When the motorcycle boom took off in America at the turn of the 20th century, bicycle manufacturers were quick to realise that they could easily turn their pedal pushers into powered two-wheelers. Most stuck with the bicycle diamond frame with a petrol tank slung from the crossbar or, in the case of Indian, mounted over the rear mudguard. But the Armac was different.
Founded in 1902 in St. Paul, Minnesota, the three men in charge of the Armac Motor Co had all made their mark in the bicycle business. F E Hopkins had been making cycles since the 1880s and was in charge of the frame building department, while Edwin W Keller, president of the Armac Motor Co, had started out as a salesman for the Van Horn Cycle Co of Denver, Colorado. And then there was
