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sHarley-Davidson made these bikes at the York PA assembly plant, a 500cc and a 350 cc were made with the rotax engine. It was a military contract through Armstrong in England. After 25 were assembled 2 were driven 25 miles before they were released. I was one of the test riders at during the last year they were assembled in York, the frame was welded and painted in York.
Had an Armstrong, build by the east coast amd was a motorcross bike first and foremost!
On the bright side,look at the value of the shipping crate, plywood ain't cheap 😆
My first thought.
@@jgrenwod ,,,
He can sell the plywood and buy a brand new Harley to go with this bike....😆
More valuable than the bike!
When you mentioned the KLR650 it reminded me of many years ago and i restored a 600KLR. The only problem i had with it after restoration was the compression release didnt work all the time so sometimes i got a nasty surprise and also if the bike didnt start third kick i had to remove the sparkplug and wipe it and dry it with a match. I never touched the throttle until the bike actually started up otherwise it would flood. Best bike i ever owned by far and i have had a few. My kwaka was the original green but i camoed it and had quiet a few people mistaking mine for an ex army Armstrong. Great video. Many thanks.
The Grey switch on the right side is a "black out switch" . All power for the lighting is routed via this switch, throw this switch, all lights are killed but the bike will keep running.
Great to see the bike. I live in England and owned an MT500, I changed for the MT350, which I still have, as the 500 was such a pig to kick-start, I know a guy who went around the army trying to teach people to kick them. The 350 is a paler green, has a disc brake and does not need a decompressor - most importantly it is both electric and kick-start. Have a look in the toolbox to the right upper rear of the frame, you may have the original tools that come with it. You have found two kill switches, the grey one does not kill the engine, it turns all the lights off so you can use it on operations at night. My 350 has brackets on each side of the frame at the front to accept large panniers, one of which was usually a radio set. The odometer measures kilometres travelled but the speedometer measures mph. They do need to be warmed up well before they tick over nicely. I have the original manuals and it recommends warming up for ten minutes. I have been told that when the UK finished the production run the USA bought the licence as your special forces guys loved them so much. That lead to the 350 with an electric start and disc brake. The petrol tanks tend to rust, but a plastic replacement is available for both the 500 and 350 (different colour bikes), I have had to change mine. There are half-size Jerry Cans available for the rack at the back of your 500. My 350 has a gun case for the SA80 (Current British Army issued rifle). If those canvas bags are the original, they are rare and worth keeping. Anyway I could go on a lot longer but do not want to bore you to death. I'm really impressed you could kick-start it !
@Textmeontelegram👉bikes and beards1 Let me guess: you're going to charge a couple hundred dollars for shipping and handling via some untraceable payment method and then disappear without sending anything. How's the weather in Nigeria?
@Dank.🇺🇦 5 minutes! You need to read more dude
@@thebrowns5337 he just wrote the word "essay" as "SA" so I think he may be beyond hope at this point
Kick starting is easy once you learn the correct combination of steps. I used to start a race tune BSA 500 gold star while Seated on the seat regularly . At the time I only weighed 130 lb . You do it wrong and it'll launch over the handlebars .
“It took me 5 minutes to read!” Cry me a river, son.
Our local HD dealer (local, because no other HD dealer for 150 miles) has an actual new one, un-issued, with complete kit, and only the factory miles on the odometer. They don't even push it around the store, unless it's on a dolly. Hard bags, rifle scabbard, and a much nicer tool kit that than you would think. All the lights are blackout cover equipped. They've been offered oodles of bucks for it.
They were available for sale to dealership’s back in 1999. Several of the local dealers had them. Only option was them forward saddle bags and rifle scabbard
I saw US Special forces riding these in Desert Shield when I was in the 82nd ABN. We would be out in the middle of the desert when all of a sudden you’d see SF flying by on them usually in pairs. I never got close enough to see which model it was but we were pretty envious of them at that time. Never saw them during Desert Storm though.
Bragg
Alpha-Gators, 2\505 (1974-77)
Great video Sean, Craig, needed a good laugh. You know that would make a great Tshirt,, wheelies for safety!! With a silhouette of Sean doing a killer wheelie
I know a lot about these bikes. I own one, though mine is actually badges "Armstrong", not Harley. The original design came from SWM, IIRC, was bought by CCM/Armstrong, and then sold to Harley who wanted to be able to use Rotax engines in their factory flat trackers. Mine spent most of its operational life in Germany in the hands of British forces stationed there. Let me know if you want info, I may be able to direct you.
What are they worth?
Wasn't CCM involved at the beginning?
@@silectric Can't say for certain where I learned it, but I think the original design was by SWM in Italy, though I'm not sure they ever put it into production before selling it to CCM, who, IIRC, put it into production as the Armstrong and sold it to British Army.
@@Junglebiker2 Yes, you're correct. It was an SWM design. I was in the MT riders club when I had a Canam Bombardier military bike. Armstrong and CCM came out of the remains of BSA who assembled the Canam bikes from Canada.
@@robertwomack3419 between 6 and 12k usd last time I looked for one.
The same engine was used in the MZ500R, the Jawa 500R and was a popular single cylinder race bike engine. I had one in my Camier 500 special, can be squeezed up to 60hp with not to many modifications. Loads of hot engine parts available.
It is a Rotax 500. It isnt a HD but a jumble of parts with a HD decal on the tank. It is an Armstrong. It was surplus from the British Army of the Rhein that is how it got to Germany.
Armstrong built it Sportax used to be the people to buy Rotax engine parts from but that was 20 years ago when Mick Keogh owned the company, don't know what they are like now. Did HD keep the British Army spec Amal (anal) carb on it or go to the better Del-Orto? Think you Americans looked at a 350cc version too.
60 bhp sounds a bit far fetched,Even 34 bhp sounds outlandish,Watch the video 28 bhp half your claim
@@Johnketes54 60bhp more than possible, check out Sportax Racing.
@@Johnketes54 when I was in the army, an unrestricted rotax 500 was rated at 48 up and nearly killed a few guys as they were used to the 17 up BSA B40. I fitted restrictor plates to limit to 27 up and then we had no further accidents.
For spare parts you could try a shop in the Netherlands. ”Gekra” located in Dieren. They have some N.O.S parts and a lot of used.
This was some suhweet video, love it! Love that bike! :D Amazing that you got it running!
You couldn't be more right about fuel dripping on the exhaust, that doesn't end well. Looks like a fun bike though.
That might just be an innovative kind of seat heater...
military and low milage don't usually go together. same thing when people say Military Grade, you should see any army's equipment, they are used and abused, broken and fixed to be used until it dies.
Military grade: meets a spec and was built by the lowest bidder.
Some stuff gets mothballed for years. Other stuff ends up at army reserve places and doesn’t get used.
I worked at a place in Hesperia CA. We converted the KLX into diesel. We had to strip brand new crate bikes and sand blast all metals and glass bead all plastics to remove shine, reconfigure wiring for accessories. Hearing a diesel dirt bike never seemed right. You would think it needed to go in for top end repair. 😂🤣
Great info! 👏👏
We had one when I worked at treasure coast Harley-Davison. I think it had over 100 miles and they were all from the back of the dealership to the front.
That thing looks and sounds awesome. I love seeing you guys get these old bikes running that haven’t in decades. 88 miles, my 🍑!
Old bikes, lol? I have underwear older than that bike! I still have a 1972 Kawasaki F8 living in my brother's garage. That's not old either, lol.
@@mfuchs2004 Dog 1985 was 37 years ago. Thats an old bike.
@@MySkybreaker meh. My first bike from 1972 still runs like the day it was built. What's old if it still runs like new? This Harley has just been poorly treated, and not because of its build date. Craigslist is full of 3 year old bikes that don't run at all, and not because they're old. The newest B52 was built in 1962 iirc and still flying daily.
I disagree, looks cool yes, but sounds like a 1930’s tractor with rod bearings flying out of it. Or a blender filled with bolts.
@@mooiboyace you mean it sounds like a diesel? Ironic that a diesel should sound like one, eh?
The bikes were developed by SWM in Italy as street-legal versions of their competition enduros, then taken over by CCM-Armstrong in the UK which had already taken over production of Bombardier's Can Am military bikes. Both the Can-Ams and the SWM/CCM-Armstrong used engines built by Rotax which is owned by Bombardier. Harley-Davidson bought the design from Armstrong. There is also a 350cc version.
They made the right choice going with the KLX hahaha
@@m.b.82 KLR
Thank You for the history lesson
I kept thinking how much it looks like a Can-Am.
That is the British Army Armstrong MT500 but with a Harley Davidson MT350 side panel. I rode many, many miles on those bikes, not only in the U.K. but Germany and when we deployed to the Gulf in 1990. It was a heavy bike to lug around but I never had any problem starting the engine, it was just a technique that you had to get your head around. If I remember rightly the engine was restricted to 36bhp for the MT500 but in unrestricted form, as used in CCM enduro bikes, was almost double that.
Me too, was 21 Sig Reg deployed from Wildenrath!
Bit optimistic on the power figures
What a beautiful dream for many of us! I will always vicariously live through this glorious channel! 😎💯
Nice find! While not an MT I did own a CanAm Sonic in the mid 80's ; same engine. You're not wrong regarding the low compression as it would likely kick back like a mule the way you were kicking it over. There is a small round window on the left side of the engine; top part of the timing cover. Through that you would see a white dot on the cam pulley. Procedure was to pull in the decompression lever and slowly kick it over until the white dot was visible. Then release the compression lever and kick it through hard. The cam is belt driven so may be a good idea to pull that cover off and check the condition of that belt. Also, before every ride upon starting it I would pull the dipstick from the frame and peer in to make sure I saw oil pulsing back meaning the oil pump was working as it should. As I recall the valve train used roller rockers and the tappets had buckets. Be careful if you adjust the valves because if you back them too far to get the feeler under the bucket (very awkward spacing) it can come loose and fall into the crankcase. Ask me how I know...Your bike brings back a lot of great memories; I sure had a lot of fun on mine! I apologize if anything I mentioned above had been covered previously but not reading through 418 comments.... Looking forward to seeing what you do with it!
Someone's been there before, always loved the Canams
You rock!
When Yamaha released the XT500 (a million years ago) there was the left side decompression lever with the cam window. The Yamaha agent did not know about that. (I can't understand why !) The first customer to buy the bike had a sore right leg with the kickbacks, until I showed him............AND the Yamaha salesman how the engine was timed for starting. Trinidad & Tobago. West Indies.
The best episodes always start with "I went to a motorcycle auction".... Only 25 seconds in and I know I'm in for a good one.
The rotax was hard to get running but there’s many Scottish paras and sas that had to live with them and learned exactly how to get them going and some say they are the most reliable and bulletproof bike they ever had because when you know how they like to be treated they were impenetrable they were shot even engine casings with holes and they still got the boys back safe laden with kit
Thanks so much for posting guys John you definitely best bite orientated people on KZhead
Thank you for not having music in the background all the time. :-) I have issues with my hearing and Sean talks fast and sometimes indistinctly, so music in the background always is a problem for me.
Sorry about that
I was born deaf and I’m wearing cochlear implant. I just click on the star and turn on English generated subtitles. No need to turn off the music. I love Rotax motor. I had awful experiences with kick starting my Aprilia TXR 312
@@BikesandBeards Chuck Norris called and said he needs his delta force bikeback🤣
@@BikesandBeards y’all seem like you need help with your motorcycle skills. When starting a bike with compression release, pull the compression release. Can’t get a bike to start? Put the bike in gear pull in the clutch and rock it back and forth. Do this through all of the gears.
That air intake fix looks like one I did once. All I had was a bandage and some silicone. It held untill the bike was hanging on big magnet in smelter.
You had me at kick start only. I had a Norton 850 Commando. By far my favorite bike. 😁 I wonder if there is a fuel filter on that bike that needs to be changed. Also I bet you the carb float sticks too. It's clear you are a ballsy rider. 😉
Wow, when you first said Harley Davidson Dirt bike what popped into my head first is the old 1970s AMF Harleys, they also made snowmobiles too. But that's a real nice find! 👍👍
So the bike was originally an SWM 350 tornado from the 1970s, British company bombardier bought the rights and made the MT 500 for the British Army, they were badged Armstrong, but some of the last ones from the mid 80s with badges Harley Davidson, once the contract has ended Harley Davidson bought the rights off the UK government for the bike and built the MT350 for the United Kingdom Armed Forces, and the 500 models for Canada Jordan, Harley Davidson updated model to disc brakes electric start and all the rest of the handy bits and bobs. The later 500 models Harley-Davidson gave one each to certain dealerships to sell, so there are a few in private hands in the USA
I figured Britain was in there somewhere since it says commandos on the dandlebar
@@stevetripp2340 I think it just means "controls" or "switchgear" in Italian.
Def rather have the KLR650 but this thing is quite a novelty.
I was in the 🇬🇧 RAF in the 90’s, at one point in the area I worked we had two of these bikes, one badged as a Harley and one badged as an Armstrong, I don’t remember the specifics but I do remember they differed in mechanics and appearance slightly. I learned to ride on the Harley around a mothballed airfield while on an exercise, this would have been around 1995, but they were pretty old bikes then, I don’t think the RAF had many bikes, but the two we had always deployed with a tactical airfield radar system.
Make sure you put a new timing belt on there. TDC is at the 11 o'clock position. Timing marks on crank and cam pulleys should line up with a straight edge
Even though I’m a female rider, every time I watch this show I grow a beard 💪🏼.
You can grow a beard but I cant
This is the “hi I’m a girl on the internet meme”
@@jammonster7887 Lmao
Hahaha
You could start your own motorcycle poser channel "Babe In Beard"!!
When I was in the Royal Canadian Signal Corps in the late 80’s we had several of these Armstrong bikes for our dispatch riders (yes, that’s still a thing!) but none of them said Harley Davidson on them.
That's because this one is fake.
Armstrong mt500
@@MrTartarSauced It's not fake, it's the earlier Armstrong mt500 with HD side panels from the later 350 after HD bought the license from Armstrong.
@@MrTartarSauced Nope. HD did build them in 1999 and 2000.
The British Army version of this was sleeved down to 350 and had an electric start. I used to race these in enduro and trials. Bullet proof if looked after but low power to weight. I took one to Iraq 2003 in the back of my 4 tonner. Hellova fun blasting across the desert but not very ied proof. We used to compete in German and Swedish army competitions as well but hard to beat the Swedish LC 4 KTM's. Some units had Honda 400's XR's nice but the fuel tanks were huge. I made the mistake the first time I raced one of filling the tank. Not my best day.
26 Regt Ra had them until 2005/6 if I remember right.
@@liamponsonby1862 most units requiring outriders for convoy moves had them, including tankies, artty and logistics . I used them at, 12Regt RA Sennelagger, 7Para RHA Aldershot, 9 Supply Regt Hullavington, 6 Bn REME, REME TTA Bordon and the Falklands. Try looking up Ex Enduring Help at Longmoor training area of the A3.
British version was a 500cc later bikes were 350 electric start all were made in Britain some badged Armstrong mt500 other Harley Davidson mt350 electric start disk brakes hope this helps
@@Roadlesstraveled1244 the 350 was the 500 with a sleeve in the bore to reduce the volume, as the 500 could top 100mph and the testing team thought it would be to dangerous to give young squaddies a too powerful bike. Although I had a couple with larger drive sprockets to easily do 80 on roads. I had a few smaller ones to use if trails was part of the competition. Never got caught, even though it broke the rules.
I had 2 of the mt 500s one Armstrong and the other Harley Davidson. There is no difference except age. The reason for it coming from Germany is because it was apart of BAOR ( British Army of the Rhine). As for the paint, the bronze green (gloss) was it would have been a parade vehicle. Then the army would of painted it Matt green( too shiny). The way I found to start it was give 3 kicks with the ignition off, Turn ignition on then kick it slowly until you find it gets harder to push down. Then release the kickstart then kick it it with all your weight on it ( 2 things will happen it'll fire or you'll go flying, kickback).
I'd love to see you get your hands on one of those diesel KLRs. That'd be interesting.
It’s a scam
@@simpsonkid100 The package is in his pants...lol
@@simpsonkid100 That's the 5th one I 'reported'and deleted.It's a shame when good channels get scammers on to ruin the good people's reps.
In the late 90's, I went through the USMC Messenger/Courier course where we used off-road dirt bikes, and learned how to ride them, one if the instructors was a few years older and told us about the "Harley that wasn't really a Harley". He didn't say he personally rode one, just that they existed, and were a weird conglomerate of parts from companies and something to do with Harley trying to get the contract, so they bought the rights and built a manufacturing plant in the US somewhere.
First Harley plant is in Sturgis? Is that how Harley started? From these bikes? Anyone know? Feel free to correct me. Learning is a wonderful thing.
@@cmoore7821 Harley-Davidson started in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and has another factory in York, Pennsylvania. Sturgis, ND is just the location of an annual biker rally.
Absolutely love this video, so much information I didn't know
This is the first time I’ve tuned in to your channel. The title sucked me in! I purchased a HD MT500 from the Harley dealer in Naples, FL in 2001. I believe the one you have is the UK configuration. The US configuration has an electric start, disc breaks, panniers attached to the front forks, and a rifle scabbard on the right rear of the bike. I wish I could post a picture to show the differences. I was also able to pick up a HD shop manual to go with mine. Currently has 555 miles on it.
I had one of those, the MT500 was an Armstrong. The MT350 was badged HD. Only the 350 had electric start. I rode one in Desert Storm and bought one when I got back. The motor pool where a lot of these was stored was in Germany, near Hehn, where I was quartered.
you saved me so much typing...thank you!
That's some Chuck Norris Delta force stuff right there. Just add some rocket launchers, oh and make it fly 😁
Hi Bikes and Beards, I was in the British army for 23 years, when I was servicing the army put me through my motorcycle test using the same model of bike MT 500. I can explain the German connection, The British army used the bike in Garman. Many regiments had despatch riders between the heavy armer at the time. Hope this helps you. Keep up the good work, from a biker across the pond!!
I was stationed in Germany ( Army, furth barracks, Erlangen, and bamberg) my-500 bikes where in our motor pool. They’d been on trial in use in hoenfels field exercises and “some” young medics used to ride them around the furth barracks, they all didn’t work by the time we closed down posts and 3rd infantry division was moved to fort Stuart. Most had broke frames, heavily abused
The British military use(d) these and they were/are branded as Harley Davidson’s, and they come for sale often in the UK as army surplus. A friend of mine has one. The British have a vast military presence in Germany, so it’s likely it was at one of the British military bases there. The British still have bases there. The kick start is on the wrong side, like the East German MZ’s because you would stand next to it and kick start it with your right foot. You don’t sit on it to kick them over.
can am bombardier was used by us ... this would have been flown over by the yanks and decommissioned or ``borrowed`` . other than that cock on ... by brother in law has 4 can ams and a couple of `harleys` which is to say his gardens full of crap
@@godzillas6301 we replaced the Can Am with the Armstrong. Well, that's what they gave me.. 😏
@@julesprivate8666 Ours were about teaching scallies to ride ( thanks to the probation service) on a closed off road track . They got the bikes in , we had to deal with the car thieves . The person responsible managed to get some army surplass bikes thinking they must be solid enough for just anyone to ride around . Sure enough this ment a boom in motorcycle thefts in b/ham and the port-a-cabin getting broken into every night . Thankfully the can ams were so heavy they tended not to get far . The 250/350`s were just bloody awfull , the 500 no better . None would happily start or run for very long . Daily they tested out patience . They were not as solid as you would think . They were massively gutless , beyond heavey , unattractive and if ever we went to war they had better hope the other side hadnt heard of cr500`s ( the same era ) .
@@godzillas6301 I had a Armstrong MT500 in The Gulf for Op Granby/Desert Storm. To be fair, I "borrowed" it off the siggies in return for access to level 9 phone calls once a week 😉 I never had any issues with it, and liked it so much that when I got home I bought one for some off roading (they are truly dire on the road LOL). I found it needed at least one kick per day, whether you used it or not, so if you didn't ride it for 3 weeks it needed 21 kicks to start LOL. I think the fond memories of riding a bike in a war zone, during a conflict outweighed the frustration of it being overweight, slow, thirsty and with crap brakes. I suspect it works better when people are shooting at you, certainly that's my experience of it..
Oh yes I almost forgot, those siggies didn't tell me about the manual decompression lever, so the first day was horrific... Typical sigs....
That’s a cool Bike and I look forward to seeing future repairs to it. Maybe they meant 8,888 miles?
Maybe it rolled over and its 100,088 miles
88 military miles is ALOT it prob took a decade to reach that many miles TBH
its probably not miles but kilometres
I've been wearing kevlar gloves for riding since 1994. They were designed and developed for vehicle extrication for EMS workers. They last forever and are more comfortable than my motocross racing gloves. I still have my original pair that finally got a hole in one of the fingers and lasted from 1994 to 2018. I am currently on my second pair. The first pair in 1994 sold for $26. The second pair which they now offer 3 different models sold for $34 in 2018.
I learnt to ride bikes on the British Armies 350 version of this bike. Great bike, heavy as crap, but you can throw it anywhere. The difference for the British bikes was it had a Kawasaki 350 engine.
No it didn't
@@captainchaos3053 it’s what I was told by my instructor.
The ARMSTRONG MT500 Had a Rotax 500 single in it, with drums front and rear, then it dropped to a 350 with an electric start and a disc on the front
All british army bikes had rotax 500 and 350 motors, both with Armstrong and HD versions ive got one in my garage. British army never used kawasaki
@@stevenwaight9844 the one in my shed is a rotax
As to the military painting things, there were rocks I painted at Ft. Lost in the Woods 40 years ago that started out as grains of sand.
HaHaHaHaHaHaHa! I know, that was not a joke!
Sean: Does the govt do things for no reason? Dave: Did you seriously just ask that??🤣
CARC paint, chemical agent resistant coating. I worked with a GySgt and a Ssgt in the Marine Corps who taught the riders course for these and the KLR's we had.
The bigger question is does the govt have a good reason for nearly anything they do? No. They don't 😂
When I was in the Army stationed at Ft. Bliss, TX, we had to paint rocks. No real reason for it, they didn't line the road or something, they just sat in a field and had decades of paint on them, and it was our turn to paint them. Tax payer money well spent, the lizards liked blue rocks.
@@D.H.CE_FL when you see where the money goes you know the reason
Here's the thing: businesses do things for no reason too.
I learned to ride and passed my test on one of these in 1997 in the Britsh army. So much fun dispatch riding and flying fitter. Fixing generators and comms equipment.
Made by CCM of Bolton ,E-bay Uk is most likely your best place for parts.
Force Motorcycles in the UK sell spare parts. They own all rights to those now.
Diesel klr next 🥺. Want to see one in good shape.
I used to own the British army version of this bike called Armstrong MT500, exactly the same bike except for name. I replaced the front end of mine with Cagiva elephant forks, wheel and disc brake and switched the carb to Mikuni for easier hot starting. There is a definite Knack to starting though and I could never do it with my left leg. Bulletproof rotax engine with good torque.
Those Rotax engines were fantastic. The CCM 500 is what I knew these bikes as, and I had no idea that HD badge engineered them from the UK. Starting them required a knack, which you knew or you walked...
The grey switch is a black out switch, kills all electrics apart from the engine!
I'm a veteran, a biker, and a fan of this Bike. I wish I could afford it. Godspeed and Blessings
In the UK these can be had quite easily for 1500-2000.
@@bb-ballistics1706 back in the day they were 1/10th of that.
@@bb-ballistics1706 Just picked up an MT500 for less than £900, got lucky on ebay.
@@sideshow4417 wow that's lucky. I just sold my last one about a year ago for 1500
@@bb-ballistics1706 I sold my last one for £600 11yrs ago, crazy what the prices are like now
The Rotax was a bullet proof engine with the low compression the military engines had. They could double the output and still be durable in dirt track trim. The real drawbacks were the kick start only engines and they are heavy engines at over 90 pounds. You can tell it has the low compression setup because a racing engine would break your ankle if you didn't use the proper procedure. There is a window on the side of the head to aid in starting it and a high compression version will not turn over without lining it up for each kick. Interesting bike but it burns gasoline and the military decided that all in field vehicles should use the same fuel so they were much easier to support in logistics. Hence diesel Kawasakis.
When kicking a bike over with a decomposer, take your foot off the Kickstarter as soon as it starts. The little follower lifts the exhaust valve up which will put pressure on the cam. I had a Honda 250 and holding the Kickstarter down will wear on the camshaft and follower.
saw those at my first camp in the uk. never moved in 3yrs and looked like they had a million miles on BUT were low miles
We had loads of these on my base in Germany in 2009. They were in long term storage and most were in quite poor condition.
These where built for a British Army contract that Harley Davidson won. Story goes shipped to the States in bits...assembled then shipped back to Central Vehicle Depot Ashchurch in the UK...on lovely America Oak pallets. Still have some of the oak in my garage..... We always found it weird because we already had the Armstrong in service within the British Army. All that changed was the battery and airbox cover...oh and previously mentioned oak pallets Passed my bike licence test on one....
Just found your channel and I'm hooked. Ride on 🇺🇸✊🏻
anyone else feel like, only Craig knows how to work on anything? This channel constantly shows.....ony Craig can turn a wrench in the right direction
Thanks for wasting my time
@@edmiller5248 your welcome? Odd response lol
Let's hope so ,he is the master mechanic in the place.
It's obvious why the US Army went with the Kawasaki
As a non American person, can you explain it to me?
@@AbrarM_ reliability and the Kawasaki runs diesel
@@blacksheep6888 yeah but.... they modified the Kawasaki to run on diesel
@@Dragnor exactly you nailed it well done
@@blacksheep6888so had they went with Harley they would’ve converted them to run on diesel as well.
was a Cav Scout in 2/10 CATF. I field tested several bikes including a Harley at fort Knox. we did a display at the Armour Conference on Knox.. it was 1989 or 90.. the bike could maintain 3/4 mph..amd super quiet..but was heavy AF.. we ended up picking an Enduro.. DR 350..
I sat on one of these when it was new at a Harley dealership in Milwaukee, WI. It had a rifle scabbard on the front fork. The dealer told me then that there was a limited amount sold to dealers for resale to public because Harley didn’t get the military contract they had hoped to get.
love this content @Bikes and Beards since you asked me last time what you should do a hi low of i think you should make like dirt bike hi vs low and add new suspension also test hi gear vs low gear like hi end helmets that would be a first no one ever dose that with bikes and it would be great content.
I love it, man. That's awesome! I'm super stoked to see that old motorcycle. My first dirt-bike was a tank lol 1982 Suzuki sp250 was THE bike the military should have gone with 😅 . Pretty stout for a 250 great gearing ratio. Fast, reliable,dependable, easy to maintain, and lightweight. Starts on 1st or 2nd kick regardless of how many YEARS it sat and it would run, even on stale gasoline, too 😊💭...OH the memories 😃
was in Romk for Sight and Sound. Thought about checking you guys out,then remembered how I feel about surprises.
This reminds me of my buddy's Aprilia Pegaso. The oil is in the frame, you gotta run it up to temperature before you can get an accurate reading from the dipstick. So you'd better HOPE it's not dry!
I'm no stranger to 'tickling ' the throttle to keep a motor running. Good Job , Guys! Once you seal the intake , she should idle sweetly. 😎👍
You heard it here from Sean first, folks; "Wheelie for safety" Can we get that on a T-shirt, Sean?
I always knew them as the Armstrong 500cc dispatch riders bike? loved seeing them chug about during UK ARMY open days we lived next to a Large training facility, Kinmel Camp North Wales, and used to see them every weekend, pottering around our local woods
Back in the late 80's i worked with a mechanic(s) who worked on these ( they where called the bombardier the ones we had) . I never worked on one but got to ride them. poorly braked, heavy, underpowered things they were and the Kickstart WAS on the wrong side. Each to their own though! Steve UK.
This is the first Harley Davidson I've seen in my life that I actually think looks cool!
Yep and it's pretty easy to find them in England, there called Armstrong mt500 and you can get them pretty cheap
U monster!
Ho Ho I purchased 2 for $250 that served in desert storm, only regret is I used one as a parts bike. Plenty of spares still available in the uk.
Had one of those for a while , they are fairly common here in the UK well the 350 is any way , .in my mind it was like an XL500S...it wasnt, the intake tube is standard !! always very hard to start , mine kicked back once and smashed the casing , than after i figured the bike out it striped its cam belt.....gave up after that..dont stale it in traffic ..good luck .
Of course they'd contract what is likely the least reliable bike at the time versus a Honda XL or XR that is bullet proof with minimal to no maintenence (no pun intended).
We had these when I was in Berlin Germany early 90s in the British army
@@stuwilson92 how were they? Were they difficult to keep running? They look way cool
Hi Sean, that Harley looks like it got the bad end of a mortar barrage. By the way, have you had the opportunity to ride the Harley Pan America? I can't believe I'm going to get one, ' the Special ' edition, it's a few grand more but comes equipped with all the options. My heart was set on the H.D. Road King Special, deadwood green, if I could find one. But now, with the new kid on the road I'm seriously wanting to get the P. A. special. No way I can afford both. Unless the Lord makes it happen. I was on Harleys Web site and was surprised to see they came out with a new military version of the P.A. special in green of course, it looks great. Being a vet. I'm sorta partial. If you have the chance to test one out I think you'll be pleasentley surprised with it's agility and tremendous power for a adventure sport bike. God bless you and your family...
thats awesome
Have fun with a stupid chain drive... clean and lube every 600 miles. They really need to do a shaft drive on there.
@@AyaWetts shaft drives don't like dirt, and they HATE the high g-force oscillations of off-road driving. Ask most BMW R fanbois. They'll deny an issue and claim tearing into it to fix is expected maintenance. You'll get blank stares when pointing out that such maintenance isn't in the manual. Meanwhile, chain maintenance is 5 minutes every 500 miles. Only an imbecile needs more time. It takes longer to wash the bike than to clean and lube the chain.
@@mfuchs2004 I don't know if I could roll my eyes any harder at that... lol... 🙄
@@AyaWetts lol, roll em all you want but it remains the truth. Even Africa Twin uses a chain...because it's better in dirt.
Cool motorcycle. The Army had communication guys who ran cable for radios back in the early 80's on Harley Davidson dirt bikes.
I remember the Armstrong mt 500 from when I was in the British army, the kickstart was on the right hand side.. used to decompress it, kick it slowly twice, then give it one good boot without being decompressed if it didn’t start try once more then walk away if no start….
It was just the most extreme and intense 88 miles ever. The bike went 88 miles through a space-time rift to save a princess from a dragon that lived in a volcano and when it came back to the present it arrived in germany. Either that or they Typoed and it was meant to be 88,888 miles.
Package is fake scam
I´m from germany and that thing looks a little bit like a Herkules K125 BW or K180 BW with another engine
nah those are smaller and some stuff is noticeably different
I bought one at a Canadian military auction. Rotax engine . Bomdardier Canada supplied them to military . I didn’t keep it long even fairly new the bike was old technology, drum brakes etc, also a heavy bike for power output. They where also selling brand new engines in crates for next to nothing but I think the ice racers picked hem up fast.
Great video. I miss my 09 FXSTC. It was totalled on 9/11/2019 when I was hit by a car that ran a red light as I was turning left. Sure miss having a bike to ride.
Hi Guys, Interested to see your great video about the MT500. We consider ourselves something of an authority on these, they have been our business for 31 years. We acquired the parts inventory and intellectual rights to the bike from Harley Davidson in 2008, and shipped all the parts back here to the UK. Your bike is a UK built Armstrong MT500, I think the UK registration plate can even be seen. The bike has been registered for Civilian use here in the UK, then obviously someone shipped it to the US. Originally the bike would have had “ARMSTRONG” on the side panels but once H-D had acquired the rights to the bike in around 1990, the spare parts business came with it so all spare parts came with H-D’s branding rather than Armstrong. You mentioned Germany, some of these Armstrongs were deployed in Germany, but of course remained as British Army property, some did indeed get disposed of from Germany, I suspect this one came back to the UK though. The later incarnation, the H-D MT500E as you say, had electric start and disc brakes with a different pannier set-up, around 450 of these were sold to US civilians, through the H-D dealer network. The bike you have their was used by the UK Military (2300 units) also the Jordanian Army, and some went to the Canadian Military - these had electric start. The H-D MT350E was only sold to the UK Forces (1700 units) and as you can see was 350cc :( I have taken the registration number as C148FVM. If this is correct, it left the UK sometime after 07.02.22, and had 35,000 on the speedo according to my research! Keep up the good work! Force Motorcycles
We forgot to post a Bible verse in this video like we often do. But heres a great one Matthew 9:37-38 Then He *said to his disciples, "the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest"
God bless you
Thanks, God bless you
Why is there a bible verse?
Thanks for our Father❤
Seems you forgot your helmet also. For the younger viewers, this sets a poor president.
UK and US forces were stationed in Germany - lots of kit got sold off after they moved back to US/UK maybe someone bought it and shipped it back? That is a well well used motorcycle, parts were often swapped between bikes (cars, trucks, cookers, tents, guns etc in the military) and buying one off the military when they were all sold off was a bit of a mixed bag - you could get one that was still un-used, you could get one that was driven hundreds of KM up and down the boarder daily, you could get one that was the trainer bike for the maintenance guys that had been disassembled and assembled twice a day for 10 years. The 350 variants were about $150-300 at auction back in the early 2000s
they made many of the MT500 when it was armstrong, and thousands of the MT350. You can get them in England for about $3500-4500 if they are fullly complete (front Panniers and gun rack). The UK/EU versions the MT500 is kickstart (three pumps and kick to start) and then the MT350 was electric start. Both were about 25hp. The Harley Davidson purchased Armstrong to get the Rotax engine but Rotax also came out with the 650cc, which ended up in the BMW GS650 and lots of people swap out the engines. The germans didn't use the MT500 but the UN/NATO forces did use them.
I got an mt350 Harley Davidson running for a friend off mine it was a newer version but looked just like it. I can honestly say it was the worst bike I’ve ever ridden , my friend thought I was going to buy it from him but I never disliked a bike more than that one. I sold it for him, I couldn’t believe they sent soldiers out on such rubbish bikes👍🇬🇧
Rotax engine they used to put them in RS125 frames (Aprilia) and race them super lightweight frame with huge bulletproof engines in my old boss had one years ago as a track bike. There was a class for them.
I saw one in 1993 in use by US Air Force Security Forces in Kismayu, Somalia. They used it to keep camels off the runway. I remember finding it odd it was a Harley. Thanks for posting the video.
That was a pretty neat upload, had a lotta cool tidbits of information that were unbeknownst to me. - Surry Virginia
I love the look of that bike. What a cool piece of kit
When you said dry sump, rotax and decompression lever I was reminded of my old BMW G 650 GS
I'd be interested to see the diesel KLR if you could get your hands on one. Would make a great video
Sounds like the 14 HP Kohler engine in my commercial walk behind mower (Deere GS-30).
CCM Armstrong we’re started in the early 70s in the North East of England ..ran until about 1987z..quite a few went to British Forces who were stationed in Germany which makes sense why yours may have some German history 👍👍👍
I honestly cannot believe you have this many subscribers. Because it is PAINFULLY obvious that you know juuuuust enough to get by. True definition of "fake it till you make it".