bore to 48.5 mm from 54 mm whilst retaining the same stroke. They were available from 1964 to bring it into a lower tax band and benefit from lower UK rider insurance premiums. All Arrows where 250cc.

@derekwhyle1884

Жыл бұрын

@@angelastanmore3363 the super sports produced more power than the basic 250cc engine. I think the compression ratio was higher via different cylinder heads and the porting might have been different. Musta been a wimp riding the SS.

This is interesting to me because it looks like the RM is XYJ (but I can't be sure) which is from my former hometown of Dundee. However, Scotland never used the "A" suffix instead starting at "B" in 1964.

@whatsintheworkshop4478

Жыл бұрын

It's an age related plate unfortunately, as the original reg was lost.

One or two of the lads I knew used too shave 1/16 of a inch off the head which made them very fast but in town too hot but we used too doo a lot off things on our bikes

The marks you saw in the combustion chamber looks like the result of pieces of a broken piston ring. I’ve seen this on one of my Arrows

@whatsintheworkshop4478

Жыл бұрын

Yes, could well be. Or a sparkplug electrode. It's probably had some abuse over its lifetime!

Don’t forget despite the traditional 2 stroke smoke it’s ULEZ exempt 😂

That 'pitting' in the head is probably due to pre-detonation due to glowing coke, it runs like a glo-plug motor. Not you had one gasket thinner than the other, it was not uncommon to remove gaskets to boost compression and those squish heads had little clearance. I knew an Irish lad who removed the gasket from a 500cc Dumper truck, with a heavy load he would do reverse wheelies away from the cement mixer!

hi can i just say great bike, but i would say by looking at them combustion chambers and spark plugs, that its running dangerously lean and there's a good chance of burning an hole in the piston if it was me i'd run it on the rich side, its easy to change a sooty plug but not so easy with a new piston or pistons, but anyway good to see these old brit bikes on the road, with kind regards Adrian.

@whatsintheworkshop4478

Жыл бұрын

Hi Adrian. It had the wrong heat range plugs in it for the ride home before stripping it, so it's not a true picture of how it's running. It gave some strange deposits compared to the correct plugs. Though I appreciate your concern, and I will be checking all is well in any case, now it's running properly again 🙂

The sound is not how remember it, I recall it being a high pitched scream rather than a throb.

The head damage in the squish area is from a broken piston ring! It sounds a bit flat, so maybe a bit retarded. They needed quite a lot of piston to bore clearance otherwise they seized, so piston slap is normal. I had a 'Wal Phillips' fuel injector ( floatless carb) on my road Arrow. Use a good grade self mixing oil. The Bardahl oil was good.

Always has a bit of a MZ look to it for me, especially the MZ ES250. Did one influence the other?

@oldbatwit5102

11 ай бұрын

No.

Hang on. Did I hear correctly? Up until 3.52 our hero is bearded. Then, "so it's next morning..." and the beard has gone, but he has what looks like at least 2 days growth. Also, collected the bike on Saturday; got it running on Sunday; rode it to work on Monday. So taxed insured and M.O.T'd over the weekend? More continuity errors than Ben-Hur.

@whatsintheworkshop4478

11 ай бұрын

😆 You are reading way too much into my beard! I had a trim on the Monday night! Added it to my insurance on the Monday morning before I left. It's tax and MOT exempt, so no need to worry about that. I assure you there was no KZread fakery going on here, I'm a genuine wally!

@alanwilliams3677

11 ай бұрын

@@whatsintheworkshop4478 That's what the internet does to you. Id forgotten about age related exemptions. Always had a soft-spot for the Arrow, ever since someone bought me the Airfix kit to do during a spell in hospital as a kid. Anyway, still think you need a new beard trimmer.

Your head with what you think is detination marks I think is where its been damaged with a piston ring.

That's not detonation in that cylinder it's damage from something that's got in there sometime in the past.

6:45 Detonation problems? That looks like a busted piston/ring whose fragments got mashed between top of piston and the squish area...

I think it was sold as the Ariel Golden Arrow.

@whatsintheworkshop4478

Жыл бұрын

It was often known as the Golden Arrow, for obvious reasons, but was sold as the Super Sports. I think Ariel missed a trick there!

@arcboutant

Жыл бұрын

@@whatsintheworkshop4478 a new one on me mate.

@arcboutant

Жыл бұрын

@@whatsintheworkshop4478 certainly, Google under either name …. same bike.

@derekwhyle1884

Жыл бұрын

@@arcboutant can assure you that it was an arrow super sports, I rode one back in the 60’s. That head has been peppered by something - likely a broken ring or pieces of piston crown. If you used the wrong grade spark plugs in these it was quite common for the plug to shed it’s electrode and burn a hole in the piston. This bike was symptomatic of the British industry of the era. Yamaha and Suzuki arrived and showed us how an air-cooled 250cc two stroke twin should be built. The rest is history.

@georgebarnes8163

Жыл бұрын

@@derekwhyle1884 and MZ showed the Japs how a two stroke should be made

Watching this 5 months later , did you do a squish test to determine if you have the same compression on both cylinders ?

@georgebarnes8163

Жыл бұрын

just screw in a compression tester into the plug hole to test

By the way, a piston ring from the past not recent .

Classic design….I’ve seen some Japanese retro styles that ripp this style…

looks like broken ring damage in the past.?

Stuff happens.

Do you like to sale it

6:40: don't look like detonation to me ............. that's broken piston-ring marks......... eh ??

I always thought the Arrow was 200cc....and the Leader was 250....

@whatsintheworkshop4478

5 ай бұрын

There was a 200cc Arrow, but the SS/Golden Arrow is a 250cc.

I have not watched the video yet but i do know that if you get it to run you will most likely be arrested for creating more pollution than a volcano. They did not call these things oil burners for nothing.

Love the sound of a 2 stroke. It would sound mega with a pair of allspeeds or microns but wouldn’t suit the styling.