Maico MX

[philis]

Any body own one?
Ive got 2, a 1994 500 and a 94 250, both non runners lol
Got to love the 81 490, still the best MX bike to this day
Found this vid on youtube and its had me rolling round laughing (FF to 5 mins in)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D10hm1_gw2Y

Edited by philis on Wednesday 31st October 00:15

[podman]

Cool as mate...a frined of mine has had his 490 for 20 odd years...used to do classic MX racing..now its stored in the garage along with his DT175,PE175 and collection of trials bikes.

A few years ago we where blatting atround the local pit on the 490 and the throttle stuck open on me...frigging thing nearly killed me...anyway, it only managed to stop revving its head off when it blew the base gasket off the barrel...mucho respect, riding my hayabusa on full bore was much easier than riding the 490 at anything over half throttle...every one should have a go on full bore 2 stroke off road bike, there are amazing bits of kit.

Great pic

[humpbackmaniac]

Sheer display of good taste!

I had a YZ490 of a 1982 Vintage fast but not as cool as the Maico. Have you seen the vintage style Maico T-Shirts on ebay?

[Spydermon]

Now you're talking, this is right back from when, and properly ages me. EEEEeeeeee when I were a lad Motocross was more important than Pink Floyd, Brut 33 or Pans People, and Maico were the kings of cool. Except for KTM of course.

When I was racing they were out of my budget, especially as you had to pay even more to set them up, but I loved them, still do. AFAIC they are the definition of 'real' long-travel twin-shockers, fabulous.

One of my heroes from this era was Danny (Magoo) Chandler, who whupped some proper ass on Maico's in the late seventies and early eighties until his sad demise.

Properly jealous of this bike, respect.


I realise yours is a single, but love 'em all.

Edited by Spydermon on Wednesday 31st October 11:41

[gareth h]

I had a knackered old 500, gave me one of the funniest momemts of my life, a mate who did some MX rode it around a field opposite my house, he tried a small jump but the rear shock was so knackered it somersaulted him out of the saddle, there was a tense couple of seconds before he got up and then everybody p***ed themselves

[rumpelstiltskin]

gareth h said:

I had a knackered old 500, gave me one of the funniest momemts of my life, a mate who did some MX rode it around a field opposite my house, he tried a small jump but the rear shock was so knackered it somersaulted him out of the saddle, there was a tense couple of seconds before he got up and then everybody p***ed themselves

After 'a few' years away from MX i just done up a 1988 Honda CR500,i'm worried that the above quoted 'a tense couple of seconds' may turn into a tense hour or two now if i fall off!

[philis]

For anyone interested this is my maico 250 almost back up and running, had a nut and bolt rebuild and just waiting for a headgasket, cant wait.

[jdwoodbury]

This thread has got me drooling

I had the pleasure of a quick ride round at track near brownhills many years ago on a 500, I am used to modern motocrosser, lets say the powerband was interesting

Love to have one in my stable, what does a clean one fetch these days?

[Ash-man]

rode 490 maicos at race level ,terrifying used to have a dual shock can am to mess about with as well ,got a customer of mine,with about 10 maico 490s around the same amount of honda red rockets and loads of other old moto x bikes ,he bought them many years back for next to nothing,wish i had had his hindsight,was to busy selling em for peanuts and throwing in much more money for newer bikes,the 1986 honda crs where hellish good ,dont think they betterd them until 91..would love to have some of my old ones now..moto x.

[Spydermon]

So how do we all say the name? 'May-ko' or 'My-ko'? I've always said it 'My-ko'.

Loving that 250, but I think that Bill Brown should be told off about that Wulfsport tank decal, outrageous!