Hogs of War

HOGS OF WAR

AN ARMY MAY MARCH ON its stomach, as Napoleon once said, but it also gets around on motorcycles. Britain’s Ministry of Defense knows that, and recently turned to Harley-Davidson to build 1570 military motorcycles for the Royal Corps of Transport and the Royal Corps of Signals.

But these Harley-Davidsons aren’t really Harleys at all, at least not in the traditional form. They are based on a design acquired from England’s Armstrong Motorcycle Company by Harley-Davidson in 1987, and are powered by 350cc, aircooled, Austrian-built, Rotax single-cylinder engines.

The bikes will be assembled at Harley-Davidson’s York, Pennsylvania, plant at a rate of approximately two per day. The contract between Harley-Davidson and Britain is said to be worth £5.2 million, about $7.5 million at current exchange rates.

Jon F. Thompson