After enjoying a decade of success in the Thirties with a competition model suitable for all disciplines Ariel had plenty of reasons to feel confident this success would continue after the Second World War. Initially it did look as though theride-in-anything-and-everything-on-the-samecompetition-model theme would carry on into the Forties and Fifties but the age of specialisation was coming and Ariel were on the back foot. Like every other manufacturer in the British industry of the time, what Ariel wanted to do may well have taken a back seat to what they were able to do in a world still reeling from six years of global conflict. With an economy stretched to breaking point, the supply of raw materials strictly controlled by a government that insisted manufacturers should ‘export or die’ in an attempt to bring desperately needed revenue into the treasury coffers, is it any wonder the supply of new machines to the home market was limited?
There were a few changes to all motorcycles once peace-time manufacturing did resume. Gone were girder forks, in came telescopics; mostly though, rear ends were still rigid. With raw materials becoming more abundant, makers could think about answering some of the demands from a
