1956 Ariel Huntmaster 646cc

SOLD Selling this on behalf of its current owner who is reluctantly selling it as he replaced it with a Royal Enfield that we supplied. This bike comes with a large folder full of documentation, receipts, a dating letter and correspondence between previous owners discussing in length the jobs that were done on the bike. The machine went through a refurbishment carried out by the owner prior to the previous owner, then finished off by the latter. Here is an extract from correspondence between the 2 parties regarding the refurbishment. From Robert Barfoot (a previous owner) in 2005

"The bike was stripped and it was evident that the bike had not been tinkered with all that much, my intention was to rebuild using all the original engine studs and bolts as far as was possible (I would normally replace with new) but due to the oil and lack of tinkering the main plates + bolts were in quite good order. I did not strip the gearbox as this seemed to operate quite well. The engine strip down revealed interesting evidence on history - Upon removing the barrels it was evident that the pistons were new and that the bores had been rebored - when I say new after 30 years in a shed a finger wipe on the piston top revealed freshly machined aluminum and there was no wear in the bores so I doubt if these had run in the engine for more than a few hours. The oily outside of the engine did indicate to me that the bike had been running with high crankcase pressure for some time (worn or broken rings) and this had bee addressed by a re-bore and new rings. Upon further investigation by stripping and splitting the crankcase / timing case etc the large plain bronze timing side bearing was found to be seized and scored. This was undoubtedly due to sludge build up and blocked oil ways!!. The internals of the engine were thoroughly cleaned including sludge filter, oil pump, and all oil ways blown through and cleaned out. The big end shells, bronze bearing and drive side roller main bearing were renewed and the bottom end re-assembled - I cant remember if I replaced any of the oil pump components, i.e. drive but this is a possibility. The existing valves were re-used and re-ground, although the seats were not to clever these probably would seal OK but for the long term re-seating and new valves would be the way to go. This may have been done by the guy who finished the re-build as if he managed to get the bike back on the road he obviously knows what he is doing. Again this is the work I carried out, more work may have been carried out - but when I sold the bike the bottom engine lump was assembled as a complete finished lump."

The current owner says that he rebuilt the top end and replaced the valve guides. There is an old log book and the current V5C.