More Serious Fun

Story by Alan Cathcart// Photos by Kel Edge
September 1 2015

Ariel made waves in the automotive world when it released the Atom. Now the company is moving back toward its roots

It’s been a little over a year since the return of yet another historic “Made in England” marque to the global marketplace, with the public debut of the 1200 cc Ariel Ace V4 at the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed in the south of England. A number of orders are already under deposit for a bike being sold at a base level price the equivalent of $40,000 CDN, but a wide choice of accessories and upgrades ensures it’s unlikely that any two Ariels will be built to the same exact specifications.

With the highly distinctive-looking girder-forked GT production of three per week by a team of three technicians now finally under way, it’s time for the Sport variant of the Ace V4 to hit the highways, complete with a telescopic fork replacing the girder front end via considerably more radical steering geometry, plus a shorter wheelbase and taller 825 mm seat height that’s been redesigned to make it more suitable for shorter riders.

Honda-Powered

Honda engineLike the girder-forked GT model, the Ace Sport features the same exquisite and ultra-distinctive aluminum chassis housing the SOHC V4 engine sourced from the Honda VFR1200F. This is supplied directly to the small British company by the Japanese giant in a move that runs counter to Honda’s normal policy of not furnishing engines to third parties. This policy change indicates the respect Honda holds for Ariel, thanks to the companies’ successful collaboration since 1999 in manufacturing the Ariel Atom, a road-legal two-seater racing car using Honda’s Civic Type R engine.

Having been the first journalist to ride the girder-fork GT version of the Ace four months before its launch – and indeed to demo it via a run up the hill at its Goodwood debut in front of the festival’s 180,000 spectators – it was good to once again get the call to be the first to take the telescopic-forked Sport variant for a day’s ride in the scenic Devon countryside in company with Ariel’s R&D head technician, Reg Feiven, aboard a production GT. The version I was riding was the high-end model, complete with Öhlins suspension front and rear, and BST carbon wheels. As tested, it would have cost a touch more than $57,000, although the entry-level price will still get you the keys to one of the most distinctively engineered bikes available today, fitted with the VFR1200F’s Showa suspension, and Dymag aluminum wheels. And thanks to Ariel’s unique build system, which permits each motorcycle to be tailored to individual customer taste via a wide list of options, no two Aces will be the same.

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