Ariel Ace

[typeo]

Anyone know what motor Ariel will use in the Ace going forward now Honda have dropped the VFR1200 from their range?

[trickywoo]

I’d imagine they will just carry on with it.

They can’t sell that many bikes so they don’t need loads of engines.

I thought they made a thing of it not simply being a bolt in Honda unit, although I could be wrong. If that is the case even rebuilt used engines would be fine.

[Krikkit]

Even though the bike isn't available you might be able to buy the engines from Honda in batches.

Ariel throw lots of it away too, , they change the positions, mod or replace the crank, different cams, all sorts.

[rodericb]

The ace up their sleeve might be to buy a bunch of engines from Honda before they dismantle the tooling and chuck it away.

[Rosscow]

Honda still offer the Crosstourer, don’t they? So the VFR1200 engine is still current at the moment.

[Deranged Granny]

Rosscow said:

Honda still offer the Crosstourer, don’t they? So the VFR1200 engine is still current at the moment.

No, it's been discontinued due to Euro5. Not sure how much Ariel keep, but obviously it had different cams etc as well.

[RemaL]

As said buy a bulk lot and should last them a few years until they decide to change the engine.

[Krikkit]

Doing a bit of reading around, they discontinued production in 2017, so Ariel have already found a way to keep the engine supplies going for now. I bet they'll have a stockpile going, or Honda have a supply of unused engines kicking around before they binned the tooling.

[boyse7en]

RemaL said:

As said buy a bulk lot and should last them a few years until they decide to change the engine.

That easily said but less easily done. A small operation like Arial won't have a load of cash available to bulk buy nor the space and facilities to store them.

I expect Honda has a load to cover warranty work and replacement purchases.

[Fundoreen]

Its been around long enough.I would be shocked if someone told me they sold more than 2 a month.
Maybe time to freshen up the range by sourcing a new engine. How hard is it for a small scale operation to weld in some new engine mounts for say a hayabusa engine.
The car probably flys out the door though.

[Birky_41]

Honda will continue to supply. Just like they do with other areas, an example is service Honda and the very well known CR500 engine

Regarding Euro 5 this is only an issue for mass produced. There are loop holes and ways round for small batch/individual builds for them to register