Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Track test "Redder is , better" The Maico A W -250 Details make the difference . • • and it matters. By JOhA Huetter and the Fearless Freelance Test Team (FFTT) , Steve Stasiefski invited us into the backroom shop at Maico West: an unprepossessing plain brick building in (where else?) beautiful, downtown Burbank, California. He was putting the final wrenches and stickies to a 1977 Maico 250 - designated Adolf Weil Replica. The bike we tested was propped up on a workstand next to the bikes the factory had sent over for Gaylon Mosier and Steve Stackable, Maico's official works competitors for the U.S. motocross championships. The differences were unbelievable. We should have suspected something right there. Why, Steve and Gaylon's 250 works bikes had KONI GP dampers with the remote gas reservoirs (Which 1 know for a fact are around $200 a set, when they're available. 1 tried to buy some in Europe last year. No world motocross rating . . . no KONI GP shocks.) and some magnesium pieces here and there (fork sliders mainly made the difference) and ... and that's all, folksl Everything, I mean everything else including swingarms, suspension travel, and barrel was the same as delivered on the production bike we were about to roll into the back ofthe venerable van. ~ I.t, ~?c:sn :t ma}t,e ~ " ~h~_t~er . y~)U believe that but that's the way It happened . And as to whether Steve and Gaylon keep their bikes" as delivered, that's their business: Really their business. But as to whether you keep your AW -250 exactly as delivered , that's your concern, too . Frankly, unless your name is Hans , or Adolf, or Ake we recommend you do keep it that way . It is a very difficult motocross machine to improve on. " A h, c'rnon . " you quasi -smart young racers out there will say . "Everybody knows that small fortunes have been made selling , Maico trick stuff that makes those cobby German things all primo and bitchin'." We suppose that has been true but it looks like the free enterprise types will have to try harder or find new fields to plow when it comes to fixing up Maico 250s . If there's any need to qualify the Pfaffingen works design after telling you all the glaring discrepancies between works and produ ction models, consider this: the very latest model AW ·250 Maico has a new pipe. but it's a down pipe. That's right , fad freaks, the expansion chamber with silencer attached still curves down from the exhaust ports under the frame'. You know what else? Some very knowledgeable , Maico riders in the motocross wars have found out that it is the pipe that' works best. Theoretically, a downpipe of similar design to an upswept pipe should yield one-half to one horsepower more. (That's one reason CZ switched to a downpipe some six years ago.) The various accessory up pipes for the Maico 250 allow it to rev higher and, all else being equal, more revolutions per minute will make more peak horsepower. Increased RPM will also break rods when the engineers have made the rod of the compromise strength necessary to keep it light and let it achieve speeds of, say , 7,800 rpm . The long stroke of the Maico 250 means that the piston velocity is already pretty high . To increase it is to invite trouble, as a few racers have found out to their dismay and dollar loss. The expansion chamber-silencer on the very current AW250 may be the best Maico will ever offer. It has a very acceptable exhaust note. The pitch is low enough not to irritate even if it is louder than the 88 decibel sound of the Maico bazooka pipes of a couple years ago . As most motocross enthusiasts are aware-by now, the new Maicos are red. Very red. Frame, alloy tank, Falk plastic fenders , sidepanels and numberplates are red. Even the American-made sticky rubber waffle grips are red. The nylon cables are red. Little red leather mudguards cover the hinges of the Magura levers. Maico at least stopped several steps short of total bad taste and refrained from painting the engine red (as Honda did on their works Type II racers.) The cylinder and head are black and everything that says "Maico" on the bike is black. You used to have a choice of color when buying a Maico between yellow , orange, and red . Now you have a choice of red but it is a styling exercise that has captured ' the imagination of most riders. The J color in no way compromises the bike's' performance. Performance is what modern motocross-type Maicos have really been all about. Without too much trouble you can almost imagine a short' checklist with items like "Fron t" suspension", "Acceleration", and so on written down the left hand side with the multiple choices ranging across the. page from poor to excellent. In fact, that is the format we use for general' data gathering from all the test riders1 on a machine. The Maico 250 keeps! getting the checks in the "Good" and "Excellent" boxes. There are many; details that make the difference and some that need attending to but we know of at least one instance where a ' box stock AW250 went out with a capable rider aboard and won a CMC 250 Expert motocross overall. There are a lot of refinements aside from the "redder-is-better" paint job. Fork travel has been increased just a hair from nine to 9.25 inches. Rear wheel travel is exactly the same. Rear suspension changes have consisted only of a lengthened refinforcing gusset on the swingarm - which rotates on needle bearings to keep things free and easy - and a cast magnesium rear wheel hub to reduce unsprung weight! J The frame has been changed from the airbox on back. The rear fender loop is wider to allow the ' wheel to move up into the frame /fender without scraping or, alternatively, making the seat ridiculously high and generally screwing up the innately fine chassis geometry. Some riders may think a seat height nearly three feet offthe ground is pushing things already. They may be right, but Maico is certainly not alone in that. The innards of the 250 have received the bulk of the attention in the Maico motocross line-up this round. The cylinder has been seriously re-ported. Still no fancy doo-dahs, just some thoughtful re-direction of gases in their loop scavenging habits. The 36mm Bing Type 54/11 carburetor is also changed. It retains the 'same throat dimension but has a different . ",~ ' c.~ ;. , -' t"

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