British motorcycle colors

[Rolf S. Ask]

Hello.
Been a while since I have been in here
Just surfing the net for colors for a 1943 Ariel W/NG. And it seems that most motorcycles is restored using bronze green. Would this be the correct color for a 1943 bike? The truth is that I just want it to be a bit different....
And if any of you have the RAL numbers that would be correct I would be thankful, because then I do not have to search the forum
And all in all, it looks as the Ariel is not the most common british motorcycle on the net.

Rolf

[Ken Hughes]

Hi Rolf,there used to be an outfit called Dragonfly Motorcycles in GB that delt with ariel m/c
Its been a while since i owned one,but they were good to deal with.
There also was an ariel m/c club in GB and their news letter was called DER CHEVAL?
(french for iron horse),my spelling of it is not good i think,Do a search on the net as there is probably still an active club that would possibly have the records you need.
Best of luck,those ariels were a very good bike up with ajay and matchless in ww2 bikes.

[welbike]

Hi Rolf,

Better go here:

http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/stat...mid=16&msgid=0

But I can tell you Bronze green was only used prewar and postwar, in 1943 it could have been earth brown or kakhi green, see also:

http://www.wdbsa.nl/colour.htm

Cheers,

Lex Schmidt

[Rolf S. Ask]

Hi Ken and Lex
Thanks for answers. I guess I will manage to figure it out
Did get some RAL 7006 mixed. It is Khaki Grey and at the least I can use it as an in betweene layer of paint so I see what needs to be covered on the next layer. RAL 7006 Earth Brown, or RAL 8000 Green Brown.
I did "shoot" the color inside the braking plate, but Khaki Grey is not the same. I do know the paint darkens an lot as it dryes, so will have a good look at it next time I am in my sheed. I think the Earth Brown must be it. And all the different paint I am geting made, I can use on my jerrycans
I have found Draganfly and will for sure make some orders there. I am in need of many parts. First it will be the brake shoes, and they need to get my old sendt to them before they send me some that are relined. And I also need some engine parts and new seats and so on.
I have never seen my bike other than in baskets.. and I have had it for more than 20 Years, so figured it was time to do something

The framserial number is XG 31682 and the engine serial number is 31682 so it is matching numbers. But the engine has no suffixes in front, only the number..
Here is a picture of the engine parts..



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And a picture after I have cleaned up the crank case housing.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Rolf



Rolf

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Rolf.
I drove and Ariel Square Four back in the early '60's..It belonged to my buddy and I had just bought a news 1964 Honda 300CC Dream..it was a beauty and of course my buddy wanted to drive it ..We switched bikes and it was a heavy brute compared to the Honda ,but it had lots of "GO"!!!

It sounded like a motor cycle also..
But I would rather have my Honda..still wish I had it..

You should contact the Ariel Club..they will be a great help in your restoration..Here is the link..

http://www.arielownersmcc.co.uk/index.html

Keep the pictures coming..

[welbike]

Originally Posted by Alex Blair

Rolf.
I drove and Ariel Square Four back in the early '60's..It belonged to my buddy and I had just bought a news 1964 Honda 300CC Dream..it was a beauty and of course my buddy wanted to drive it ..We switched bikes and it was a heavy brute compared to the Honda ,but it had lots of "GO"!!!

It sounded like a motor cycle also..
But I would rather have my Honda..still wish I had it..

You should contact the Ariel Club..they will be a great help in your restoration..Here is the link..

http://www.arielownersmcc.co.uk/index.html

Keep the pictures coming..

Alex,

I will trade you 5 Honda's for a Squariel any time!!

Usually the one make clubs know surprisingly little about the wartime efforts of their make!! best to start with buying a copy of Orchard & Maddens "British Forces Motorcycles" lots of info in there.

Rolf, RAL numbers are a German invention, and nothing there is close to a British colour!

If you have decided on a certain colour, let me know, and I'll send you a sample, but the Humbrol model paint recepies on the M20 site are very accurate too.

Cheers,

Lex