So, my parents are away in Glos for the weekend.... Pushing my luck a bit..haha.  Push my bikes on the lawn and my sister takes some photos...  I guess its about 1972 and as you can see i already like big cc bikes... So, can you name them ??? one cost me £10, one i was given and the bigger one cost £15.... And Yes, we still have ANH120 in the family.

 

Yeah, Mike gets it correct...On the left (above) we have the BSa M20 for a tenner.. ANH120 is the 500cc Ariel Red Hunter or VH500 if you like. This bike was bought new from  Henry st Northampton by George Barker a member of the Barker boot and shoe family in Earls Barton Northants. He used it not only on the road but sprinted it in the Castle Ashby house "sprints" and also scrambled it in the Boxing day "Wild and Woolly" also nr Northampton which still gets run every year.. I learnt of this bike being in a shed at the rear of one of the Barker factories, Countess road that is and went to see if he would part with it, not even knowing what make or cc it was. Well, he said what it was and he had bought it in 1947 brand new and i could have it if i wanted it, but he could not see me getting her running AGAIN.... I put it in the back of my Dads Bedford CA Dormobile. Those were the days, rattley front bumper, column change, sliding doors and plenty of room to entertain Hazel in the back... Back to the bikes...And yes the last one is as M said, its the Ariel VB600 sidevalve. My brother is using the VH500 at the moment. We did Sunrising Hill on the 500's last year, thats, Bantam, Ariel and my other brothers SR500.

ps.. my Dad would have gone Ballist if he new i had Bikes on the lawn...Kids  eh,,, haha

 

Thanks for the reply's. As to the hrs these take to build,,, eeeeek. A pic of the other 4 cylinder one, next to a crankcase reed valve racing Bantam at the Copdock 2017 show 

 

Hi. I have not been in touch, but i do see him at events taking pics as we ride by. No doubt i will speak to him soon to say thanks.. And, no, i've not ridden this incarnation of her yet. But i hope to very soon as we are nearly into the not so chilly days. I rode this one all year in 2015 and did thousands of miles on her. She is a monster to kick over compared to the other one and even more so on a chilly morning. The extra cc of this one coupled to the low exhaust port  height of 35mm (std Ariel ) from the deck, or top of the cylinder if you like ( 26mm for the Peugeot one ) makes her a grunt laden beast who charges up the hills. I remember when i first built her, i could not kick her over without jumping in the air and coming down hard on the kickstart.haha. On a cold morning, well, forget this one to go out on. I machined the heads to back the compression right off so to make her a tad easier to kick over...haha ,she still needs a good kick. Rg500's have a self generating ignition so no battery is on the bike... So no throttle, little choke and a good heave on the kicker. There is a lot of metal in the engine so warm her up well, and then the fun starts... Wont be long now