Ariel Leader 250

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Launched in mid-1958, the Ariel Leader claimed to offer the comfort of a scooter with the performance of a motorcycle.

At first it sold well and even won the Motor Cycle News 'Motorcycle of the Year' award in 1959. A radical design, the Leader was fully enclosed with an integral windscreen and was the first British motorcycle to have optional flashing indicators. Designed by Val Page and Bernard Knight, it featured a 16bhp 250cc two-stroke engine suspended from a monocoque 'backbone' fabricated from 20-gauge pressed steel panels.

The fuel tank was hidden inside this structure and accessed by lifting the hinged dual seat. A dummy petrol tank was used for storage and was large enough to fit a spare crash helmet. It was the fully enclosed bodywork (first developed by Phil Vincent for the innovative Vincent Black Prince) that was most prominent, as none of the working parts of the motorcycle were visible.

As well as a full body, the standard Leader features included a headlight trimmer, an extendable lifting handle for easy centre stand use, and a permanent windscreen mounting. Factory listed options included integrated-design hard-luggage panniers, the first flashing indicators on a British motorcycle, a dash-mounted parking light, windscreen top-extension (adjustable on the move), a cast aluminium rear rack and a clock aperture built into a 'dashboard' (closed-off by an Ariel badge when not fitted).

A total of 22,000 Leaders were built before Ariel succumbed to the onslaught of Japanese reliability and value, and these stylish machines are a rare sight today.

This fine black and white 1962 Ariel Leader has only just emerged from a thorough three year restoration and has only covered a few hundred miles since gaining its first post-rebuild MOT in March 2014 (it is currently MOT tested until March 2016). A sheaf of invoices are included with the sale documenting expenditure, mainly with the Ariel specialist supply company Draganfly Motorcycles of Bungay Suffolk.

Hidden within these invoices that list many minor ‘specialist only’ grommets, clips and other details, is the £130 bill for a replacement curved Perspex windscreen. A new front tyre with white wall bands was fitted in 2014 to match the rear tyre. The smart panel work has been carefully restored and then refinished in two- pack automotive paint.

Briefly ridden for a few summer jaunts around the Herefordshire village of Bodenham, the vendor has decided to part with both his Ariel Leader and what was going to be his next project, an Ariel café racer (see Lot 205). Now that he is in his mid-seventies he plans to return to competitive trial bike riding instead!