Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

semi-sq ua re body , metering passages and, by most racers' judgments, "works better." The carb does require some fiddling to get it right. Our 2S0 wou ldn't run for more than SO seconds until we lowered the needle to the bottom-most position. The needle itself is about twice the size of previous Bing ca rb needles. The idea was to keep it from vibrating around in the jet or when fully extended. - - The clutch on the 2S0 was already rep u ted to be the best in the line . The friction plates are now manufactured from an alloy the Germans call sintel. The plates are smaller and the material looks like cross-hatched rough brass. To smooth out the fivespeed tra nsm ission's gear changes, the shifter plate has been redesigned. Basica lly, the edges of the detents in the plate have been rounded and smooth channels ground between the positions to eliminate false ne utrals an d stuck shifts. In listing them, t hese d o not sound lik e ea rth-s haking changes in a m achin e that has to compete in a very d em an din g marke t and very dem a nd ing race arena; but if you've im proved the transmission , improved the suspension , and increased the reliable power of a motocross machine ' that a lready handled exactly the wa y you wanted it to , what else can you do but paint the whole thing red? The new cylinder does give a power increase which vaults the AW2S0 from among the two or three lowest 250s in peak rear wheel horsepower readings to among th e top two or three . Thirtyon e ' plus corrected horsepower at th e rear wheel is a com fort in you r times of need . Especially sin ce the AW2S0 ha s remained so damned torquey. The long stroke engine that Maico ha s retained through years of ch anging fads and fancy has the very desirable characteristic of accelerating bike and rid e r out of corners in a ve ry impressive manner. You don't have to keep it buzzing to ' make th e Maico perform. The first three shifts come pretty quickly in our new, still- tight Maico 2S0 . The front wheel comes up when you grab a handful of throttle in first , second , a nd just an inch or t wo'in third gear. And they a re power wheelies , no t "jerk back on the bars a nd look for a camera" tim e-wasters. T hat Maico torque cha racteristic lets you get the comer jump on most wheel-spinning 2S0s. It is how the in cr eased pow er fit s with the (slightly) in creased suspension travel and th e rest of th e handling package that makes a rider a p p recia te this motorcycle . To illustrat e th e po int , envisi on a slightly downhill st ra igh t stretc h wit h th ree sq ua re· edged bumps in it a bout 18 in ches d eep follo wed by a sha rp uphill left int o a decrea sing radius off-cambe r turn . There is suc h a sec tio n on ou r secret test track (which, unfortun at el y, isn 't much of a secre t anymor e) a nd there have been good mot ocross bikes with good suspensions th a t could not negotiate that series of events at ra cing speeds and still get in a nd ou t of th e comer cleanly, reg ardless of who was on them , I came into that section way tOO fast for my talent t he first time , not ha ving full y appreciated the speed a mere production 2S0 was capable of turning, and my sto mach ro se to m y ofa , As th e rear en d cleared th e last bump , I aimed for the corn er anyway, (kn owing I' d be in the bushes to the amusement of th e other F,F:T.T. members: and found m yself inst ead exitin g th e apex ver y nearly under cont rol. Most riders had simila r sto ries a bo ut he ir ex periences on th is m a ch ine. Most of the stories refl ect a great deal I' c redit on t he h a n d lin g a nd usp ension beh a vior of th e bike . I KUess we're sta rting to ta ke th e Maico forks for granted which is kind of too bad , The forks have been so good for so long, offset front axl e and all , that most ra cers wouldn't notice a slight increase in smooth ness. Adolf or som ebod y must ha ve been complain ing about flexing , th ough. sinc e there is a n extra set of pinch bolts through the nearly-inline triple trees to keep the front en d more rigid . The forks are up to Maico sta nd a rds in th eir bump-eating ability . What is truly im p ressive is the ba lance thi s mach ine a chieves between front and rear suspension behavior. Som e machines have noticeably better rear or front. On the Ma ico 2S0 , they seem matched . The Girling gas-charged dampers with 7.SJ!1m (a pp rox. ISS lb .lin.) sp rings com bine with the swingarm and la yout of the rear suspension design to provide a ride that you can forget about after a few laps. You just kind of stand up there on the pegs and plan your next move even as the wheels themselves a re be ing very active down at ground level. You r next move will often be a corner on a motocross course. The AW2S0 now handles corners a little quicker than we remember with previous Maicos. It is probably not so sn a p p y- q u ick like a Montesa or Bultaco or KTM but it goes through a turn very smoot hly and will su it the st yle of most riders. As another feature , th e Maico AW2S0 must be the first m orocrosser we 'v e encounter ed since the advent of long travel suspension that will really almost-slide in a useful manner. Ther e are corners in our hard -pa ck ed Southwestern courses where that is a genuinely productive technique. It does not feel like it wants to highside as most other long-travel suspension (LTS) motocrossers of our experience . The AW2S0 will stay where you put it with fairly neutral responses. While on the subject of corners , you should know tha t the brakes on this bike were better than on any Maico so far. No sly chuckling intended. The front binder was progressive, sensitive, and strong. Nobody could remember too m u ch about the rear bra ke except that the rear cii-: ~i!!..n 't hop around wh en you stood on th e pedal.' The rea brake actuating rod ., by the way, has had the be nds and kinks straightened out of it , resulting in a straight pull from pedal tb a rm, What is most attract ive a bou t th e AW2S0 is that it a llows even a n average off· ro ad racer to blend his moves together int o a very satisfying rhythm . This motocross bike serves as a n instrument a llow ing you to try wha t cann ot wi t h c onfid en ce yo u accom p lish on other machinery , Mu ch of it ha s to be psych ological : knowin g th at a Maico will not pull any na st y su rprises a nd spi t you off. But much of it is m e chan ica l: th e r esult o f refinement a t th ei r own pa ce by th e Maisch Bro s. e ngi neers a n d t he requests of a few nice m en like Ad ol f W eil. Ake J onsson , and Hans Ma isch . T he Maico chass is m ay be th e most envied in th e world of motocr oss and probably th e most co p ied . Just back from th e ga rage for a last look a t the AW2S0 , a few more of the details that do make a differen ce ju m ped out. We'd seen th em befor e and it hadn 't registered. Things like a seat 2 .S inc hes longer and no less com fort a ble than th e fam ed Ak e J on sson -inspired deep padded mod el of last yea r, And the ver y nifty n ylon block chain tensi oner loca ted right near the swinga rm pivot in addition to th e cha in guide about halfway ba ck on th e swinga rm. T he rim less Akront alloy ri ms have th e green labels on them wh ich normally mea ns they' a re on e m illimeter thi cke r than th e yellow labeled ding-prone Ak ronts. It is (Clockwise from top) Right and left sides of a time-proven powerplant, the best OEM forks made better. and the summation of the parts is a redder. better Maico. al ways nice to ge t a bik e with stoc k Metzelers , T hey are o ne of th e fines t kn ob by tires for Western U. S, riding cond it ions and th ey show up on the Gr a nd Pri x bikes whe never th e grou nd is dry or hard or rocky. You can specify a 2.9 gallon tank instead of the sta ndard 2 .2 m o d el whe n yo u purch ase you AW mo d el , if you intend to go cross-country ra ci ng . T here is no wri tten wa rra nt y on Maicos but it m ight hel p you make you r decision to know th a t Maico W est . und e r th e e nl igh t ened leadershi p of Eckart Schorn , has been very fai r in co ns idering b rea kage cla ims whic h ca n b e tra ced to manu fa cturing flaw s. Perhaps on e reason for thi s is that th e break age cla im s ha ven 't driven th em brok e. You sti ll ha ve to wat ch you r nuts a nd bolts. T his is a W orld class ra cer , n ot a h o se -ir-of f-an d -forge r-i r tr a il b ik e . But a co nt in u i ng m ech an ica l a ffa ir with you r new Mai co ma y no t be necessary. You'll feel 100 good riding it. An AW2S0 really ca n take a mot ocross racer one class beyond what he thinks his skills are. • Maico measurements Wheelbase , .. , 57+ t- one inch Seat height. " 35 inches Groundclearance 10.4inches Front suspension Maicofork with 9.25inchestravel Rear suspension Girling gas shockswith 135Ib.nn. springscantilevered for9.25inches Transmission rearwheel travel S.speed constantmesh, duplexchain primary drive and 12-plate wet clutch Engine two-stroke air-cooled,loop scavenging with247ccdisplacement Bore Xstroke 67mm X70mm Compressionratio , " . , .13:1 Horsepower. . . 31 + at rear wheel at 7800 RPM Carburetion . . . . . . . . . . . Bing36mmType54111 Air filtr ation Oiled foam Twin Airfilter in plastic still air box Wheels/tires. . . . . : . . Akront alloy rimslaced to magnesium cast hubs with3.00X21 and 4.50X18 Metzeler tires Fuelcapacity _ 2.2 or2.9 gallons of 50:1 recommended Bel-Ray premix Weight. ready to race 225lbs. depending on fuel load Recommended retail price. . . . _..,. . . US$1784 13

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