Lbxpdx

While out and about today I stopped at a thrift store, and as I was paying for some books I turned around and noticed this odd thing I just been wheeled out. It kind a looks fun and it was priced right so I decided to take pity on it and take it home, though my intentions are only to keep the wheels and the Kranks. I think I may need to air up the tires and take it out for a spin before I strip it of the parts I want.

RustyJames 

How were the meatballs? 🤣

Lbxpdx

Usually they’re great though I just opted for soup and salad for a whopping $3.38

T-Mar

FYI, that's the 1990 Ariel. The suspension fork, threadless headset, threadless stem, handlebar and pedals are all changes by a previous owner.

RustyJames 

Note to self - soup and salad next time I’m picking up cheap towels and those raspberry filled cookies.

Neat bike BTW…

tricky 

Nice snag! If you are just going to throw away the frame, I have a friend in PDX that would probably be interested in saving it.

Lbxpdx

i am going keep the wheels, derailleur and crankset, then sell the rest.

jet sanchEz

Could be an interesting candidate for a belt drive bike....

Soody

Love the colourscheme.
Not having chain slap is a big advantage.
Those frames are heavier though so i'd probably part it out too.

klusk002

Wild silhouette! Is there any advantage to having the chainstays designed like that? Nice find

USAZorro

Looks like someone's prank went much too far.

Germany_chris

As much as we all like Mr. Cunningham none of the raised chainstay designs were attractive

T-Mar

There were several advantages but the big advantage was the ability to fit extra wide tyres. The bottom bracket shell is the weak link in the tyre width dilemma. By attaching the chainstays to BB shell, you're placing them fairly close together, limiting the space for a tyre to fit between them. To increase the spacing, manufacturers traditionally crimped the stays and/or used oval tubing.

When ATBs were introduced they intially came with very long chainstays, allowing manufacturers to use drastic S-bends in the chainstays, that allowed wide tyres to be fitted. However, chainstay length started to shrink in the quest for more nimble frame designs. In doing so, tyres got narrower. Circa 1990, ATBs made a move to wider, 73mm shells, allowing wider tyres to be fitted. But increasing BB shell width too much results in wider crankarm/pedal spacing (aka Q-factor) which raises other issues.

By elevating the chainstays over the chainrings you alleviate this restriction. Shells and Q-factor can remain narrow but the spacing between the stays can be increased, allowing very wide tyres to be fitted.

Franklly, given the C&V trend towards wide as possible tyres on road bicycles, I'm surprised that some member hasn't taken a Pinarello Montello or similar frame and converted it to elevated chainstays, so they could run a 38-42C rear tyre. Sounds like Gugie project to me.

Lbxpdx

Well, I posted the bike up for reasonable offers last night, went for a late night ride, and by midnight I got two offers. The frame sold this morning for $175. Young-ish guy, maybe late 20’s early 30’s. He wanted the frame so he could put 26” x 2.8’s on it.

madpogue 

Same frame as the Alien?

Lbxpdx

no idea. I saw the same frame sell for $275 on eBay, but I was fine with $175.

T-Mar

It's pretty close to the 1989 Alien, having the same concept but a slightly different execution. In 1990, the year of this Ariel, the Alien used an aluminum main triangle, constructed from rectangular tubes, while the rear triangle was constructed from Tange Prestige CrMo and bolted to the main triangle.

bark_eater 

I've got one of these in the attic. I was thinking it would be interesting as a "road bike" with fat tires and relatively short "chain stays" I'm not sure if the fork would clear 2.8s though.

Lbxpdx

I’m not sure what fork he was planning on using. I’m selling the Marzocchi separately.

Jeff Wills

Well, neither was Mr. Cunningham. He was one of the mountain bike pioneers but looks weren't his strong point.
I met him when he was still working in a shop and getting Mantis bicycles going. We were in the same Schwinn School class in 1980- I think both of us already knew how to work on bikes and were just getting the certificate for the wall of the shop. He started Mantis Bicycles the next year and went on to bigger and better things.

MOMBAT: Mantis Bicycles History (mombatbicycles.com)

klusk002

Appreciate the reply and all the info!

Murray Missile 

Dang! Makes me feel a lot better about what I gave for mine..........IIRC 3 or 4 years ago I gave $125 for this Marin Eldridge Grade, the Ariel and most of a FUJI Suncrest with it's Deer Head components intact and they were all my size or close enough. Plus they threw in a stack off oddball wheels and a couple of them were pretty high end.