what bikes do the British army currently use?

[vlc]

As i heard BSA replaced all during the 1980s, then CCM made some bmx models for them in the 90s, tho in a fhm mag it said they use modified harley-davidsons...?

ps- do they still maintain a stock of push-bikes, in some small capacity?

[jvaughan]

Harley's.. Bloody awful things.. The guys around my part of the world have lots of problems with them on cold frosty mornings

[minimax]

jvaughan said:

Harley's.. Bloody awful things.. The guys around my part of the world have lots of problems with them on cold frosty mornings

bet they sound great though.. why use such an old design and something that needs to be breathed on before it's any good? seems silly IMHO

[sparkey]

They have used Armstrongs for a long time and I think they still do. Armstrongs were/are made by CCM.

[vlc]

sparkey said:

They have used Armstrongs for a long time and I think they still do. Armstrongs were/are made by CCM.

I thought Armstrong became defunct in the 1960s - or does this mean CCM bought this marque an then revived it under a uk gov contract for the mod?

[wolf1]

The Harley Davidson Enduro superceded the Armstrong bikes years ago. The only Armstrongs that may possibly be in service would be with the TA. Also to answer the other point they are very quiet, we're not going on about choppers etc.

[mel]

A bit of a mix at the moment but the popular choice seems to be the Honda XR400, however the lads tend to get a bit jealous when on exercise in Germany as their German counterparts or Das Military Plod at least get KTM EXC 525's a better bike by far but it does need a lot of servicing. The XR's are bomb proof and need very little care which is ideal operationally.

[vlc]

just found these 2 info pieces...

quote -

Armstrong
1902-05. Also the name of car parts maker who bought Cotton and CCM. Created track and offroad bikes 1980-87. Sold rights to Rotax-engined military bike to Harley Davidson in 87. Another Armstrong built bikes 1913-14.

CCM
Clews Competition Machines, formed by Alan Clews as Clewstrokes in 1971, chanced to CCM in 1973. Made BSA-engined (B50s and others) trials machines after buying machine tools and stock from closed BSA factory.

- unquote

hence it seems CCM branded bikes are Armstrong owned or licensed some how...?

[stegefal]

I've ridden both the Harley and the Armstrong bikes, and they were both bloody awful, gutless heavy, difficult to start. You had to prime the engine and turn it over till a little indicator showed in a window then boot the hell out of it. Absolute garbage.
The XR is great though, about time too.