gaff Posted April 9, 2004 Report Share Posted April 9, 2004 Can anybody help with information and photo's on the bike that Armstrong developed in the mid-80's, as riden by John Lampkin ? It had an Alloy frame and was a Mono-shock with a 240/280 Rotax engine, i know that around 65 were made and badged as Armstrong and Can-Am's in 1986, and a further 10 more were made as 240cc CCM's in 1988. Thanks in advance. Gaff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marky g Posted April 10, 2004 Report Share Posted April 10, 2004 A mate of mine had two of them from brand new! the second one was for his wife to use (which she never did) from what I can recall the bike was a bit of a lump....ok for it's time I guess but not as nimble as say a TYR Yam. The engine was very forgiving (see flat as a fart) very bullet proof in all aspects.......the second bike (the wifes) had some hubs turned out and disc brakes back and front fitted (std were drum brakes all round) being a bit of a clever chap (the owner) made the hubs so the sprocket and disc mountings were the same........when it came time to turn the old back tyre round, you just swapped the disc and sprocket around and bingo!...clever eh??. I'm sure this bike was sold to a bloke who lives round the corner from me and last I heard it was up for sale again!! (that was a few months ago) hope this helps mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinm Posted April 10, 2004 Report Share Posted April 10, 2004 Here's the photo I was telling you about....other than the speedo mount, are the forks the same as 240 Fantic? Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaff Posted April 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2004 Hi Marky G, let us know if thay are for sale please, especially the double-disc one, Cheers. MartinM, yep thats the one, identicle to mine except mine has CCM written where this one has Armstrong. The picture also confirms to me that the bike did not have a chain-gaurd , where the few pictures i have are of the left side, trying to hide that SWM silencer i suppose? I wonder if that would have been John Lampkins Bike. What a picture, just sold my RTL that was identicle to number 71. Gaff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-shock 250 Posted April 10, 2004 Report Share Posted April 10, 2004 (edited) Actually the silencers were very similar to the old SWM ones, probably a direct copy as they used the same engines. Those 280cc rotary valve engines were capable of a lot more power than a horrible old TY250R, you had to alter the disc timing first. Edited April 10, 2004 by t-shock 250 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marky g Posted April 11, 2004 Report Share Posted April 11, 2004 Those 280cc rotary valve engines were capable of a lot more power than a horrible old TY250R, you had to alter the disc timing first. I cannot remember if my mates were 240's or 280's, they must have been 240 cause they wus pretty gutless, my TYR use nail the poor old Armstrong every time. Gaff, I'll get in touch with the chappy round the corner and if he's still got it I'll take a pic of it (it's been a few years since I last seen it so god knows what it looks like now) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuessenhigh Posted April 11, 2004 Report Share Posted April 11, 2004 Marky G, Your mate with the Armstrongs isn't a Mr. Field is it?? Used to be a guy who owned a petrol station in Leominster...(near where I grew up)..who had an Armstrong or two (I think?) Any pics on your Scorpa yet??......dying to see those alterations!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marky g Posted April 12, 2004 Report Share Posted April 12, 2004 Hi Stu, the guy in question lives local to me in Telford, his last name is Wilson. I picked the Scorpa up last Thursday evening, I've just got to do one or two more jobs and it's finished I'm well pleased with the work Nigel has done for me..a very class job indeed. I should be posting pics toward the end of this week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuessenhigh Posted April 13, 2004 Report Share Posted April 13, 2004 Can't Wait...Post them soon!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizza5 Posted April 17, 2004 Report Share Posted April 17, 2004 Gaff I remember it well !! Indeed I can tell you a littlte bit about the bike in the picture posted. John Lamkin did indeed develop them, and I am not really sure but the bike in the picture may have been ridden by a member of the ARMY TEAM in the SSDT the year being 1986. I was a member of that team and dragged one of them round Scotland. These were the first production models produced and the ARMY TEAM had the first four, in all fairness pretty robust bike for the late 80's of course competing against the air cooled TY it probably was a bit heavy. The previuos year we rode the Armstrong 350 Twin Shock, this was the engine out of the SWM Jumbo, bits fell off the bike as the week went on, it was in a sorry state by the end of the week !! we had frame numbers 9, 10, 11 & 12 and again I don't think they made anymore !!! Fair play to Alan Clews trying to make a go at producing/assembling a bike that we would class as British !!! Lastly before I post a funny story about Alan, I was in Germany serving at the time and my Army Team Mate and myself ordered 2 Amsrong twin shocks (the one with the HIRO engine in). We had aranged to go to the factory to pick them up, and Alan was obviously reaaly enthused about this, the fact that 2 GERMANS!! were coming over to pick up some bikes. On walking into the factory, greeted by Alan "DOO YOOOU SPEEEEK ENGERLISH" to which we replied "YES MATE, BUT DO YOU" !!!!! ROLL ON SCOTLAND 22nd Year for me and it gets better and better!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaff Posted April 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2004 (edited) GIZZA5. Thanks for that, i have only just found out that my bike was originally sold to a lad in the forces in late 88. Yeah, i heard about the 350 Jumbo's "falling apart", i have also since learnt that there is alot more than a hint of SWM in the Rotax powered Armstrong Twin and Mono-shock bikes, namely the exhaust pipe IS an SWM with a little plate welded over the insignia, and the sub-frame also looks rather familier, maybe it's something to do with the Armstrong buy-up of SWM in the mid 80's. Did you know that the MT500 military bike made by Armstrong was apparently designed by SWM, but with a few tweeks (later bikes were the Harley Davidson MT350 with disc brakes). Gaff. PS. Marky G, Thanks for the e-mail. Edited April 17, 2004 by Gaff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan williams Posted April 26, 2004 Report Share Posted April 26, 2004 Wow I thought I was the only person to own one of these. Here in the US they were called the Can-Am 300AT. It wasn't that bad a bike and would go over quite large steps if you had the nerve to wind it up and dump the clutch. I ended up putting the front end of a TR33 Beta on mine for the disk. I have no idea what ever happened to that bike. probably gathering dust in a barn somewhere. I also had one of the Can-Am 350s. I'm amazed the damn thing didn't kill me. It tried. I still remember the frame number 853200001. I don't know if that means I got number 1 or number 32 but I still remember it. Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old trials fanatic Posted April 26, 2004 Report Share Posted April 26, 2004 Hi dont know if any body interested but theres one for sale on e bay at the moment. In derbyshire. eh up me duck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaff Posted July 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2004 Thought it was time to do some more work on my CCM, but i have found that my swinging-arm spindle (the one that goes through the sub-frame, swinging-arm and rear of the engine casings) is well and truly mullered, i have found that an SWM one may fit, just a case of getting my act together and finding out. But my good friends, i thought i would try and get one made. Can you help, do you know of any engineering firms that could help. Thanks in advance. Gaff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaff Posted July 6, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2004 Cheers r2w. Phoned them yesterday and it sounds just like the sort of firm i'm looking for. Gaff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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