Ariel Leader

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Designed by Val Page and launched in 1958, the Leader combined the all-weather protection, cleanliness and convenience of the scooter with the handling speed and agility of a motorbike. 

Moving away from the usual tubular frame of the lightweight motorcycle, the Leader and it's sister bike, the Arrow, were built around a monocoque chassis pressed, moulded and welded from formed sheet to give both light weight and structural strength, with trailing link front suspension and car type rear springing.

The power plant was a two stroke twin cylinder engine of 247cc with in-unit gearbox following the lines of the German Adler machines. There was much to commend the engine both for performance and reliability and the machine deserved to have done much better than it did, a promising design which should have been capable of further development, finally being axed by BSA in 1966 it was the last motorcycle to wear the Ariel badge ( if you discount the Ariel 3 moped/three wheeler as many did).

The Leader on offer here is a 1959 model in green and cream and was substantially restored by it's previous owner, a Mr O'Brien, and is said to start and run well. The indicated mileage of 4,000 cannot be warranted. On display in the Stondon Motor Museum for the last few years, it comes with a modern V5C showing an original registration date of 26/2/1959.

PS: A large file of bills and photographs documents the restoration of this bike totalling over £3,500.