BSA Ariel 3
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Make Model | BSA Ariel 3 |
Year | 1969 |
Engine | Single cylinder, 2-stroke |
Capacity | 50 cc / 3.0 cub in. |
Cooling System | Ari colled with fan |
Compression Ratio | 7:1 |
Carburetor | Encarwi S8 |
Mixture | 24:1 |
Ignition | Bosch flywheel magneto |
Starting | Pedal |
Max Power | 1.3 kW / 1.7 hp @ 5500 rpm |
Clutch | Plate type automatic |
Transmission | Automatic |
Final Drive | Belt |
Frame | Steel pressing with torsion bars connecting the rear hinging unit |
Front Suspension | Single sided tubular fork, suspension provided by rubber in compression |
Front Brakes | Drum |
Rear Brakes | One drum |
Wheels | 3 x 12 in., interchangeable |
Front Rim | Pressed steel |
Rear Rim | Pressed steel |
Front Tyre | 2 x 12 in |
Rear Tyres | 2 x 12 in |
Fuel Capacity | 2.8 L / 6 US pints |
Colours | Blue, Orange, Olive green |
Source | Globalnet |
The Ariel-3 was launched with a fanfare from the BSA management, and round condemnation from the motor cycling press, around June 1970. Those who thought that Ariel-3 meant an Ariel version of the Triumph Trident had their hopes cruelly dashed. It was a three-wheeled moped (I had one hell of a job trying to persuade DVLC to issue me a V5 for a three-wheeled moped, and despite sending numerous photos they still insisted that their computer could only recognise two-wheeled moped) with automatic transmission and a novel hingeing system whereby the front could be leant like a conventional two-wheeler, while the back part, containing the engine & transmission unit, sat squarely on the road on its pair of wheels. All wheels were 12 inch diameter and took the same 12 × 2 tyres as the Raleigh Wisp moped. All wheels were interchangeable and a spare could be had as an extra. These pressed steel wheels were fastened to the hubs by three studs, making wheel changing in case of a puncture far easier than with any other moped I can think of.
The engine was a 50cc fan cooled single cylinder two-stroke made by the Dutch Anker concern, fitted with a plate type automatic clutch driving a pulley for a toothed belt which transferred drive via a reduction ratio, to the nearside rear wheel, the reduction being achieved by a final drive chain and sprocket. One unfortunate point about the set up is that it seems that the Anker engine does not seem to have been designed for being fan cooled in an enclosed space, so the cooling fan was fitted outboard of the engine drive pulley and only turned when drive was being transmitted (ie: the vehicle was moving), so heavy traffic work could cause a degree of overheating. The fan was pressed onto its boss and this also tended to work loose, resulting in a lot of rattling but not a lot of cooling. This happened to mine, but it was easily cured with a couple of tack welds. The other end of the crankshaft was fitted with a Bosch flywheel magneto incorporating lighting coils to power the 15 Watt headlight and 6 Watt rear light. Much the same as any other flywheel magneto in design, it did its job reliably and never gave me problems at all. They never provided a rear brake light though, which I feel was a ridiculous omission at such a late date and a stupid way to save a few pence at the expense of safety.
The engine unit in all, was quite a robust motor, giving l.7bhp at 5,500 rpm from its iron barrel 7:1 compression ratio cylinder. Carburation was by an Encarwi S8 feeding the engine via a reed valve situated in the base of the crankcase. Fitted on its curved inlet manifold, the carb' hung out towards the back of the engine cover and in extremely cold weather tended to suffer icing of the jets until the unit got warmed up, when the heat from the close proximity silencer kept it warm enough. The silencer itself was a squarish box across the rear of the unit, discharging at low level, horizontally to the near side (or directly over pedestrians feet and ankles if you happened to be sitting at the kerbside). The engine ran on a two-stroke mix of 24:1 and the six pint fuel tank was situated to the front and above the engine unit at the front of the box covering the whole rear unit, with the fuel filler protruding through the top of the cover. This box cover was mainly a steel pressing, but fitted with white plastic side pieces which formed the outsides to the rear mudguards, the inners being part of the engine bay. An optional extra basket could be had for fitting to the top of the engine cover, but as I quickly found, anything carried in it which was not indestructible, soon suffered terminal damage due to the severe banging and crashing of the rear unit (all unsprung weight) on all but the smoothest of surfaces.
The main chassis/frame unit of the Ariel-3 was a rather neat steel pressing, enclosing both the pedalling gear and the torsion bars connecting the rear hinging unit. It also held the cables to the throttle, choke and rear brake all neatly out of the way. Access to the adjustment and servicing points within this box section was via a small round screw fixed plate at the front on either side and along the top section above the pedals, where a plastic grooved foot strip covered the access slot. Correct adjustment to the two torsion rods within this box was essential for the safe steering of the vehicle. This new vehicle was intended to be mainly sold in Britain, a country where vast numbers of people are almost paranoid in their worries about what the neighbours (or their assumed peer group) will think of them. People who would rather suffer in some way rather than take a sensible solution which, in their eyes, would cause them to lose face, or dignity, in the eyes of their friends. In such a climate, even the traditional moped has always found it rather hard going in the sales charts, compared with countries like Holland, Belgium, France and Italy. Britain was not the country to launch such an unconventional vehicle and expect large sales. The top management at BSA have often been accused of making the most appaling decisions and it is not difficult to see why. Most were not motor cyclists, some didn't even like bikes, while others were apparently even ashamed to be involved in selling motor cycles. Yet they were quite happy to make big decisions on what they thought motor cyclists and other "ordinary" (unlike themselves) people should accept as transport. Most of these rash decisions could easily have been avoided if the simple move had been taken of removing all directors company cars at development time and letting the directors be the initial market research on their own products instead. Three months travelling into and out of their expensive driveways each day by Ariel-3 would have focussed their minds wonderfully on what "ordinary people" might feel when contemplating a purchase. The company in its own right might still have been with us today. Article by: Cohn Atkinson |