Adler v Ariel battle royale

I found your piece on Adler/ Leader/Arrow piece (YWA, July 2022) very interesting.

Firstly, I must say that I have never owned an Arrow or a Leader, but I did own an Adler MB250, extremely similar to the one pictured – the only difference being mine had a dark orange dual seat and the registration was 6 FMT. It truly was a great little bike.

After I’d had the Adler for about a month, I thought I had better check the oil in the primary chaincase. I carefully unscrewed the cover and the oil started to run out of the bottom. The oil was clean, if a little cloudy.

When the cover was completely removed imagine my surprise – this was my first bike and I was only 17 at the time – it had two pristine helical gears for the primary drive. The cover was quickly replaced and the correct amount of new oil put in.

I had the bike about 14 months and after daily use for work and trips all over the country including going to the Isle of Man for the TT in 1961, (quite a long trip as I lived in Harrow, Middlesex at the time) the only ‘breakdown’ was a nipple snapping off the clutch cable. A bit a fast paddling before putting it in to gear and a very cautious approach to traffic lights managed to get me home.

A school pall of mine, Dave Wilkins, from Wealdstone, had a brand-new 1961 Ariel Arrow costing £167 if my memory serves me correct – and it often doesn’t now – while my Adler, a 1957 model, cost £85. Both of these bikes were our first ones.

Once Dave got his Arrow run in, we thought we would have a ‘drag race,’ – as you did when you were a teenager – to see how much difference there was between his new Arrow and my four-year-old Adler. I must say the roads were a lot quieter and there was no speed limit then.

We went to George V Avenue, just about the only derestricted dual carriageway in Harrow, for the trial. With Dave on the new bike, he went off in front and I tried to catch him. It was soon evident that the Adler performed much better than the Arrow and I soon passed him, reaching just over 80mph with the Arrow well behind. Just to show that this was not a fluke we did it again with the same result.

The bike was a good starter and I only wish – don’t we all – I still had it.