The unloved
1970 K2 Ariel 3
What was it?
The moped market was growing in the late 1960s. Because UK legislation allowed a pair of wheels to be counted as one if they were close enough together, the Ariel 3 could be classed as a moped, with cheap tax and insurance, as it was 50cc-powered and featured pedalling gear. The convenience of a moped plus the stability of a three-wheeler – what could possibly go wrong?
The 3’s inventors were a three-man team, among them G L Wallis of Surbiton. The design’s party piece was the way that while the rear end was fixed, the whole front end could be tilted round corners like a motorbike. The partners were contacted by BSA in 1967, and manufacturing rights were licensed to Small Heath, though Wallis retained the patents.
BSA’s designers went to work on it at Umberslade Hall, where it was known as ‘Trixie,’ or ‘the pantomime horse.’ The front and rear sections were joined by a pivot on the machine axis. To this the BSA engineers added twin ‘Tri-Torque’ torsion bars on the same axis, which helped lift the front end up again after a
