Vintage Thing No. 15.1 - Armstrong MT500

Pete Low dropped by the other day on his Armstrong on MT500 and as you can see from the photographs he's developed a few refinements for this bike since it was first dubbed a Vintage Thing. The mechanical specification remains the same but he's added a bigger 22 litre tank from a Honda XL500 and a low level Acerbis front mudguard. He's also invested in a pair of Oxford heated handlebar grips, since Pete rides his bike all year round, unlike some of us - like me, for instance - who freely admit to be fair weather riders.

The new headlamp unit is an Acerbis Cyclops, which can take HID (High Intensity Discharge) bulbs. Sort of. Acerbis make quite a few different types, but the Cyclops is the only one Pete’s seen that is "E marked" & street legal. An interesting discovery has been, that Acerbis make a clear plastic shield that is tailor made, covering both main & dip to guard against breakage. Somewhere between Essex and Cornwall he inexplicably suffered a breakage to the glass lens on this unit.

Both lamps take H3 bulbs. Pete says, “The main beam is no problem as the HID "bulb" slots straight in. The dip lamp has taken a lot more fiddling, but I've got the bulb fitted, and bench tested, and its looking, well, er, sort of BRIGHT! I'm currently tidying up the instrument panel in conjunction with the Acerbis unit, including rewiring everthing that sits under it including the ballast units for the HIDs. Check out this website for the low down on these gizmos.”


Pete’s bike originally came with a speedo that measured distance in miles and speed in km/h. Or maybe it was the other way round? Anyway, he now has an Acewell digital speedo fitted, which he says is definitely a better quality unit than the TrailTek he had before, and does away with the Kph/Mph confusion. “I now have it pretty well dialed in,” Pete tells me, “probably as accurate as Mr Plod's own.” Pete’s had some unpleasant experiences with hidden speed traps over the years so this is important.

He's had the bike resprayed as well, using a fairly close match to the original olive drab that has a slight gloss to it. Respraying Armstrongs can pose some problems due to the plastic material used for tanks. Pete says it's not the plastic itself that's the problem but the petrol inside the plastic tank.

"It seems most plastic bike tanks are prone to petrol fumes leaching inyo the paint from within, but some CCMs have a plastic tank that is somehow different, and paintable without any extra precautions.

"Petseal is a long standing brand of sealer for rusty steel petrol tanks. They now do "Petseal Plus" which is designed for plastic tanks, and this is what I used.

"I took the precaution of letting the tank "air" in a warm dry place for a couple of months. I reckoned that if painted straight after applying the liner, there might still be traces of petrol migrating through the plastic. All I can say is, it has worked so far."

Together with the soft panniers on metal tubular frames, these subtle changes have improved Pete's perfect bike, bike so usable and suited to his requirements (since he assembled the parts and did all the work himself) that he thinks nothing of throwing his leg over it and tooling down to Cornwall from Essex. Or visiting relatives in Bristol and Wales.

Here's a picture of another of Pete's bikes, this time a work in progress. This is going to be the super lightweight off-road bike that will complement his highly developed touring machine. It also shows how the Yamaha XT 500 18 litre tank fits and looks on at Armstrong MT 500. He’s now sold this tank but I like the profile and the way it sits on the bike. “The nose of the seat needed hollowing out to fit nicely to this tank,” Pete said. I think he sold this seat with side panels as a complete “kit” to some lucky person. It looks good.


As for his other bikes….

“The other Armstrong that I have returned to standard in its desert trim is almost ready for an MOT, just a wayward indicator to sort out. And the 3rd one has had all surplus bracketry removed, center stand etc and will also have an Acerbis Cyclops headlamp unit, to produce a considerably lightened MT500, but with 560 engine for greenlane use (maybe even another stab at MCC events) So far I've got all its cycle parts powder coated (dark green of course) and the engine just needs it head fitted back on, and then the whole thing to assemble.

“But at the moment things are rather busy, 3 churches equals lots of carol services etc, and the garage is rather cold some days, but I'll keep you posted.”

Did I mention Pete was a vicar?

His final words are, “In defiance of the recession, and the deplorable Euro/Pound situation, I've booked up for the Tour des Cols, with my sister Maggie, for next September. Starting from Sienna and zig zagging down to Sicily and the Targa Florio circuit. I may have to sell a spare bike to afford it but couldn't resist it!”

That's the kind of automotive Dunkirk spirit we like.