Ron Posted May 1, 2019 Share Posted May 1, 2019 Damien I wonder if the lug you refer to is for the WD field stand? Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grease monkey Posted May 1, 2019 Author Share Posted May 1, 2019 Nice Pic Ron. My project is on hold for the moment. Need to have my Dodge WC ready for the Normandie. also i'm working on my HD WLA. Plenty of work, but it will come. As you suggested i think the lug is for the prop stand. Need to see pics. Brdgs Bram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Towning Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 (edited) I've uploaded some pictures of the frame. In the first picture a barely legible serial number is stamped on the top tube where it meets the seat post. I do believe it looks something like \N 5928. It is quite a rough stamping and whatever preceded the \ part of the serial number is long gone. Edited May 2, 2019 by Damien Towning Clarification of serial number Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Towning Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Also I had remembered slightly incorrectly. The big lug I was talking about is on the diagonal of the tube that joins the top tube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Blimey Damien! A heavily butchered frame. If the number is genuine? It's not W/NG. Could be a different pre war model? W/NG frame numbers were all prefixed XG and started at XG11186 to somewhere round XG57520 and the ones I've seen were stamped on the 'Y' shaped tube lug to the rear of the saddle tube. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Towning Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Perhaps the number stamped in to it is the V / N ( vin number ) that it would have been registered in Australia with. The mystery continues ! I am curious about what is going on with the gear box mounting. Clearly some artist went to work on that ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Damien, is that sidecar swan neck lug at the top of your front tube original or add on? W/NG's never had that. It's strange because they have a sidecar lug at the N/S rear wheel. The large nuts that hold the oil tank and battery are hiding a big hole lug that could be used (as yours) for a sidecar fixing and the front engine plates have a spare hole for a lower sidecar mount........And yet nothing at the top of the tube for the main swan neck? Here are a few more reference pix. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grease monkey Posted May 2, 2019 Author Share Posted May 2, 2019 Damien, if there was a side car on it you should have a lug in the corner of the swan neck and the lower tube with the tank mountings. I have one on my ariel mf from 1931. i see that your frame is heavely mistrated. Would be a hell of a job to get that back into normal, specialy with alinements. Engine and gearbox mounts. In this case i would suggest you to find an other frame and fix this one on the wall as curiosity. I was lucky to have a donor frame badly damaged and one which was missing the back part but not bend. have a look at the ariel forum from the ariel club in England. They have a compleet w/ng part and also a lot of specialists Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Towning Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Grease Monkey / Ron, I am a bit confused. Is the lug ( circled in red ) the lug for a shift bracket / lever assembly to mount to ? And is the lug ( circled in blue ) for a side car attachment? Or are they both part of a sidecar mounting? I'll look closely again at the rest of the frame for any more sidecar related mysteries tomorrow. Also I took another look at the Y lug again and I can't see any more writing on it anywhere else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Towning Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 I am starting to think it might be an Ariel 1928 model. Like this one here. http://classicsmotorcycle.blogspot.com/2011/04/ariel-55-hp-1928.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 (edited) You might well be right Damien. I've also been looking through internet images but not gone that far back. 30's Ariel's seem to just have the hand change attached to the tank. My own area of interest is WD 1939-44, so I've sent pictures of your frame to a mate "Ariel Jim' who often restores these older bikes. I'll let you know his comments later. Ron Edited May 2, 2019 by Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 You hit the nail Damien. This is what Jim just replied. Ron Hi Ron this pile is the remains of a 1928 Ariel frame you can see the W at the beginning of the frame No. the bracket on the frame tube under the tank is for the hand gear change lever cheers Ron see you about Jim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grease monkey Posted May 2, 2019 Author Share Posted May 2, 2019 Hi Ron, Damien good to know what it is. Damien check this forum the know a lot and they can help you out with parts pictures and advises. As said before a lot of knowledge from old bikes are in this forum. http://forum.arielownersmcc.co.uk/ https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/25383/lot/342/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Towning Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 Ron and Grease Monkey, Thank you both for the help! I have gone over to the Ariel owners forum. Got me fired up to sort it actually. Fine looking bike the 28 is. Managed to dig up a drawing today which might be very close to this frame. Have concluded I will have a shot at a jig for it. The lugs are actually not to bad. Just the tubes. Together or apart same basic problems. I would not have taken apart all the lugs at once like this but maybe they already had a jig and were just more confident than me. Or they were just more interested in fitting it in to any jig for anything that would vaguely align it. I was wondering if they intended to chop it somehow and graft some other frame on to the back. Anyway my thinking is it may be able to live on as a beater for Sunday racing in the shifting class. I almost have enough information now to build a jig for it. Almost. Even though I got the frame in pieces I have been left with at least two critical dimensions to work from. The bottom lugs on the seat post and the neck. Since the front half of the frame is still together and fairly intact and seems straight I will try. If it was all in pieces I think it would be terminal and I would give up. As it is even if it was all still together I would be doing every single tube in the frame regardless as they are so pitted and rotten. Amazingly none of the lugs have cracks apart from a tiny hair line around the seat post bolt hole which I am sure I can fill with some cast brazing type material. I have previously straightened a worse frame for a Japanese bike that was both twisted up and cut in at least two dimensions and that was a nightmare. In my mind this seems easier ! Got it easy what with all the angle information baked in to the lugs. I'll use the cad and the mill for quite a bit of the jig I think to get it nice and accurate. I'll design some clamps to fit each lugs in to and then pin the whole lot in place on a big milled plate. Anyway I will hand back to the war motorcycles now. Sorry for the interruption and thank you once again for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grease monkey Posted May 3, 2019 Author Share Posted May 3, 2019 You’re welcome. If you need info i have some contacts in holland whom know a lot of this bike and may have some spares/ phots aswell brdgs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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