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British motorcycle designers, was more focused on engineer-
ing fundamentals than flash. Learning his trade at engine
supplier J.A. Prestwich, Page was the Yin to Turner’s Yang, and
they frequently worked on and improved each other’s designs
— though rarely at the same time.
For example, after succeeding Page as chief designer at
Triumph in 1936, Turner repackaged the company’s line of
overhead valve 4-stroke singles with upswept pipes and show
chrome to create the Tiger 70, 80 and 90. And it took the Turner
touch to turn Ariel’s plain-Jane sports model VH — another
Page design — into the crimson-and-chrome Red Hunter.
Similarly, Page re-engineered Turner’s Square Four in the
post-war years into the sophisticated superbike of its day.
Page was also responsible for the 1935 6/1, Triumph’s first unit
construction 650cc parallel twin (Motorcycle Classics May/June
2013). But like most of Page’s designs it was more prosaic
than pretty, and when Turner took over as chief designer at
Triumph, he quickly canned the 6/1 in favor of his own parallel
twin design.
So when charged with bringing Ariel’s product lineup to
date in the mid-1950s, it’s not surprising that Page produced a
marvel of modern engineering that looked like something built
from a constructor set.First the Leader
Market research should be easy: You ask people
what they want, and develop a product that meets
their needs. But as Edward Turner knew — and
Ariel was about to find out — what buyers say
they want and what they’ll actually buy may be
two different things. The annals of well-researched
products that missed the market read like a litany
of failure: the Ford Edsel, New Coke, Aermacchi’s
Chimera (Motorcycle Classics March/April 2014) ...
and perhaps the Ariel Leader.
And the stakes were high. Though Ariel was
part of the BSA-Triumph group, the Selly Oak
factory enjoyed relative autonomy. In com-
mitting to their new design, Ariel decided it
would drop all other models from its range,
including the Square Four. From 1958, the
company would produce just one model:
the 250cc Leader.
The Leader represented a radical rethink
of what a motorcycle should be and do. No
doubt influenced by the hundreds of thou-
sands of imported scooters flooding the U.K.
motorcycle market, the decision was made that
the Leader’s mechanicals would be fully enclosed
behind molded body panels. That meant the chassis
and drivetrain could be engineered for functionality and
production efficiency rather than just looking good.
Page approached the design from first principles, borrow-
ing methods and techniques from the auto industry. The
Leader’s beam frame would be made from steel pressings
welded together, eliminating the labor-intensive brazed lug
and steel tube frame. The front fork would also be pressed,
avoiding the expensive machining required in the production
of a telescopic fork. And the new power unit would be made
using pressure die casting rather than the sand cast process
commonly used at the time.
Page’s engine was unconventional, too. Though other
British companies had produced 2-stroke twins, almost
every other 250cc British motorcycle made at the time was
a 4-stroke single. Borrowing technology from the German
Adler MB250, the Leader’s engine was a purpose-designed
piston-port 2-stroke twin of 54mm x 54mm bore and strokeUnusual and yet eye-catching in its
appearance, the Arrow was based on
the earlier Ariel Leader, but without
its enclosing bodywork.