Gone But Part 5 Ariel Not Forgotten

Turner’s Square Four remained in production from 1931 to 1959

- Harry Fisher

I could carry this series on for years, not only without ever repeating myself but also without ever leaving the United Kingdom, such was the profusion and diversity of motorcycle manufacturers there from the turn of the 20th century up to the end of the 1960s.

Of course, some came and went leaving naught but a ripple on the history of motorcycling while others thrived and came to be famous names, often producing designs that have an influence on bikes today. Sometimes that influence manifested itself in making sure the same mistakes weren’t made again, but more often than not, the influence was design- and engineering-based.

No matter which British motorcycle manufacturer we talk about, by the end of the 1960s it was all over; that once thriving and innovative industry was no more. The reasons are myriad but this isn’t the place to go into them. This is the place to celebrate those names and the machines they created.

Of all the British manufacturers, Ariel was one of the more interesting. Founded in 1870, the company first made wire wheels for penny-farthing bicycles, allowing them to be much lighter, and named their own penny farthing the ‘Ariel’ (Ariel is the spirit of the air). Interestingly, a nephew of one of the founders of Ariel invented the Rover Safety Bicycle in the 1880s - a bicycle with two wheels the same size and chain drive to the rear wheel, which, of course, is the design that is still in use today.

By 1902, the first Ariel motorcycle was in production but the company was taken over by Charles Sangster and his company Components Ltd. After the First World War, his son, Jack, took over management of the Ariel division of the parent company.