Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Yahoo! Waw. Yippee ! Azunga. Flying in close formation. rela tive, tho ugh. When we talk about wicking t he 400 m o re, it's o n ly co mpare d t o a 450. T hese are not 125cc raci ng sc rea me rs. These are big dis plac emen t rn o t o c r o s s e r s • It's remarkable that t heir personali ties are as d iffe ren t as, in fact, they are. To determ ine exactly what the 450's po wer m ean t, we fell back on our old q uantitative a nalysis habits and decided to dy no both t he 450 and 400 Maicos under identical conditions to get an idea of actual difference in torque an d HP output. We chose to use the Patraco rear wheel dyno because it was convenient, simple to U~, and even newspaper editors ca n understand it. The horsepower readings are rear wheel horsepower. Not at the co u n t ersh af t , not at the rear sprocket, but horsepower that a 4 .50 Metzeler knobby attached to a Maico will p ut on the ground. In many cases, it works out to be half (o r less) the horsepower the manufacturers claim, even if they 're reasonably honest. The curves for both rear wheel horsepower and torque, uncorrected for temperature or pressure, are printed somewhere o n this page. Our p u rp ose in dyno-ing the 400 and 450 Makos was not to get a b u nch of m in d -num b in g numbers we co uld "ooh" and "ahh" over but to see if seat of the pan ts feeling was confirmed. To get a seat of the pan ts feel for t he power o utpu t of the tw o m o t or s, it is necessary to sit one's pants o n t he bikes firs t, so the d y n o tests were co nd ucted no t wh en the m ach ines were all fresh and rece ntly timed but at the very end of ou r tes t after several days o f riding. There was o ne big inconsistency in the 450 's p ower curve which was p robably d ue to this ap proach . What did we learn? We learned that a relatively new 400, in no spe cial state of tune , provides enough torque over a wide enough range to win motos with. We also learned that a veteran 450 ( a c t u a ll y 436c c displa cement) well -thrashed by several mote-monthlies prod uces signifi cantly more torque and horsepower (at least 10% more) over a wider RPM range. It is more power than an Expert needs or, with some riding styles, can use. It is enough power to help the less -than-expert rider overcome his skill deficiencies without getting into even m o re trouble. It is also the right power to go out a nd win on a Half-mile or Tf track in the 500 class, even tho ugh they've probably never seen a Ha lf-mile or TT racing in the American style back in the Black Forest. Maico thinks only one thi ng : motocross. Mot o cro ss on an in terna tional level where no compro mises are expected or necessary. That is w here t he theory of " minim um necessary design" comes from . That is w here the superb handling and stability come fro m. That is where engines that produce great gobs of power for 90 minutes or more come from. That is also why the refinements of adding 50cc to a motor in the same racing class and making the thing actually work comes about. The same engineering innovation that saw the modified swingarms with Bielstein gas-oil shocks introduced on the GP bikes this year seems to get carried over into their production bikes fairly rapidly. Don't ex pec t to see mass-produced modified swingarms with super-expensive long-lasting shocks from Mai co very soon , though. It is very costly and very difficult to set them up to suit individual riders out the door. They do hint that they're working on something better. Maico is serious about their mo to cro ss wins. If you are, one of the bikes you will wan t to compete on is a 400 or 450 Maico. But you better really be serious. Except fo r the swi ngarms, these bikes are w o rks replicas a nd they want to be treated like works bik es. That means you can 't park your m uddy Maico in th e ga rage all wee k , roll it ou t -Sunday m orn in g and expect to win on it. T here are no b ikes in th e 500 class tha t work that way. Either you can p ar k them all week and th en ride them, but not really expect to win if the competition is there o r, yo u can do the necessary main tenance and go to the start line expecting to win and, with a little luck, do it. Both Maicos fit in the la tter category. We ran ours the whole test period with no major work. You can ' t reasonably expect to do a wh ole season that way on any 500 class machine. But if you really want to win, and think you're even close in ability to do so, you will take car e of y o ur Pfaffingen Pflash, you will keep your body in reasonable shape and you will get on your 450 or 400, depending on the co m pe titio n and your preference, and you wi ll win . Maico gives you just enough to get the job done and that's rea-By all you need. • Specif icat ions MC400 UR Displacement Bore x stro ke Compression rat io Carburetion T ran sm ission Cla imed m x. horsepower Cla imed dry we ight Ignitio n Pr imary d rive Suspension 386cc 4 38cc 77mm x 83mm 82m m x 83mm 12:1 sa m e 36mm Bing co nce nt ric sa m e 1-N-2-3·4 same 41 SAE 45 SAE 227 lb. (dry) same F lywheel magneto sa me Triplex chain sa me F : 7" t ravel Maico p roprietary ; R: G irting ' w/6 0 ·9 0 p rog ressive springs 3 :00 x 21 a nd 4 :50 x 18 Metzeler o n steel rims 56" same 7" same 32" same $1498 . $ 1598. T ires /whee ls Wheelbase Ground cl earan ce Seat heigh t Sugg. re ta il pr ice MC450 UR '. • ANTELOPE VALLEY 50x110 Ft. Lot (Tw o 25 foot by 110 lots) Less T han Y, Mi. Fro m New Freeway $1290 Cash Price TERMS AVA ILABLE Carlgate Corp ., 16561 Ventura Blvd.. Encino , CA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Mail for Information I I I I I I I I I L _ Carlgate Corporation 16561 Ventura Blvd., Encino , CA 91316, Suite 202 Please sen d m e co m plete information on A ntelope Valley without obligation! Name _ Address _ CiW _ St ate '_ Z ip _ Pho ne No . _ ~ Coast Moto I I I I I I I I I Cy.:le 2334 Newport BI .• Costa Mesa 714/64~-8008

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