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General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: chuck peterson on September 21, 2021, 06:20:45 AM

Title: 1961 Ariel Leader scooter, cl, ny, $4900
Post by: chuck peterson on September 21, 2021, 06:20:45 AM
Predecessor to the Honda tupperware PX800…or pch? I forget..anyway..

Cool scoot

https://newyork.craigslist.org/lgi/mcy/d/port-washington-1961-ariel-leader/7382149456.html


(https://i.ibb.co/QX9q8WP/6-A497-B50-85-E7-43-D2-852-F-C6-D5-E31485-F1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/QX9q8WP)

(https://i.ibb.co/BjbKKct/013-D63-A1-F51-F-4383-A7-CE-DFD61261498-E.jpg) (https://ibb.co/BjbKKct)

(https://i.ibb.co/zF5NTGm/CC2-D5-D5-E-95-F2-48-E4-BF82-EE4532-C1-CDA2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/zF5NTGm)

(https://i.ibb.co/C2NWVJQ/34786-B1-B-D364-4-F17-8-B30-722-B728-CCE3-C.jpg) (https://ibb.co/C2NWVJQ)

free photo host (https://imgbb.com/)
Title: Re: 1961 Ariel Leader scooter, cl, ny, $4900
Post by: JJ on September 21, 2021, 07:27:18 AM
Now there's an interesting and cool vintage scooter!! :thumb: :bow: :cool: :boozing: :wink: :smiley:
Title: Re: 1961 Ariel Leader scooter, cl, ny, $4900
Post by: Antietam Classic Cycle on September 21, 2021, 08:15:49 AM
Not really a "scooter", more a fully enclosed motorcycle, like a Vincent Black Prince.
Title: Re: 1961 Ariel Leader scooter, cl, ny, $4900
Post by: acogoff on September 21, 2021, 08:21:35 AM
    I like the little lever on the dash, not sure what it is, a mechanical high and low beam maybe.  :grin:
Title: Re: 1961 Ariel Leader scooter, cl, ny, $4900
Post by: Guzziman22 on September 21, 2021, 10:06:14 AM
Love it!  Want it!
Title: Re: 1961 Ariel Leader scooter, cl, ny, $4900
Post by: Cam3512 on September 21, 2021, 03:16:27 PM
That is so cool, and rare.  Price seems reasonable if it’s as advertised.
Title: Re: 1961 Ariel Leader scooter, cl, ny, $4900
Post by: g5guzzi on September 21, 2021, 03:23:55 PM
    I like the little lever on the dash, not sure what it is, a mechanical high and low beam maybe.  :grin:

The lever on the dash allows adjustment of the headlight according to how much load you are carrying

Malc
Title: Re: 1961 Ariel Leader scooter, cl, ny, $4900
Post by: Groover on September 21, 2021, 04:34:14 PM
Looks like a fun one!
Title: Re: 1961 Ariel Leader scooter, cl, ny, $4900
Post by: nick949 on September 21, 2021, 04:51:01 PM
I had one when I was a teenager. It is Not a scooter (and I like scooters). Most reliable bike I had - although that's not saying much.  Quiet, smooth, fast enough for 1960s English roads.

Nick
Title: Re: 1961 Ariel Leader scooter, cl, ny, $4900
Post by: Mr Pootle on September 22, 2021, 04:09:31 PM
As others have said, this wasn't a scooter, but a motorbike.
Thinking back to the 60s, the only rides acceptable to mods were Vespas and Lambrettas. They went with the sharp Italian-style suits, though these usually came from the big tailoring factories in Leeds, rather than from Naples.
There were other scooters on the market. The Triumph Tigress and BSA Sunbeam were the British attempts to break into that market. They never caught on. The only guy I knew who had one later became a Conservative MP in the Thatcher government. So much for his street cred.
Toward the end of the 60s my sister had a Triumph Tina, a horrid little 100cc thing with automatic transmission. When I came home from university that or my dad's NSU Quickly were sometimes the only vehicles available to me.I can't remember ever seeing any other makes or models of scooter back in the 60s. But the Japanese step through bikes were starting to make inroads among my friends who were neither mod nor rocker.
I was a bit schitzoid. I had a Vespa, my dad and I shared a Norton 88. I'd often use the 88 in preference to the Vespa. It depended on who I was seeing on the evening. The girls usually preferred the Vespa.
I believe scooters had less cultural significance in the USA. Over here the mod/rocker thing was huge for a couple of years in the early/mid 60s. It was based on musical tastes and fashion. It was followed in the later 60s by the hippy/skinhead divide, similarly based on music and clothes. Meantime, in the more primitive area of Essex (think New Jersey, you boys out there in the former colonies) there were still teddy boys hanging on to the 50s, with their drape jackets and sideburns, listening to early Elvis, Jerry Lee and Little Richard.
Title: Re: 1961 Ariel Leader scooter, cl, ny, $4900
Post by: Canuck750 on September 22, 2021, 05:09:27 PM
A classy looking motorcycle!