Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• • rn I liI ;II IliI .... g ;... g -e- r--. O'l ....... O'l ...... >s.... .~ ::l s.... ..0 QJ ~ You can tell the 400 from the 450 sitting still by the "Me 400" on the tank. That 's all. Patraco Dyno Test of MC450 UR Patraco Dyno Test of MC400 UR (' r ,. " I '" I I , j: " " '" ." " · "· " i , I . I , , I , I I I I I : I "TO r o •. : n I I I I .. i " ,/ I - ~_ I I , I I " jI I _. I-r . , 1 I •• I I I ,.- 1 1 / I ./ I I ' -j : • I I - I I I -- ' " I I I I I 1 1 I I 1 I . 12 11 20 i I , u ! 10 "! J~..=.~ • _ 10!}P.O APM MAX TOR OUE .~ L.J • _-.iQ~o _RPM TEST EO 8Y Ji,p~..!.1.uA..- I 1. i I I 1 I I I I I ~ I I I I I I , I I 'r ,T I I I I I 1 I - l . -- I- ~. I" I- , . - :- - 1- ~ - r/ 18 Hi W..,X RliI'l1P ':II 11 I I I-c'~N~t f': - --- :r 13 I I I , I I I 2" , -- "1" I I • .,I I I 1 '1 g IS 28 -. - 1 JO ~- .- 16 16 -. I I I .. I; 1: - , , I ., I II I (1) , • I I 19 ;. ~ 1 r-1 I I I )l\ I 1Y ~ / 1 , 3f I , . if , I I I I I I I I , I I /, . .' V e I , I " I I I - : · - -IT_..r · , -t · " " I 1 - I 19 " " " ," " • " 20 I ~ " 0 " I I " ,. " ,. · ,. G " "~ ,. g " s , , H' I . . "'''' l RWHP : / I:: i ~.q..7 _,~ D ()O __ MAX TOA au E _~ 4 . !;U ~ P.P .p" 3 "T- L,8 " PM TESU:O 8Y ; -r; b MAcT' u.J,. § § § " .. '. 36 were an thing but right. One snub down, three up an d tha t's all yo u n eed. In fact, y ou co uld live pre tty we ll wi th just th e three u p. S o far, we've ta lked about phy sica l similari tie s. T he re a re al so simila ri ties in h andling. This sh ould be o bvious since they sh ar e all h andling and su spension com pone nts. There is n oth ing els e quit e li ke a bi g bore Maic o fo r kni tting tog eth er a sm o oth , stead y lap on a MX co urse without lo oking lik e yo u' re go ing very fast. T he fro nt end stays o n the ground m o st Of th e tim e if you're rid in g it correc tly but it never feels h eavy. It feel s positive stic king it in to a co rne r ' co m ing in to a tu rn , y e t li!(ht an d directionally stab le wh en you ge t on the throttle ou t o f a t u rn. Both Ma icos a lways see med to end up p o in ted w h er e you wanted to go . Weigh t di st r ibu tion must b e near-perfect because th ey feel light, an d con tro llab le almost b y whim but sta b le as a Swiss fran c. S tr aight line stability sets a sta n d ard for o the r m otocross machines, o f both Eu ropean and Japanese m ak e, to foll ow. We mentioned previously that the brakes make yo u ride right. I t's n o t only the br akes ; it ' s the wh o le ma chine that m a k e s yo u r id e correc tly . T he so mew hat n arrow w idth an d positioni ng of th e h andl e b ars, th e seat , th e peg p os iti o n a ll make a Novice start to rid e lik e a sm oo th, non-flash y Ex pert. T he 5 0 0 class Maico s are p robably the ft ~. _ _ easiest bikes to do well o n your firs t or second ti me out on th em. You feel lik e you're rid in g b etter and, pr etty soon , yo u actuall y are. Bo th b ike s d o all th e th ings w e 've been tal k ing ab ou t so fa r. Wha t abou t Big, deep, clean breat hs. _ _ I NGl Ne: . I II:D , _ _ - _..:...._-~ th e part w e promised before - the di ff erence s? The y ar e differen t . So different th at af t e r riding both bikes, so me testers h ad no use for th e o ther o ne . It w as in cr edible th a t 5 m m a n d a jet chang e cou ld resul t in mach in es of su ch d ifferent charac ter. Neither looses any o f it s good handlin g, st abil it y, or the thing s that m a k e th em so compe tit ively fun t o ride, bu t th ey b oth go very differently . Probably every thing yo u've read an d heard so fa r a bou t t he 4 50 Ma ico was co uc hed in te r ms like "brutal a c c e l e r a tion." • "i n c r e d i b le, raw, scream ing h orsepower." " mo ns tro us torque" o r , q u it e p o ssibl y, so me bod y merely stood sta ring wide-e y ed and sha king their h ead from side to sid e. Well, th e 4 50 isn 't brutal. doesn't sc r eam , a nd isn't a m on st er. I t is sim p ly on e very qu ick motorcy cle . And it s ta y s th at w a y by h avin g th e broadest, stro nges t powerband o f a ny ma chine in its cl ass. You si m p ly sta rt it (o urs nearly alwa ys lit o n th e first kick ) with the c o m p res sio n rel eas e, nudge the lever up to e nga ge secon d gea r a n d quietl y go o n yo ur way . T he bla ck b az o oka muffler qu ie ts th e e x ha ust note to 8 6 dB A, w h ich m ak es th e n oise level stre e t legal. T ha t d oe sn ' t n ecessaril y m ean th a t you depart slo w ly . It d o esn 't m att er wh er e you are in the R P~I ran ge above 3 0 00. you jus t p ull o u t at a rate th at has to be timed to be a pp r e c i a ted . It d oesn' t fee l fast-t hrill-scary . T here is m erely a n awa re ness that yo u have passed everything else that was trying to straightline race with the yellow 450. There is no way you can't get the hole shot when the ga te drops if yo u 're on a 4 50 Maico . If somebody jumps the start, you migh t be seco n d but probably not even th en . T h e cons ta ntly av ailable p ower comes o n in a st ro ng surge whenever you grab for it. Not uncontrollable wheel-sp inning p ower tha t sends the re ar e nd side-w ays , but use able power that translates in to forward m otion m ore rapid th an you 've probably eve r experienced on a motocrosser, You can make a mistake in a c orn er. as a Novice, and still beat the o ther guy out. That's one o f the goo d things the 450's power does for y ou . You can hit a steep, loose hill in t h ird ge ar an d accelerate the wh ole w ay to the top, then just gently set it down over the crest and keep going, never havin g lost any speed as often happen s o n big h ills . That's another good thing the power does for you . If you're sm al l, you may have to muscle it a bit an d m ove you r body a ro und to try a n d use the machine m o st efficiently . Mainly , though, it is o ne of the m o st exciting dirt bikes in a pu rposeful w ay , that y o u 'll ever experience . And it is plain ea sy to ride. T he 4 50 ac t u ally seems better suited to a Novice or Intermediate rider than a top Expert rider. The top Expert doesn't need that mu ch power to go fast and he doesn't ne ed the little extra je r k at his arms when accelerating every time during two 45 -minute rno to s. The top Expert will be ab le to keep the 400 Maico with in a 1000 RPM of its maximum output all the time and its maximum output is enough to win any 500 class moto. Just ask Adolf Weil, or Willi Bauer or, if your G e rm a n's rusty, Billy Payne or Rex Staten. They all choose the 400 motor (w h ic h Adolf calls a 380) because the power's there, and it's fast enough. There is o ne b ig exception to this general rule. When the Europeans have to race on the long, power-robbing sand tracks as in Belgium an d Holland, th ey have the 45 0 engine moun te d in their chassis. There are two reasons: they can well use the extra power in the wet, deep .sa nd , an d this sa me sa nd cus hions the in it ial acceleration lunge allowing the m to keep everything as smooth as they a re able to on th e 4 0 0s (O K, A do lf, t he 380) . Ma n y people , includ ing so me eN testers, feel the same way the Ge rma n G P rider s do about the 400. T h ey ca n go faster o n it ; quit e a b it fas te r. This article is building up in to a fa ntastic paradox: the 450 is probably the quic k est thing around for motoc ross an d h as the same chassis an d suspens ion as the 400, so the 400 is fas ter. T ha t's all true - the 400 is faster fo r some riders. You have to rev it mo re and kee p it revved so , once you figure t his o ut, you're m ore likely to be near peak horsepower most of the time. The 4 50 doesn 't req u ire you to re v it a t all to get going fast; it's alwa y s there. It n eve r co m es on the p ipe be cause it feels like it n ever fal ls off th e p ipe . All this is This is no t a pict ure of Ake Jonsson's Yamaha .

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