This section describes the history of a number of classic motorcycle marques.
I acquired my Rotax 560E engined Armstrong motorcycle in 2017 in very poor condition after it had stood unused since 2006. Although the Armstrong motorcycle was developed for the British Army in 1984, this version was one of the very few subsequently sold for civilian use. Mine was bought by Leeds Parks Department. Also, unlike the kickstart Rotax 500 cc engined bikes sold to the army, my Armstrong is fitted with the larger 560 cc electric start engine.
I already own an Armstrong MT500 and Harley Davison MT350, both of which were fully restored to original condition. However, since my Armstrong MT560E was a bespoke civilian version, I decided to make changes to it to make it a much better motorcycle. The main change was to replace the front end of the bike with that from an MT350 in order to benefit from a front disk brake. This involved replacing the forks, the front wheel, the speedo drive and the handlebar and controls from the MT350.
For this civilian version of the Armstrong, I decided to powder coat the frame in gloss black and then to paint the rest of the bike in Deep Bronze Green (as used by the Army in the 1970’s) to retain a connection with the bike’s army inheritance. Painting plastic components can sometimes be tricky but, as with my MT350 and MT500, the painted plastic on my MTs has managed to stand the test of time.
The front wheel was bought new but, since the rear wheel was in poor condition, I got the rim and hub powder coated in satin black and then rebuilt the wheel using stainless steel spokes. I also replaced all six bearings in the back wheel which is possibly one of the finest examples of over-engineering I have ever come across, save for the MT350 which has 7 bearings in the back wheel!
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