Engine Cover Respray

[nice2day]

Thanks once again puffs. The restoration of my Ariel was done previously but I have tidied the bike up quite a bit. The actual condition is not as good as my Norton, in fact when I bought it I had every intention to completely strip it down and do it again. I have now accepted that it is good enough (from a distance) and if it was better I would be frightened to take it out for fear of it getting dirty...

Well spotted regarding my list of bikes. I thought there was one more but couldn't see what was missing. Yes I had left off the Ariel.

This is a silly story:
I have had dreams where I have been given old motorbikes free of charge and left them in large unfamiliar garages or car parks only to find they had been stolen when I went back to see them. These dreams are so strong they carry on to the next time I have similar dreams and I find myself trying to remember the bikes I was given in the previous dreams as I still am convinced it was real...It's such a strange thing. Even after waking up I am strongly convinced it was all real and I have lost some very nice motorbikes which is why when I try to list them something seems wrong ...does anyone else have similar dreams I wonder...

[Puffs]

Removed

[breakwellmz]

Not this one! -

[nice2day]

That's a very interesting engine breakwellmz. The advantages of a side-valve engine is the lower cost due to simpler design of operating the valves and the simplicity of head design and lubrication system. The dis-advantage is all down to lower efficiency because of the shape of the combustion space and the restriction of gas flow from the valve into the combustion space as it has to take a right angle turn across the top of the cylinder bore which has to be shallow in order to attempt to get a half decent compression ratio. Lower efficiency also means higher fuel consumption for any given BHP output. These aspects are not that important if the engine is used to power a trials bike as shown plus the lighter weight of the engine is an extra advantage.

In reply to Puffs, I am not sure the oil consumption is worse than an OHV design, in fact I would say a side-valve should use less mainly because the valve guides are only splash lubricated and that the oil is applied at the bottom of the guide rather than in the OHV design where it naturally wants to flow downwards into the inlet port (assuming the cylinder is vertically aligned)...Proof is in the eating (burning) of course. ..I would say if any engine is badly worn it will burn oil, but maybe the side-valve might have wider/slacker tolerances due to lower cost engineering?

Les

[breakwellmz]

A shorter engine with a lower centre of gravity as well by the look of it, it would still be far more fuel efficient than a two stroke though surely?
Gas Gas didn`t take it beyond prototype form it but here is a video of it in action. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyxHBw0ymvg
I seem to remember reading that it would rev to over 10000 rpm if needed!

[nice2day]

Definitely more economical than a 2 stroke. I would imagine the engine was perfect for a trials bike. Maybe just too expensive... but many riders have enough money to buy the best if it gives them the edge...Thanks for showing this.

Les

[Puffs]

Removed