Ariel 3 articulated 3 wheeled motorcycle: at the Trev Deeley Motorcycle Museum 1875 Boundary Road in East Vancouver - Photographed January 04, 2009.

Ariel was established in 1870 by James Staley and William Hillman in Birmingham (UK) shortly after they invented the tensioned wire spoke wheel. At first the company produced Penny-Farthing bicycles called Ariel but by 1896 they ventured into motorised transport. The Ariel Tricycle was a single seater that initially had a 2.25hp De Dion engine mounted behind the rear axle. This however caused a tail heavy vehicle that would topple backwards in certain situations and so the rear frame was extended so that the engine could sit forward of the rear axle. You will notice in this photo that the tricycle has a cylindrical tank behind the seat. This was a form of water cooling that would circulate water around a cast water passage that sat on top of the engine. The vehicles proved to be very popular but eventually lost favor for the inability to carry passengers.

In 1970 and now owned by the B.S.A group (since 1944), the Ariel name was used once more for a 50cc 2-stroke moped that was launched. The "Ariel 3" was a 3-wheeler not only different to other mopeds at the time for having 3-wheels but it was also a tilting vehicle. The front half of the moped was hinged and so the vehicle would tilt into corners whilst keeping all 3-wheels on the ground. Production of the Ariel 3 was short and the moped was dropped along with the Ariel name shortly afterwards.

The basic design was developed in a small design company called G.L.Wallis & Son in Surbiton, Surrey. The company consisted of three people: George Wallis, Tony Wallis and Stan Jackson.

The basic development began in 1967 with a need to design a safer delivery bicycle; the next three months were spent brainstorming every possible variation in bicycle design without achieving any new ideas.

George went on vacation to Spain and, while there, came up with the idea of a pivoting cycle that would lean like a motor cycle on cornering.

On returning from Spain they conducted a patent search and found three patents for articulated motor vehicles dated 1897, 1901 and 1905. They sent for copies of these documents, studied them and built scale models of these plans. After three months of pushing models around the workshop floor they had found that the original patent did not work, they gave a negative steering geometry that made the trike very unstable on corners. So back to making a new model that could be set to any head angle, pivot angle and steering castor angle they wanted.

Three months later, after pushing the model around they arrived at a set up which seemed to work, so work began building a full size trike. This was completed and ridden for many miles and proved the system worked as hoped.

The next decision was to build a motor scooter using all the experience they had gained from the bicycle. The scooter was built; it had a 75cc engine, variable speed drive to a differential rear axle driving both rear wheels.

The scooter was a wonderful machine to ride: very stable, cornered like a dream and was almost impossible to all off; it was driven around town continuously and an article appeared in the local paper. From this the BBC put it on their science program as a new form of transport.

During this time world patents were taken out to protect the invention, also they were contacted by BSA who were looking to get into the moped market and wanted something different to the other mopeds that were available. An agreement was made with BSA giving them marketing rights but Wallis retained control and the patents; we then became consultants to BSA but the Ariel was designed by BSA design staff who would not take any advice or suggestions in the design of the trike.

When the first prototypes were shipped to George, Tony and Stan they were appalled at the mistakes they had made and after many trips to Birmingham some of the problems were corrected and the unit was put into production.

During this time they manufactured 12 prototype trikes, these were 98cc, two-stroke, variable speed, diff drive, 30-inch rear track and based on a Triumph Tina scooter. These disappeared into BSA and were never heard of again.

The Ariel was a disaster: it was badly produced, unreliable, badly advertised and did not sell.

The front part is tiltable whereas the rear stays flat on the ground. A pair of torsion bars is used for the rear suspension and this also prevents the vehicle from falling over at stand still. Only the left rear wheel is driven and braked. The engine is a Dutch 50cc Anker two-stroke engine. The Ariel 3 tricycle was launched in 1970, and struggled to find a market; very few being sold. Such was the optimism at BSA preparations had been made to manufacture 2,000 a week.. It cost 110 pounds in 1971. Only a few hundred were built and the project would have cost about 2 million pounds which is considered to have contributed to the fall of the group two years later.

In mid-1971 BSA decided to cease production of the Ariel 3 and manufacturing ceased, but as Wallis had retained all patents and control the Japanese were contacted and were very interested.

Over the next few months Honda, Kawasaki and Yamaha came to visit each bringing their own engineers to test drive and discuss the design.

A trade agreement was reached with Honda and all designs and prototypes were shipped to Japan where they said they would not have a market for this product till 1983.

Honda marketed the Honda GYRO in Japan in 1984, also a commercial delivery trike was sold in Japan.

Maybe this text clarifies the Ariel 3 saga; also, in answer to some comments, Stan never fell off whilst demonstrating any of the trikes to any prospective buyer.

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In 1995 Trev was inducted into the Canadian Motor Sport Hall of Fame and in 1997 became the first Canadian recipient of the American Motorcycle Association prestigious Dudley Perkins Award - bestowed annually to one individual.

Hero, mentor, friend, competitor, enthusiast, advisor, business mogul, philanthropist - Trev was many things to many people, and his influence was far reaching. Right up until the day he died, Trev Deeley remained a force for change at Harley-Davidson.

From 1986 to 1991, Trev served on the board of directors at Harley-Davidson Inc. He was the first non-American to be invited to do so.

To say that Trev loved motorcycles would be a great understatement. He raced, rode, repaired, collected, customized, sold, distributed, and talked about motorcycles - all of the time.