Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

rIJ • II IKI Jill IKI ...:II Co:» ;... Co:» -e- rO"l ...... O"l ...... >l-< ro ;j l-< ...0 (lJ ;:r... Everybody who doesn't alr ea dy know how well Maicos ta ke sweepers should. Tig ht o r high an d fa st , both w o rk . progressive w ind sp rin gs w it h so me st raight winds o f t he appropriate pounds per inch - 75 to 88 ran ge, for exa m ple. T he Maic os also sh ar e the most f or gi vin g, b e st h andlin g , stock chassis-sw ingarm co mbi na tio n in th e business. It is still bu ilt fro m mil d ste el and the frame tubes, sw ingarm, and brake bac king plate st ay arm all look small. It is clear as yo u in spe c t and rid e the ma ch ines th a t th e Maico engineer 's design ph ilo so phy is "j ust enough to do the job" and not o ne o unce or cen tim eter m o re in any direc tion. Th ere is nothing superfluo us about the b ik es. T heir j ob is to w in m otocro ss, European moto cr o ss, o v e r every type o f un improved terrain. Detailing on th e tw o m ach in es IS a bit co nfusing. It is so stark an d spare th at it doesn 't seem like there 's enough. But there is, b arely. The lever s and th roule a re Magura of the old sty le. T he rims are, un fo rt un ately , so ft steel b ut in th e performan ce o f bo th machines, it ends up not mattering . What d oe s matter are th e Metzeler tires , st an dard 3.00 x 21 in th e fro nt and a 4.50 x 18 at the rear. T hat 4.50 Me tze ler ho oks up inc red ibly well on all surface s fro m m edium to rock hard . It h ooks up we ll en ough on any surface. Maico brakes hav e been much criticized but, to a large e xt ent, m ost of the cr itics are m issin g the poin l. The br ak es , fo llo win g the design approach o f "just enough" to w in m ot o cross. w or k just that way. They work just well eno ugh to get you slow ed d o wn as much as yo u should be slowed do wn for a co mer. Your lap ti mes w ill start to go do wn sin ce you are not scrubbing off too much speed and the n using up t ime re-accelera ti ng. An d , as y o u ge t tired and sloppier toward th e end of a 4 5-min ut e moto , ge tting o n them too hard w on 't lock up the rear wh eel, kill th e en gin e o r do an y thing else that will slo w you. Th e action of th e Maico brakes actually fo rces y ou to ride better, t o plan y our approach to t he co m er , calcu la te y o ur ex it, an d figure out h ow much speed yo u really n eed to Carb mounting on new 400... lose to m ak e it thro ugh. As it turns ou t, with th e Maico's stable hand lin g, you don't need t o lose much . It all works to impro ve your moto cross rid in g. T here is n o per ceptible wh eel hop and no dive as you gra b and sto mp . Everything stay s very smoo th , w ith both wheels on th e gro und , wh er e the y should be in cornering. . The detailin g fa ult on th e bikes that should he co rr ec ted is th e footpeg ... wa s more sana than o n older 450. design . They are sim ply sm all tubes with little raised bumps on th e u pper surface. When it's dry, they go unnoticed. Whe n it is wet, o r y our boot gets muddy, th ey are no ticed b ecause they don't work . Yo u'll slide o ff th e pegs with even a lit tle moisture b etween boot and m etal. Both the 400 and 450 will req uire accessory pegs. The car b ureto r manifolds, rubber at each en d , need a more positive mount th an our 450 had. The 400's was di ffe rent-and worked better, The fib erglass tank and fenders are just as they ha ve always b een . For thright , st ark , no t especially well-finis hed , and angu la r in a singularly Teutonic fas h io n . Unless your tank develops a crack an d starts leaking, it doesn't matter about any of th at. Whe n y o u're riding a Maico, y our c o nc ern for the smooth ness o f its finish is nonex istent. They are n ot show bikes; th ey are motocross racers. All Maicos now incorp o ra te the thi ck, fa t seat known so meti mes as an H ke Jonsson" A seat. It w orks n o m atter where you are on it or ab ove it. It is first class. T o remove it, you undo a nut at the rear and look inside to see if y o ur a ir cleaner needs cle an ing . Our test bikes ha d foam clean ers . We und erstand th at th ey come o ut of Germ an y with p ap er elements in th em . Th e fiberglass st ill air box is as b ig, w aterp ro o f, and f unc tio nal as is fo un d on a stoc k m oto rcycle. We haven 't made mu ch mention of the iden tical gearboxes be cause they d i d n' t d o an ything e xc ep t shift perfectly th e whole tim e we had the bikes. One bike was crate-fresh and could have b een stiff. One was a vet eran and co uld h ave been slo ppy, but neith er . .' 35

• Cover