STAYING the DISTANCE
Six decades ago, trials ace Ron Langston won countless scrambles and an ISDT gold medal piloting Ariel’s acclaimed off-roader. These days, one of his surviving sidecar outfits enjoys a more leisurely life in the wilds of the west country. Rowena Hoseason investigated the machine’s history while Frank Westworth was actually brave enough to bounce around on the beast…
‘It’s great fun on the road,’ says owner Roger, in an encouraging tone of voice. There’s an agenda here, I sense, one which involves me perching on the passenger plinth of this Ariel outfit while he pilots the plot around a windswept Davidstow airfield. Long-time readers might recall that the last time I went anywhere near a trials outfit, the escapade ended in tears (and A&E). A main course of caution with a side order of suspicion seems to be the order of the day – confirmed by Roger’s next statement.
‘Mind you, it’s not too comfortable for the passenger, and it’s not a passive ride.’ No kidding? ‘ The second person needs to be able to lean and clamber about all over the bike for optimum performance. Screaming is discouraged – even if both driver and passenger have occasion to be in the chair at the same time on left-handers.’ Pardon, sorry, what? ‘I can even ride it on two wheels with the third whirling around of its own free will in the fresh air. Joy!’
I decide that I’m busy today, tomorrow, and possibly for the rest of my lifetime, but my admiration for the men who created and campaigned these machines goes through the ceiling. Who built this bike, and what exactly is it?
THE MAN
Legend has it that a 19 year-old Ron Langston competed in his first novice trials event in the early 1950s – and won it. He rode trials during his time in the army, and joined the Ariel factory works team in 1956. He was an archetypal all-rounder of the old school who campaigned on two and three wheels, in trials, scrambles and road races.
Equipped with Ariel’s new HS/HT 500 offroader he immediately won the Cotswold and Greensmith trials, went on to claim a gold medal in the ISDT, and represented Great Britain in the Motocross des Nations. And those are only the highlights of an actionpacked riding life.
Ariel closed their competition shop in 1959. Ron was suffering from a back injury so he tried his throttle hand at something a bit less bumpy than flat-out scrambles. This speaks volumes as to the mettle of the man, if his idea of taking things a bit easier was championship level road racing. In his third outing on tarmac, Ron achieved a ‘sensational’ second place in the 1959 Manx GP. Ron was ‘the best all-rounder for many years,’ said Motor Cycle. His ‘determination and daring have been obvious right from the start; to that he has added superb throttle control.’
More trips to the top of the podium followed – including at the Southern 100 and the Thruxton 500 mile endurance event – while 1961 saw Ron compete in the Belgian Grand Prix and the Senior TT. But the allure of off-road competition kept pulling him back to the muddy stuff, riding an Ariel 500 scrambles single which came directly from the factory, fitted with a trials sidecar for his regular passenger, Doug Cooper. Together, Doug and Ron participated in countless events during the 1960s, winning five British Championships along the way.
‘Ron and Doug were extremely successful as a team,’ explains Roger, current custodian of the Ariel. ‘To reach the levels of success that they achieved you do need a very special relationship with each other. Each has to have complete confidence in the other. It’s second nature for them both to anticipate where the bike will go, how it will behave and what are the optimum relative positions – which change constantly. Speaking from experience, this takes a lot of doing.
‘People who saw the pair ride suggest that their preferred method of tackling a section was to go back as far as possible from the section, wind it up, and go like hell into it.
‘Sounds simple? It’s not, believe me.’
THE MACHINE
Royal Enfield first took the plunge with a fully sprung trials bike and, when it was obvious that their experiment was successful, AJS, BSA and Triumph followed suit. Ariel joined the fray in 1953 when the comp shop pulled apart their old rigid frame and its faithful Red Hunter engine, making significant changes to keep up with (and ideally overtake) the competition. For instance, the size of the exhaust valve was reduced, which didn’t damage peak power but provided more low-rev grunt. This modification lowered the temperature around the exhaust valve and the charge temperature at the end of the induction stroke – a small increase in volumetric efficiency made maximum torque available a couple of hundred rpm lower down the rev range. Low speed running was also improved by fitting new cams with quietening ramps, which had the additional effect of making tappet clearance less critical.
Ariel were among the early adopters of Amal’s new Monobloc carb while it was still in its experimental stage. Swapping from the earlier carb to the new design meant they could drop the size from 1 3/16th to 1 1/16th on the 500 competition engine, while the 350 used a one-inch version.
The prototype springer frame was put together in the winter of 1954. Ariel did all they could to make sure that the swinging arm chassis wasn’t significantly heavier than its rigid predecessor, and the all-brazed, large diameter spring frame weighed just 4lb (!) more than the rigid one. Burman also shaved weight from the gearbox, and made it shorter as well, while the two-gallon alloy petrol tank and a skinny front wheel shaved off even more ounces.
In the end, the springer Ariel trials bike was 10lb lighter than the VCH it replaced; a remarkable achievement. Even so, many competitors ditched a stack of standard components to save more weight – one Mr Miller built an entire business around this process, of course. Said Don Morley; ‘It was a mystery how Ariel would fit so many heavy bits yet finish with just about the lightest bike.’
The Ariel 500 was also one of the most powerful engines in its class, so perhaps it’s no surprise that Sammy Miller went onto achieve glory with GOV 132.
When the HT5 was launched in 1955, ‘Ariel had possibly the best purpose-built trials bike ever built,’ according to Don Morley. It wasn’t perfect, of course. Some riders criticised the swap from the BT-H racing magneto over to the Lucas wader, which ‘never managed as large a low-rev spark as its predecessor.’ But as Ron Langston so ably demonstrated, the Ariel 500 was the class act of its era.
A 346cc version followed in 1956, using the all-alloy Red Hunter-type motor with a caged, double roller big end. It was very similar to the 500 apart from its gear ratios and cost much the same, so while some 450 HT5s were built, fewer than 40 HT3s saw any action. That was a shame, reckoned Don Morley. ‘Even in its detuned HT form, the 500 was always too rorty.’ He thought that the HT3 would be ‘better for the less experienced rider, while still at a weight advantage over the 350cc offerings from BSA, AMC and Royal Enfield.’
Further factory development was cut short when Ariel switched their attention over to twostroke road bikes – but that didn’t stop riders like Langston keeping their bikes competitive well into the following decade. Fork shrouds were jettisoned to improve steering lock, which usually meant the petrol tank would soon sport a pair of matching dents. Smaller and lighter front hubs were fitted; the underside of the petrol tank could be cut away so it sat lower down on the frame. Even the oil tank could be abandoned, and the engine oil carried inside the frame seat downtube. And who needs an air filter, anyway?
HT5 owners did need to keep a close eye on lubrication, because the cam and followers were prone to wear rapidly, while the oil pump would cheerfully stop scavenging if dirt blocked the ball valve. The more powerful Triumph Bonneville oil pump could be made to fit. Riders with longer legs were well advised to modify the carb’s jutting-out angle. If fitted with an air cleaner it was almost guaranteed to knock a kneecap, significantly affecting the rider’s manoeuvrability. The solution was to cut and re-weld the cylinder head inlet stub angle, to tuck in the carb almost parallel to the frame.