Style of Aero 500

[FN]

I am not shure how a Douglas Aero looked like. I found two different styles in one Motor cycle magazine from 1936. One is sporty (advertise), the other one is easy riding (road test). Which one is "correct"?
The remark in the road test was, the machine is brand new.
I was trying to optimise the riding position for receiving less stress on my back by changing the steering bar. I had the feeling, that the easy riding steering bar changed the style of the motor cycle totally.

Regards
Gerd

[cardan]

Hi Gerd,

The BSA Sloper of the late 1920s and early 1930s had a couple of "looks": sporting and touring. The difference was that the handlebars were fitted upside-down on the sporty version!!!

The version in your photo looks pretty good - comfortable - to me.

Leon

[Doug]

With a top speed around 65 mph (sounds better as 105 kph!), I never heard of the Aero model being described as "Sporty". And that was for the 600cc model. There main advertising angle was promoting how inexpensive they were and what good value for money. They did offer it with a sidecar, the lightest body (no door) being known as the Sports, so maybe it was an outfit the advert was describing? I think the only options were adjusting the handlebar and foot rests up or down. You cannot invert the handlebars, at least not on the 1936, as they have asymmetric drilled exits for the control cables to the inverted style levers. Maybe possible on the 1937-38 that had conventional levers. If there was an optional handlebar, it was not mentioned in the spares list.   

-Doug

[FN]

Thanks for the information. The advertisement picture showed a totally different motor cycle to me. I mounted a handlebar similar to the one on the test bike. But did not like the view. The spare part lists only one handlebar, as Doug stated. Hopefully, that one, which is shown on the advertisement. The sporty look is nice, when ride with 95km/h on the road.

I did the first run with bike  two weeks ago.
Regards
Gerd