Literature

The basis of a good restoration or repair is information. All you will ever need is listed here. Unfortunately, there is no one publication that will answer all your needs, so here is a guide to those available.

Parts books are the single most useful publication as they list almost evry part fitted to the bike and although not without errors and omissions are pretty accurate and essential for an accurate restortation. The Colt books are somewhat sparsly illustrated and the BSA equivalent will be found to be very useful. You will however need the BSA part numbers, which will be found alongside the Ariel ones in the 1954 and 1955 supplement, marked as ‘Do not use PART No.’. The 1956 book does not have these but the early books will do 95% of the job as there were few alterations. The parts that are specific to Ariel are easily spotted as the ‘do not use numbers’ contain a ‘/’ instead of the ‘-‘ of the BSA numbers.

The factory never published any workshop manuals, only owners’ guides, which were the rider’s handbook that was supplied with the machine when new. These contain much useful information on servicing and basic repairs. These are photocopies. The BSA Service Sheets are the nearest thing to a proper manual but of course do not cover the gearbox.

Each year Ariel issued a catalogue of the forthcoming seasons models and as such, they are frequently treated as definitive. However, they do sometimes depict prototype ideas that did not reach production such as swinging arm frames with brake rods, so they do need to be treated with caution. The catalogues vary in size and content, which is reflected in the price, some being merely brochures whilst others have two pages to each model. These are reproduced in full colour.

Roy Bacon ‘s book ‘Ariel, The Post War Models’ contains many useful period photographs and is a comprehensive history, including many useful and largely accurate tables of information. It covers all of the post war models including the Ariel 3, is published in hardback, 190 pages reference OG92

There is no VAT on books.

Each year the factory published a parts book, mainly for the use of dealers so that they could correctly identify and price spare parts. These books are invaluable to the rider and restorer alike as they list virtually every part on the bike.Every part is indiuvidually illustrated before 1950 but after that date major assemblies only, such as engine, gearbox, wheels and forks, are shown but with the advantage of them being in exploded views. The 1926-28, 1932-38 singles and 1932-36 SQ 4 parts books do not contain details of gearbox or other proprietory parts. In addition, the 1926 singles, 1929-32 all models and 1937 Square Four books are unillustrated. For some years a supplementary parts lists was issued instead of a full parts book and these only show the alterations for that year and must be used in conjunction with the list for the previous year. These supplementary lists are indicated, on the chart, by (S). Engine and frame numbers with prefix letters please, to ensure that you are sent the correct book.o:p>

Although all the parts books have been given a part number, as listed below, only those parts books which are priced in the price list are actually available. We would be interested in purchasing any parts books to fill the gaps.

1929-32 parts book covering all models, unillustrated. In 1931 Ariel changed the part numbering system, retaing the old numbers for use within the factory and pre 1931 books only contain the earlier numbers, this book has both and is therefore essential for anyone with one of these bikes. All the errors in the original single year books appear to have been repeated in this book along with some new ones! Ref PB29-32ALL