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Armstrong MT 500? Armstrong MT 500?
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Which Bike? Comments and Questions on what is the best bike for YOU, for YOUR trip. Note that we believe that ANY bike will do, so please remember that it's all down to PERSONAL OPINION. Technical Questions for all brands go in their own forum.
Photo by Hendi Kaf, in Cambodia

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Hendi Kaf,
in Cambodia



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  #1  
Old 14 Jun 2001
owl owl is offline
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Armstrong MT 500?
I've seen a couple of these advertised recently around the £1000 mark. Are they practical for use in the real world? Just because the army use them doesn't necessarily mean they are!
What are they like to get hold of parts for?
Are they easy to work on?
Are they cheap to insure?
Reliable?
I can't seem to find out much about them and I don't think I've ever seen one in the flesh.
Cheers,
Owl.
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  #2  
Old 2 Jul 2001
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You need to be very careful with these as they are often knackered, thats why the army gets rid of them.
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  #3  
Old 2 Jul 2001
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What exactly does "knackered" mean? I am not familiar with the term.
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  #4  
Old 3 Jul 2001
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A "Knacker" is a person who buys and slaughters useless horses, hence it is said that somthing is "knackered" when it is in very very poor or unserviceable condition.
Hope this helps

[This message has been edited by harryl (edited 02 July 2001).]
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  #5  
Old 20 Aug 2001
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i was in the army for 5 years and each unit iwas in had an mt500 the only problem ever with them was starting.following the start procedure was the cure.generaly they are quite heavy, small tank and short travel rear susp,but allround good dual purpose bike.
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  #6  
Old 15 Sep 2001
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I have recently rebuilt an Armstrong MT500. Yeah, it was knackered at first, but with a new engine unit (Rotax) courtesy of www.SportaxRacing.com for about a grand and a couple of months of TLC, it became an incredibly reliable and robust overlander. You can take it to bits with a 5 mill. allen key and a 13mill. spanner.
It's well built (albeit heavy), I dropped it once, and took out someones rockery! And the rack at the back takes standard gerry cans!
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  #7  
Old 24 Aug 2007
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I fixed one up for £530 quid (including the ebay purchace of the bike), its easy to work on, bits are easy to get and its very reliable and robust! and it also has a shorter crank comissioned by the army so that if the cam belt snaps its non interferance so it wont destroy the engine! this also means it can run normally down to 85 octane.

the pics her loaded up with just the standard racks.
bike-preped.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
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  #8  
Old 24 Aug 2007
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Nice bike
Quote:
Originally Posted by fuggie View Post
I fixed one up for £530 quid (including the ebay purchace of the bike), its easy to work on, bits are easy to get and its very reliable and robust! and it also has a shorter crank comissioned by the army so that if the cam belt snaps its non interferance so it wont destroy the engine! this also means it can run normally down to 85 octane.

the pics her loaded up with just the standard racks.
bike-preped.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Nice one fuggie! Haven't seen these discussed on here for a while (but there are some other threads with good info if you have not seen them yet - just do a search in here).
Have you acquired and done up the bike recently (reference your costings) and how are you getting on with it in the real world - mileage, running costs that sort of thing?

I got my hands on one years ago and it was a pig to kickstart when standing in water up to your proverbials - I don't do that sort of thing any more!!

Cheers,
__________________
Dave
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  #9  
Old 24 Aug 2007
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i got it about march time, decided i wanted one and just watched the bay for a while and it turned up, it made it the 130mile crawl back before the clutch chewed up its thrust bearing lol (i was aware though it had a problem with the clutch from the ad) stripped that down and reground the clutch basket because the plates had scored it quite deep (with a file and emery paper of course ) replaced the bearing put that back together and gave it the usual service, tidyed it up abit and renewed all the bodged sections of the loom.
Since then its been no trouble, ive covered about 8000km (bit of a trip around europe, ride to work, weekend thrash) just needing routine maintenance ( cables, spark plug, oil change..etc) it does about 40 mpg
with the standard carb but that can easily be improved on.
The left hand kick start is a bit of a mind over mater thing to use while stuck on the bike in extraneous circumstances like stuck in water, lol! ill have a look back havnt seen the other threads on it yet. im confident that she'll haul me round the globe without many problems
Last edited by fuggie; 24 Aug 2007 at 17:58.
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