Ariel Motorcycles was a British motorcycle manufacturer
based in Bournbrook, Birmingham. It was one of the leading innovators in British motorcycling, and was part of
the Ariel marque. The company was sold to BSA in 1951 but the Ariel brand
survived until 1967. Influential Ariel designers includededward Turner and Val Page. The last motorcycle-type vehicle to carry the Ariel name was a short-lived
3-wheel tilting moped launched in 1970.
Ariel had made bicycles before
making motorcycles, and had also made automobiles. Car production, which began
in 1902, moved to Coventry in 1911, but ceased in 1925.
Ariel 4F 1935
The original company was established in 1870 by James Starley and William Hillman.They built wire-spoke wheels under the first British
patent; this allowed them also to build a lighter-weight "penny farthing" bicycle which they named 'Ariel' (the spirit of the
air). They
put the name on the factory where they made penny farthing bicycles
and sewing machines. In 1885 James Starley's nephew, John Kemp Starley, invented the 'Rover Safety Bicycle'- a rear-wheel-drive, chain driven bicycle
with two similar-sized wheels, which is essentially the design still used on
bicycles today.
Ariel 4H 1939
Ariel merged with Westwood
Manufacturing in 1896 and made a powered tricycle in
1898 with a 2.25 hp de Dion engine
mounted at the rear. Hillman
left soon afterwards to found Premier Motorcycles More
tricycles were produced and motorised quadcycles were added in
1901 as Ariel then moved into car production.
Ariel Square Four MK1
Ariel Square Four MKII
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