Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~o: Once more, with reeling - It - i L,.J.yg.ica l of t he M aico Fahrzeugfabrik Gmbh that they don't label their world class motocross machines with cute names like " Mudslinger " or "Mount ain Mast er." If they did, however , we sh ould like to re commend th at the bike they build with a 4 38 cc . . . two-st ro ke piston port of 438cc · 8 1 .95m m x 83m m · 12: 1 . . . .. . .. . ... . . 47 @ 690 0 RP M · 36m m Bing T y pe V 54 asoline wit h Bel-Ray MC· l @ 50 :1 · Tr iplex Re no ld chain w it h o pt io na l cl ose (motoc ross) or wi de (cr oss-c ountry) rat ios Mu lti·plate wet . dri ving ma inshaft be fu ll cr adle of ch rome-mo ly st eel .. .. . . . . . .. . . 5 5 inc. (i. Yo inch) on tire p ressure. rider weight. etc. · .. . . Maico forks wl7.4 in . t ravel r 5.8 in . travel wll 00 Ib.lin. springs t ocross kn obby on Rade lli st eel o r con ica l h ub w ith SLS d rum brake. tocross k no b by o n Radel li st eel o r on ica l h u bs w it h SLS d rum b ra ke . Air o iled foam filter in st ill air box displacement en gine be cal led th e 440 Magnum . In t he right hands. it is jus t that devastating. Inste ad, with ne w can d o r and accu rac y, Maico puts a littl e t ank decal o n wh at was formerly referred to as th eir " 45 0" t ha t t ells y ou th is is the MC 440. T h a t is the o nly dis cernibl e extern al difference fr om the 400 ( 3 8 6cc) Maico written ab out so me issues ago in this newspaper. So . in telling you abo ut o ur ex peri enc es with the 4 40 , the o nly differences or dist inctions, aside from bo re size , are those of feeling. Th e Maico 440 does impart a very different feelin g to the rider /r a cer . It is feeling o f being in domitable. It is a lso feelin gs of power , and con tro l, and co m fo rt , and o f go ing fast slowly that fe w o ther m achines, if any , can bring o ut from such a wide range of users. There is, of course, th e power: a reasonably tu ned 440 Maico produces 45-4 7 horses worth with abou t 40 of it gettin g to the ground in large, useful pulses . The only change from the 400 is a bor e that is 5 m m larger and, sometimes , a conseq uen t requirement for a slightly larger main jet in the 36mm Bing ca rb ure t o r. It is not ex plo sive in feel , this power, be cause the Maico does a better j o b o f ge tting its horsepower from engine to the rear Metzelers gro und co ntac t patch t han an y other 500 class motocross bike. The po we r and th e acceleration it ca n prod uc e are more like a very powerful, long spring uncoiling th rough th ick oil : smooth and rel entless . Just when it fe els like all the power inh er ent in a 500 cla ss production racer has be en used up , the 440 gives you more. Th er e is th at ex t ra push th at ca n make a lot of d ifference in yo ur racing. It may be decisive power for an Exper t. It is mist ake-covering power for a Novi ce. Who can use t his 440 power ? A surp rising ly wide variety of people. Maico factory riders can use it on the sodd en sand tracks of th e Low Countries in Europe. Am erican Maico rider Steve Stack able ca n use it to better ensu r e himself holeshots on t ight co urses. A reasonably competent No vice can use that power to conq uer an y hill effortlessly and spend h is ti me ac t ually sele cting good lines through su ck ing mud an d loose sand rather than worry about just m aking it. Even th e loosest, silties t hill su ccumbs t o the long stro ke torque of the 440 engin e. You find y o u r s e l f sp ending an embarrassing amo un t o f time riding in third gear and just using the throttle to sp eed up or slo w with no lu ggin g or surge in th e motor. Maico is the last 500 cla ss pro ductio n moto crosser with o versquare engine dimensions. This power makes the 440 faster th an the 400 only because it is marginall y quic ker in acc elerati o n (t h o ugh two fee t at the first tum ca n be exactl y th e margin you need) an d it can be geared higher to produce a fa ster t op end speed. Those who ro de the bi ke agreed that it is easier to go fast , with very little hassle, on a 440 Maico than an y other motocross bike we kn ew abo u t . There are othe r machines that are as fast ; some th at feel quicker, but th ey do it in very different ways which are n' t always as, well . .. nice . There is anot he r thing' about the 440 Maico that fi rst co nfo un ded and later, impressed, everybody who was exposed to this test bike : its reliability. After Maico manager C.H. Whe at provided the 440 t o us, it was ridden with inc reasing in te n sity for abo ut three d ays to bre ak in th e box-fresh engi ne. There were no prob lem s en countered and the brakes in their new alloy hubs were better than w e r emembe red from the 400 experience. Despite official warnings abo u t ch ec king for lo ose bolts and nuts a f t er th e break-in ride, the engine m o un ts stayed tight as did everything else excep t the cylin der st u d nuts. So they wer e snugged down. Routine maintenance (ch ain. cle aning the Twin Air filter , tightening spokes as the y bedded in ) on the 4 4 0 was foll owed by entering it in the Soboba GP , an invitational event held on a Southern California Indian reservation. The race is 10 laps around a 14 mil e co urse th at is roughly 12 miles o f motocross and hillclimbs with two miles of fire ro ad. Malcolm Sm ith usuall y wins th e event overall if his bik e doesn 't bre a k. Th at race was as reasonable (o r unreasonable, from an o th er viewpoint) a te s t o f a stoc k o ff-road racing m o t or c ycl e as ca n be conceive d . Monst er uphills, wh ich the Maic o saw only after hundreds of other bikes had churned th em (d ue t o a late entry an d co rr esp on di ng lat e sta rt number ), just go t m un ched up under the 440. You didn 't re all y have to break yo ur race pac e as the 440 was just up them and it was ov er. Miles of deep wh oop-de-doos, both wet and dry, worked on the seven-inch t ravel Maico forks and the KONI shocks mou nted for LTR suspension. The long, deeply-padded seat fit t h e body well and, over I 10 miles later, we were gra teful. Whether or not th ere was really an y traction on the co urse, th e rear 4.50 Metzeler knobby would hook up and y o u were gone. - The 440 Maico just kept on go ing as t h e o verall bike-rider attrition rate seemed to so ar to 50%. And it was easy t o ride t o the limit of y o ur personal ab iliti es, and then som e. After 50 m iles, you c ould be bouncing down a stairstep downhill on the front fo rks and still have the time an d equanimity to look a head on the co urse fo r lines, or obst acles, or other riders, or p retty scenery . Maybe we liked it because it can be su ch a lazy man's motorcycle. It 's an easy bike to ride. The So bo ba GP test re ve aled some o ther things about the 440 Maico . The fro n t forks are stiffer th an you will remember from pre-LT R Maicos, They must be to co unter the increased forces and weight transfer from moved up KONIs providing six in ches of rear w h e e l tr avel in a heavily sprung cond it ion. The st ro nger fork action becomes appreciated in fron t wheel landings fro m 10 feet dropoffs and further reve als its functio n in long st re tc he s o f whoop-de-does. They don't bottom. They don't top . They don 't hammer y ou r shoulders up to your ears . Th e M ai co p roved in credi bly wat erproof. It never missed an RPM t hrough so m e very wet going as we pa s s e d 0 thers wi th less aquati c ma ch in es . It a ls o proved t hirsty. Nobody ever said that a 36mm Bing and 4 38cc of di splacement would give you a gas miser. Under the co ndi t io ns of the So bo ba co urse, whi ch a d mi tted ly had mu ch d eep san a , th e range was ab ou t 40 mi les to a tankful. Some riders wil l do bett er; so me could h ave done a lo t worse. The big tank holds 8.5 liters; the optional sm all one, 5.5 liters. Even with an oversize countershaft sprocket , the Maico could have used a fift h gear on the fire roads. If t he re ar sp roc ket had also b een changed, maybe it wouldn 't sin ce th e powerband covers the availab le four co gs very adequately. The footpegs are difficult to stay on whe n they're wet or the sole of your boot is wet, or both. They are nicely spring-lo aded but to o slippery . They 're the second and final t hing we 'd repl ace . Maico g ea r b o x e s seem to have improv ed trem endousl y . Even desperation shifting didn 't faz e it. Each sh ift is slick-snick positive and smooth. It was virtually impossible to mi ss a sh if t even in panic situations. The throw is satisfying; just enough to reinforce the rider wh ile allowing sh ifts with a ro cking o f the foot on the peg. The 440 Maico kept going faster during the race as it memorized the goo d lines and there was less traffic for it to c on t en d with . Malcolm lappe d us twice and won again. The 440 wa s running much looser and stronger by the end of the eight la ps and neither bike nor rider were as happy as tradit ionally we should have been that it was allover. T he 440 Maico reall y grows on you wh ile n o t d emandin g too much of yo u . The big , black bazooka pipe makes it very nice and quiet - street legal quiet, in fact. Hoora y for th at. Two d ays later, th e mud was hosed o ff and it started on the seco nd kick. Lot s of "oo ohs" and "ahhhs" from the assem b led skeptics. After you hose it , drain and dry th e mag case and the Bing. We rode it another fo ur hours that da y . It was ridden and ra ced so me more for ab out a month aft er its fir st o uting on a motocross track, until a butted seam o n the bottom o f th e fiberglass tan k st arted leaking hi-test an d BelRay lub rican t all o ver the floor of the garage one balm y af t ern o o n . That was the only m e ch ani c ally c o n t ra ry thing that happened to the 440 during the m o re than a month we had it . Wouldn't it be ni ce if everybody co uld say that about their new motocrosser? The re were no Maico-breako j okes around this 440. They kind of died unbo rn if anybody thought of them. The things that people like or do n't like ab ou t a 400 Maico, they will like or not like ab o u t the 440. Makes sense be cause t hey share the same chassis, suspension. transmission and running gear . The chassis is acknowledged as being the best in perfo rm ance. Ours wa s free from flex or cra cks. It should be: c h ro me - m o ly steel is t ough stuff. Handlebars, grips, and co n tro l levers will be sorted o ut by the individual racer to suit him self , just like with all other bikes and race rs. We didn 't like the Magura grips; could learn to race a Maico wit h the stock bars and leve rs. Radelli rims are too soft for a 500 class bike. Everybody used to criticize Maicos b e c a use th ey h a d s l o p p y-lo o king fib erglass. Now Maicos have very good f i b e r g l a s s and everybody criticizes Ma ic 0 f or having fiberglass at all. H Alloy " and "plastic " are the cu rrent ma gic i ngred ients on motocross m ach in ery. Maico will probably get aro un d to it, like they have on their works bikes. But first appreciate them fo r already giving y o u the frame and sus p ension and basic engine fr o m the "works " bikes. Then, if y ou feel the need , go b uy a plastic tank. Under stand th at the Germans, especially the Maisch brothers, will not be rushed into someth ing be cause it 's a new mo del ye ar. It 's the basic difference between showroom flash and mo to cross track performance . One of the testing riders looked at the Maico 440 for the first ti me and, happily, avoi ded the usual remarks li ke " Te u t o n ic a n g u la ri ty . " " u g ly functionalism ," and other testing rider ap h o rism s. lie merely looked at it for a while , focusing on no particular thing but t aking in the radi al san d cas t fi ns on th e cylinder and head, the lean, minimal frame and the rubber-booted forks, and said half-grinning, " Yo u kn ow , that th ing lo o ks intimid ating. There 's some kind of psychological advan ta ge in just showing u p at the start line with one of these things," And that was before he'd even kicked it over. • .- .00 ~ 0.. < - -25

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