My Armstrong MT

[AJW]

I bought a BMW R1100 RT from a work colleague with 31000 miles on the clock a couple months ago, that he had parked in the back of his garage for the past 4 or 5 years. He had had the bike for quite a few years and had put about 25 000 miles on it, but he started to have a problem changing back into 2nd & 1st gears, so he thought that will be expensive to fix and parked it in his garage. So I bought the bike off of him at a fair price that he was asking & I had it in the back of my mind that I may need to fit a second hand gear box. Anyway after getting the bike home, I discovered the gear issue was nothing more than a corroded ball & socket on the gear lever. £35 for a new linkage, job sorted Anyway why am I waffling on about a BMW? The bike was too heavy for me, Lovely bike to ride, just a nightmare for me to manoeuvre or put on it's stand, and I knew deep down that it would only be a matter of time before I drop the bike. I advertised the bike on Gumtree and I was contacted by someone that wanted to do a straight swap for an MT500. So I'm now the proud owner on an Armstrong MT500 with 17000 km on the clock. I have a few bikes and the MT is probably my favourite to ride at the moment. It's not aggressive or a slouch, it handles nicely, comfortable to ride. I hate the starting of it though, as I haven't got that sussed yet, but will.

I've just ordered a service kit & cambelt from Force Motorcycles, so I'm going to service the bike once the bits arrive, so at the moment it is sat on my bike work bench in my shed.

I haven't done many miles on it at the moment, probably around 40 or 50 miles, but everything seemed to work as it should, no nasty knocks or noises, so, so far I'm very happy with the bike. Ironically I've wanted one of these bikes for a lot of years and now I finally have one

[Wirralman]

Look around the forum, there has been a lot of chat over the years about MT500 starting issues and techniques

[AJW]

Many thanks
I will Gets a bit embarrassing when it would have been quicker to walk than what it took to start the bike

[Wirralman]

Many thanks
I will Gets a bit embarrassing when it would have been quicker to walk than what it took to start the bike

To the guys who've got both the carb set up and technique sorted, starting is no problem. The original Amal isn't rated by most owners, only fitted originally for political rather than technical reasons

[Chisler]

Hi AJW lovely looking 500 congratulations, it took me a while to get the knack for starting mine it had the original Amal carb, I then changed it to a mikuni and what a difference it made consistence consistence all the time, even with a crowd of on lookers haha. I've just managed to get hold of a Dellorto carb for it a bit of experimentation, the mikuni is very thirsty. Will you be thinking of getting the paniers for it, great for weekends away.

[AJW]

It is fitted with a Mic carb, so assume that's the Mikuni carb on there. I'll remove it and clean it while the bike is being serviced. There is a label on the carb float bowl, saying carb not suitable for use on aircraft. The air filter looked dirty and the spark plug also looked past it's best last night when I removed them. New bits on their way as we speak from Force. Hopefully after a service the bike will be easier to start. At least I will know the main bits are good, so it will be down to my poor starting technique

I will be keeping an eye out for pannier racks and the like for the bike, as they do give these bikes that added character. I haven't decided yet whether or not to do a complete repaint of the bike, for now I shall leave as is, but a respray wouldn't be a problem for me as I used to work in the motor vehicle bodywork sector as a panel beater & sprayer.

[Chisler]

Sounds like a good plan, yep my Mikuni has that sticker on the bowl, the way I start mine from cold is~ choke on 3 gentle kicks over then 1/4 throttle and 1 good kick, does it for me. when it's warm just 1/4 throttle and 1 kick jobs a gooden. I agree they do look smart with the racks and paniers.
Sounds to like a 500 has found a good home.

[SLYs6x]

Does anybody have a part number or spec for the mikuni and Dellorto for the MT 500 on hand?

[MTBrown]

My MT500 is fitted is fitted with a Mikuni VM32 but I believe people also use a VM34. Sportax sell the Dellorto PHF36 for the MT500 which is the size I have fitted to my slightly larger capacity MT500. According to the manual, the original AMAL carb fitted had a bore size of 30 mm and so all the replacement carbs seem to have a slightly larger bore.