1956 Ariel Square Four

This bike is for sale. Please e-mail me at [e-mail] to get in contact with the owner.
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[@robbrown6495]

Many many years ago I was heading off into town on the back of a friend's Kawasaki KH 250. It was a windy day so Chris was having to play tunes on the gearbox to keep us at around 70 mph. On the back it was a brilliant noise. Screaming expansion pipes with nice induction "suck" from the 3 K&N filters. Chris checked his mirror, checked again then nodded over his shoulder for me to look behind. Craning my neck to see what was there I saw closing rapidly was a blast from the past. In an age of full face helmets someone was coming up behind us wearing a "piss-pot" helmet and goggles. He pulled level, paused slightly, smiled, nodded, and headed off into the distance. With the Kawasaki trying to make headway with it's engine screaming up around it's 8,500 red line, some old geezer on his immaculate Square Four had just left these 2 teenagers in his dust, barely breaking a sweat. The Ariel didn't need a rev counter. You could count the bangs. More than 40 years ago, and I can still see the smug look on his face.

[@motohomeless9168]

That is a fantastic story!!!! Thank you so much for sharing!

[@khankrum1]

Now THAT sounds like a motorbike!

[@motohomeless9168]

Thank you!!

[@waynedewey5521]

Been a fan of this motorcycle since I was a kid 50+ years ago. This is the first time that I can remember hearing one run. Sounds remarkably like a 70s Honda CB750, but with a very unique appearance. Love It. Thanks.

[@motohomeless9168]

It does sound very similar to an early CB750. I’ve got a MK1 square four. I will be doing a video with it shortly! Thanks for the watch!

[@aaronleverton4221]

Sounds a fair bit thrroatier than either of my CB750s did. Also, in a weird way, both slightly lumpier and slightly smoother, just not at the same time. It sounds beefier, like it has more grunt on tap as he comes toward the camera and gives it a little throttle, but as it pulls away and the revs have begun to climb it sounds like it smooths right out. Riding it must be quite the experience.

[@Hollywoodchupacabra]

I had a 69.70 and 71 Honda 750. It does not idle like a 750 but the 69 was a little noisy. I think it had a timing chain problem. It sounds more like the Triumphs I had from the 60s.

[@TorquilBletchleySmythe]

I saw all three of the square 4s in our town very often, at the workshop of the only mechanic who wasnt weary of their habit of cooking the two rear pistons, or blowing their gaskets etc etc...they had terminal cooling problems, and despite their magnificent presentation, were similar to the universallly bemoaned Ducati DM 500s in its unreliability and demand for hard currency.

[@motohomeless9168]

Yeah, beautiful bikes, the cooling problems of the MK1 (especially) is unfortunate. You have to run the upgraded head gasket now. Video coming this Friday on my Mk1 square four!

[@kdsowen2882]

Very-cool , sounds well-sorted . My first motorcycle (almost) , when I was 12 , I used to talk to an old-guy most-days on my way-home from school . He knew I liked cars and bikes , one-day he said 'come and look at this...' In a falling-down-shed , next to his equally dilapidated-house , was a 4-pipe Ariel Square-Four . He asked me what I thought of it and I thought it was amazing , rust and all . He said he would be leaving soon and I could have it if I picked it-up that weekend . I ran home and told my Father who wasn't that-interested . He wouldn't help me pick it up and I couldn't push it (flat-tyres etc ) The following-monday , on my way-home there was a bulldozer at the old-guys-house ,which was now in a pile, along with the shed . The bike was on a trailer belonging to the dozer-driver , he said the old-guy had gone into care . Dave nz

[@motohomeless9168]

Thank you. Wow that would have been awesome to get a free square four at 12 years old! I was fearing you were going to say the guy with the dozer ran it over. At least he took it. Thanks for watching. I will be doing videos with my MK1 square four soon!

[@imanomad557]

What a Tune that engine plays

[@motohomeless9168]

It is amazing

[@ramcharger154]

This was the Hayabusa car engine of its day. Popular mechanics back then always had projects using the Ariel motors❤❤😅

[@motohomeless9168]

Thats interesting! I'll see if I can't find an old issue!

[@aswclassicsiow8588]

My dad had an Ariel Square Four when I was a young kid in late 50s early 60s,

[@motohomeless9168]

Awesome! I love how many people have memories with these bikes.

[@martincvitkovich724]

During a British Bike meet my Triumph let me down. I rode on the back of a Aquare 4, it was smooth and solid

[@motohomeless9168]

You ended up getting a treat!

[@johnbarry5115]

I was born, and spent most of my life living, just a few miles away from where this bike was made. I was always amazed by this model, but the only Ariel I ever owned was a 200 (I think, I'm fairly sure it wasn't a 250) cc Leader.

[@choppergirl]

You looking at me? I like how it says What What What What What What Now you can never unhear it.

[@motohomeless9168]

hahaha

[@Ron-uq2hg]

I grew up in New Zealand in the 1950s. I had a BSA Golden Flash but square fours were quite common. Always loved the sound of the Square four. Actually we seldom called then Ariel’s or square Fours. Generally they were referred to as Squaffers.

[@motohomeless9168]

Thats a name I haven't heard before, but I like it!

[@josephrzeczycki8642]

Sounds so smooth. That's a lovely bike.

[@motohomeless9168]

It is. Thank you! I’ve got another video up of my Square Four. More also to come as I work on it and ride it

[@josephrzeczycki8642]

@@motohomeless9168 I remember how excited we were to see the new Honda 750-4 in the Honda shop showroom in the late 60s. In 1972 I had the pleasure of riding my first Honda four, which was a 500-4. Then later I owned many 4 cyl bikes, the CB750F, CB900C, GS1000E, GS1100E, and others.

[@bwghall1]

The most important brake on a motorbike is the front one.

[@motohomeless9168]

Yes, the MK2 square four front brake just was never good to begin with. Weird as my Mk1 square four front brake is better

[@daveco1270]

These Square Fours are great looking bikes. I love the two header pipes on each side.

[@motohomeless9168]

Yes! The four pipe ones are beautiful!

[@Errol.C-nz]

​@@motohomeless9168understand what startup oil pressure works.. especially on pre 70 engines cars incl.. NEVER let a cold engine lug like that.. pickup rom to 1000+ to let the oil pumps lift the cold thick oil to pressure.. it can take 15-20 sec for oil flow to get to head gear.. by then quite noticable damage can be done to cams, lifters & bearings etc.. over multiple cold starts 😢

[@Clunk49]

A friend, the late Tommy Crowe of Nashville described the Ariel Square Four to me in the 80's as a smooth running bike with lots of power when you called on it.

[@motohomeless9168]

That is a very good description!

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

UK viewer here, and old enough to remember the "Squariel" being a common sidecar bike. A neighbour and friend of my dad was the local "go to guy" for anything to do with motorbikes, so there was an almost endless procession of what are now classic bikes passing by, though of course they were people's "daily drivers" back then. I wish I'd known what some of them would be worth in the future because I could have bought them for very little money at the time. Knew one guy who cut up a Velocette and threw it in the furnace at the foundry where he worked, then reported it stolen because the insurance would pay out more than he could have sold it for. 😟

[@motohomeless9168]

Oh no! I would like to have a Velocette one day. Definitely wouldn’t throw it on the furnace now a days!

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

@@motohomeless9168 I'd be a very wealthy man today if I'd had even the faintest idea how valuable some of those bikes would become.

[@motohomeless9168]

Yes! Hindsight is 20/20. I’m thankful for the bikes that I have and the opportunities that I have to ride other ones!

[@earlwheelock7844]

EVEN BETTER A VINCENT BLACK SHADOW OR EVEN A SINGLE ( WORTH A FORTUNE TODAY!!!)

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

@@earlwheelock7844 Oddly enough, back in the late 70's I knew someone who had 3 Vincents in his attic, all stripped down and awaiting restoration. I'm sure that at least one of them was a Black Shadow, and another a single cylinder model, but not sure about the third. At the time they had become desirable collectors bikes and were worth 2 to 3 thousand pounds each once rebuilt, but they weren't getting the (relative) prices that Vincents are today so he was in no hurry to restore them. I'd be willing to bet that they were sold unrestored sometime in the 80's and are running today.

[@user-vv9zo4sc4k]

A connoisseurs, British bike absolutely beautiful

[@motohomeless9168]

Thank you!

[@timothynorris4288]

Lovely looking bike.

[@motohomeless9168]

Thank you!

[@kafkastrial8650]

A mate of mine his dad had one once and my mate's mother could get it on and off the rear stand... Worth seeing !

[@motohomeless9168]

They are tricky to get on and off the rear stand!

[@keithmoore5224]

I had a bsa with the same front brake (girling if memory serves me reight) i fitted modern raceing liners (black) the improvment was very good uk biker 76years young

[@motohomeless9168]

Thanks! I’ll pass on that information to the owner!

[@martincole1478]

Remember these bikes when I was a kid. There weren't to many around. They did have problems with cooling the two rear cylinders as I recall. Even still would love to have one

[@motohomeless9168]

Yes. The MK2 were better about cooking the rear cylinders, but they are cool bikes! Remarkably smooth.

[@roybatty2030]

@@motohomeless9168overheated rather than cool…

[@ldnwholesale8552]

I'm old enough to know what these were. Chap I know rode one as a sidecar in scrambles in the 60s. A collector in the Barrossa Valley South Oz had a couple of dozen of these,, concours to a chopper version. Nice museum, bikes one side and Chevs the other. Gone now.

[@motohomeless9168]

Nice! I'm thinking of putting a sidecar on my square four

[@8153max]

Very very truly nice Bike 🤩

[@motohomeless9168]

Thank you!!

[@ernesttravers829]

I enjoyed it immensely

[@motohomeless9168]

Thank you

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Yeah.... I'll give that a like.

[@motohomeless9168]

Thanks!

[@doncastervrandvideo8956]

Bike runs beautifully, sounds a little tappity, but i am assuming it is the exhaust valves to aid a little extra cooling?

[@motohomeless9168]

I'm not sure

[@DAVIDGM1973]

Nice looking bike, love the sound. Thanks for posting!!!

[@motohomeless9168]

Thank you!

[@thomasbaker1961]

I had a ‘59 when I was 19 years old, I’m 71 now. Still have a picture.

[@motohomeless9168]

Wow! How long did you have it?

[@robleary3353]

Lovely bit of kit!. Not all Ariels start or idle that easily!. Nice one!. Nuff said!. 🙂

[@motohomeless9168]

Thank you! I wish it were mine!

[@robleary3353]

@@motohomeless9168 Me too!. 🙂

[@pregoman24]

My Dad owned the 1000cc model in the UK (I think a '57 or '58) model before I was born but wrote it off! His insurance money bought him a Douglas Vespa. Maybe I should try hard to find one of these beauties.

[@motohomeless9168]

Absolutely. They are lovely bikes

[@jensnitsche4994]

So muss ein großes Gentlemans Bike klingen. Kultiviert, laufruhig und unauffällig, ähnlich wie die BMW Maschinen dieser Zeit. Honda erreichte ein ähnliches Niveau erst wieder `76 mit der 1000 Goldwing. Die Zielsetzung war die gleiche und insgesamt das Erscheinungsbild scheint mir vergleichbar. Aber auch bei dieser Maschine war absolut genaue Einstellung des Motors notwendig für beste Laufruhe.

[@motohomeless9168]

Thank you. I’m glad you liked the video! I have a MK1 square four. There will be videos soon working on it!

[@earlwheelock7844]

I also had a 1956 Ariel sq. 4 only mine was black it got stolen was nowhere as nice as that one!!

[@earlwheelock7844]

Mine had a quafe gear box ( at least that is what was on the case) to me it sounded like a offenhauser Indy engine

[@BIGGGESTAL]

Lucky owner

[@motohomeless9168]

It is for sale! Email me at [e-mail] if you are interested

[@jeffmoore4153]

How are the exhaust pipes secured to the head?

[@motohomeless9168]

I’m not entirely sure

[@markdoolan7282]

Sounds like a car, amazing.

[@motohomeless9168]

Thank you!

[@chrislewis4830]

thats because it pretty much had the piston layout of a car engine but two front two rear rather than a inline 4

[@chrislewis4830]

Almost every modern biker tells me that these are best thing since bread and butter. However all the old bikers have told me that they were truly horibble and prone to the rear cylinders overheating and killing the pistons and also they told me for the time they quite slow and unreliable. i tend to trust the people who have actually ridden them the old boys who say they were rubbish. the same as the douglas dragonfly new riders say how great they were but the old one tell quite a diffrent story

[@motohomeless9168]

They aren’t completely horrible. There are solutions out for the head gasket issue, a lot of people run oil coolers or a larger oil tank to help keep them cool. I don’t find them slow at all.

[@jensnitsche4994]

@@motohomeless9168 Außerdem fährt man diese Maschinen heute nicht mehr als Alltagstransporter jeden Tag zur Arbeit bei jedem Wetter, sondern rein zum Vergnügen und mit schonender Behandlung. Der Pflegezustand dürfte im allgemeine exzellent sein und zu heiße hintere Zylinder kein Problem mehr sein...

[@motohomeless9168]

@@jensnitsche4994 Ich stimme zu

[@nathansealey6270]

@@motohomeless9168I can imagine before the days of water cooling, it might be why bsa dropped the idea. However it works and certainly has alot more character than more modern 4 cylinder designs

[@notwocdivad]

I was a bit concerned at the lack of lean angle when it was on the side stand! A little bump or a gust of wind may have it over? That would be a shame for such a lovely old "Gentleman's Tourer as they were often called

[@motohomeless9168]

Yeah. The owner of that bike wouldn’t let anything happen to it! It’s such a beautiful bike.

[@Jodyrides]

First Ariel I ever heard. They sound great. Single leading drum brakes are not the best

[@motohomeless9168]

Thanks! Be sure to subscribe as I will be working on my MK1 square four on the channel and riding it.

[@michael69040]

How many operational Square Fours are around in the USA today.

[@motohomeless9168]

That’s a good question. I really don’t know

[@user-pj7go6ie4u]

Rear cylinder overheating problems mk 1 hence 2 pipe redesign mk 2😮😊

[@motohomeless9168]

That is correct! The Mk2 head looks better I think.

[@user-pj7go6ie4u]

Definitely 😊

[@aseshvishwa2735]

Nice bike Nice vdo What place is it

[@aseshvishwa2735]

Which city ??

[@motohomeless9168]

For the privacy of the owner, I would rather not say.

[@asacarrick1385]

Is that the original shade of red? It looks a bit pale, insipid. Beautiful machine

[@motohomeless9168]

I’m not entirely sure if it’s an original color. I know it’s been re-painted

[@jensnitsche4994]

@@motohomeless9168 Diese Farbe gibt der Maschine eine gewisse Exklusivität und gut gewählt !

[@motohomeless9168]

@@jensnitsche4994 Danke schön!

[@805gregg]

Only problem was lack of cooling to the rear cylinders, they would overheat, neat bike but not practical

[@motohomeless9168]

The MK2 like this one had better cooling than the MK1.

[@frankmarkovcijr5459]

​@@motohomeless9168Still overheated.

[@richardcrighton8079]

oh lord

[@motohomeless9168]

??

[@johnschlesinger2009]

Looks like there is only about three inches of suspension travel on the forks!

[@motohomeless9168]

Honestly, I don't know. It wasn't something that stuck out to me.

[@philliplewis-pm1ln]

sounds sweet proper bike

[@motohomeless9168]

Thank you!

[@donplenderleith6044]

I think Ariel Square Fours were the first non-inline four cylinder motorcycle. Hendersons were inline fours and I wonder how they kept the 2nd, 3rd and 4th cylinders adequately cool. This Ariel starts up very easily, says he as a Norton owner. Having four smaller cylinders rather than just two on a big twin must make it easier to kick over. The firing rhythm sounds rather peculiar as some have said. I wonder what the crank offsets are and how many degrees of rotations per power stroke? For a four cyl to fire in even succession it should have a 180 degree crankshaft and fire every 180 degrees of rotation so that there are four power strokes evenly spaced per 720 deg of rotation. Very pretty bike.

[@motohomeless9168]

There are 2 crankshafts that spin in opposite directions. If I remember correctly, the pistons that are diagonal from each other fire at the same time. Incredibly smooth engine.

[@adammedyna2365]

Yes, they start very easily and peculiar sound on idle was on a cold engine. They idle like a car engine when hot.

[@superkas]

Idling like wankel engine, nice

[@motohomeless9168]

Thank you!

[@diatonicdoug6525]

Cool but flawed. Not a daily rider

[@motohomeless9168]

Glad you like it!

[@scrambler69-xk3kv]

Good video horrible camera. Wish we could actually see it.

[@motohomeless9168]

Sorry, was looking into the sun! I have learned

[@jeffr4110]

It sounds like a hay bailer & probably weighs as much

[@motohomeless9168]

Thanks for watching the video on my hay bailer!

[@jensnitsche4994]

Ich würde die Ariel vorziehen....

[@kennethbowry1521]

It is a 55, if a 1956 wrong Headlight , its bits and pieces and engine sounds shit.

[@motohomeless9168]

I’m sorry you feel that way. Have you got a square four?

[@kennethbowry1521]

@@motohomeless9168 No I sold mine in 1980 after 12 years of ownership sure it was not perfect but I miss so much, we learn by our mistakes and I have had a very expensive education.

[@jensnitsche4994]

Habe nie einen besser laufenden und eingestellten Ariel Four mit langsamsten Leerlauf gehört. Karl Hertweck, DER Motorradpapst der 50er in Deutschland sagte einmal : Je langsamer ein Motor im Leerlauf stabil läuft , um so mehr ist es ein Kriterium für den allgemeinen exzellenten Zustand des Motors. Ich denke, wir durften hier eine Ariel mit praktisch neuwertigem Sound hören.

[@dwayne.d3708]

Sounds like a diesel running.,/ Nice thou. I like it👍!

[@motohomeless9168]

Thanks 👍

[@frankmarkovcijr5459]

Ariel used recycled aluminum and the studs would pull out of the head. First batch was sent to Australia where they had to be redone locally at great cost as they would say.