Above:“Hereitis–
whateveritis,”said
BSA’sownpublicity
abouttheK2Ariel3.have been between2500 and3000, andthe plugwas
pulledinmid-1971.With £700,000 ofredundantspares,
engines included, thebillfor the wholeexercisewas
reportedly£2 million.This contribut ed significantly to
the Group’s£11 milliondeficit in 1972 ,and to theBSA
marque’s termination.
Wallis sold thepate ntsontoHonda, and in 1981 the
design, minus BSA’stwintorsion bars, reappeared as
the neatly styledbut expensive Stream.Threemore
economicalroad modelsfollowed until 1985,butthe
long-runninghit wasthe cheaper1983-onGyro.Often
adeliveryvehicle, it switched from two-stroke to
four -strok eengines in2008.On all, thestyling–check
outthe Road Fox–andreliability were astandingrebuke
to BSA.
What wasitlike?
In the moped mayhem,Derkfirstdrewthe Ariel and he
wassoonsweatingasitfaile dtopedal-start, despitethe
engine beingnearlynew (andKenhas acouple ofspares,
sinceyou used to pickthem up for afiverorl ess).
To be fair to the Ariel, itturnedout that while tilting the
fron tend forastatic photo, the decompressorcable had
become trapped.You pushedthe twistgripthrottle all the
wayforward to thestop todecompressthe engine (there
wasalsoalittl elever belowthe leftside handlebar),but
without the throttle-controlledone working,itp roved
near-impossible to pedal-start the3.Bythe timeKen
discoveredthe problem,Derkhad lostsomeweight.
WhenIhad ago, it wascrazy!Bypaddlingorpedallin g,
with the throttleclosed,the enginecaughteasily, even
on the poorsurface.And then itstopped.Irealis ed you
hadtokeepthe throttle on, accelerating, and ridden
thus therewas asurprisingsensation ofspeed.Oo-er! I
steered desperately round some of the potholes,but the
virtuallyunsprungrear endbangedintoothers, and I
sawthe whole backend leap into theair whenDerk was
riding.This wouldshake up yourgroceries already gently
warmingfromthe engineclosebeneaththem...
Ifelt minimallyincontrol, though necessity in the
form of apotholedleft-hander on icygravel, made me
realisethe tiltingfront end actually didcorner okay.The
brakeswere alright, butkeepthatthrottleon! Soon it
wasactua llyfun (Ken:“the grin factor isawesome!”)
thoughstill slightly unnerving. And allabit of an ask for
the housewife?THE CLASSICMOTORCYCLE|SEPTEMBER 2019 47
roup |ro Ultra-lightweights