去年冬天,在Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250上的所有Ballyhoo中,Moco都想提醒我们,“ Harley一直是关于冒险自行车的”或类似的东西。新利18苹果嗯,有点。最初的Harley-Davidson自行车肯定填补了当前ADV机器所扮演的角色。而且,还有DKW RT125克隆,其次是重新填充的意大利进口,所有进口都可以处理未铺设的道路。

And then, there was the built-for-military MT series. While Harley-Davidson didn’t do start-to-finish manufacturing on these bikes, these motorcycles were made in America, unlike the Aermacchi machines of the ’60s and ’70s. However, they’re a rare find today in the States, because almost all the buyers were outside the US. They aren’t hard to find if you know where to look, though, and occasionally you even see oneat auction in the US.

MT的史前

You can’t tell the tale of the American-built MT dual sports without starting with the made-in-England origin story.

The MT series was originally put together by British manufacturer Armstrong-CCM. Never a major competitor on the UK market, CCM generally focused on niche machines, particularly big-bore four-stroke offroad machines, at a time when the MX and enduro worlds were mad for sleek Euro two-strokes.

In the early 1980s, Armstrong bought a big chunk of CCM, changing the name to Armstrong-CCM. Then, the new company nailed down the rights to manufacture SWM’s Tornado dual sport design. If you look at photos ofthe old SWM models, you can see where Armstrong-CCM got the inspiration for its MT500 military motorcycle, first released in 1983. You can observe the same general lines, the same dual rear shock arrangement (definitely outdated by the mid-1980s), and the same Rotax-built four-stroke single-cylinder engines.

Armstrong-CCM built theMT500对于英国军方以及加拿大和约旦的武装部队的电动启动变体。您今天在二手市场上看到的大多数示例都来自英国或加拿大。

当然,由于这是英国摩托车行业,因此还有另一个公司的变化。阿姆斯特朗(Armstrong)于1987年将其在公司中的份额卖给了CCM创始人艾伦·克莱斯(Alan Clews),大约在那个时候,哈雷·戴维森(Harley-Davidson)购买了MT500的权利,并开始了美国机器的生产。据我所知,Moco在宾夕法尼亚州的约克工厂建造了这些自行车,但我从未见过正式证实。

Taking things down a notch

Harley-Davidson wanted military contracts with the MT500, but did not see the sales it hoped. So, what to try next? Why not build a better version?

MT500在1990年代初期看起来很贴切,前面有鼓刹车。大多数机器也以仅限启动配置出售。因此,Harley-Davidson于1993年发布了MT350E。

这辆自行车与MT500非常相似(也与它之前的SWM型号)。框架保持了自行车的机油。它使用了带有四阀头的空气冷却单缸SOHC发动机,带有双后冲击。显然,从481 cc到348 cc导致了一些功率损失,但这并不像您想象的那么重要。MT500在6,200 rpm时的额定功率为32马,在5,500 rpm的扭矩下为28磅 - 英尺。MT350E以8,000 rpm的速度和21磅英尺的扭矩在6,500 rpm处额定为30马力。马力的差异几乎是显而易见的。扭矩差会更明显,但是自行车上的其他改进将弥补失去的咕unt声。

The biggest improvement was standard electric start. The left-hand kickstarter was by far the biggest complaint on the original MT500; paired with a finicky carburetor, this was a constant source of frustration to anyone who rode the machine in the army, or bought a surplus bike after its release from service.

MT350E标准配备了电动靴,据说更新的化油器也改善了其起点。同样,MT350E的前后有9英寸的制动盘,对500年的前和后鼓进行了可喜的改进。调节器/整流器单元被移动,以获得更好的空气冷却。

As a result, the 350 version is generally considered a superior machine to the 500, even though it’s smaller.

A company secret

You do occasionally see Harley-branded MT350E or MT500 machines for sale, with civilian origins. It seems that at least some dealers got their hands on them and tried to sell them, but it didn’t work out. When production ended in 2000, the design was definitely a couple of generations out of date, so even if Harley-Davidson had decided to abandon its high-margin V-twin sales and push these bikes, it probably wouldn’t have sold well. Harley-Davidson doesn’t seem interested in promoting this part of its company history anymore.

Alas, some goomer has cut up those awkwardly beautiful forward panniers, to install a stereo. Photo: Iconic Motorbike Auctions

Now, when you see them for sale in the US, they’re obviously on the used market, generally army surplus from the UK, and generally quite expensive. This machine pictured above, which was up for grabs atIconic Motorbike Auctions, should still be available as the auction did not meet its reserve. See more details at that site, and who knows—maybe you can pony up a big wad of cash and get this bike for yourself? There’s certainly many other gorgeous and/or interesting machines on Iconic’s website, if you can’t nail this one down.

一对与广告的注释:It doesn’t say if this was a surplus machine, only that it was previously reg’d in California. It also says the gun case on the bike’s rear is for a Steyr AUG, but it might actually be made for a British SA80 rifle. Some idjit drilled a hole in the forward-mounted panniers to install a radio, but you can probably find replacement panniers through some UK surplus site or MT owners’ group, if you don’t want to fix them.

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