Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) New 490 shows numbered dots which suggest advertising spots. (Below) After months of confusion. production is indeed underway. (Above) Left to right. Wilhelm. Peter and Hans Maisch discuss their product. (Below) New Maico/M Star bikes will feature stronger gearboxes. ~XP"oenix Can 6ebrueder ~aisch rise from the ashes? By Bruce Scholten Photos by Martha Young-Scholten Nestled in the rolling hills and farm country of the Swabian Alb in West Germany lies a motorcycle factory. This is a beautiful area of electronics and clean industry, with final assembly plams of Mercedes Benz and Porsche just half an hour north at Stuttgart. About as far as you can kick a football 16 from the Pfaeffi ngen train station are the offices and production facilities of Gebrueder Maisch - or as it's long been known - Maico. Maico is one of the oldest motorcycle manufacturers in the world. Founded during the Great Depression, it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1981. This is a family concern begun by Otto and Wilhelm Maisch Sr. Like familie everywhere it's had some problems. While watching a motorcycle race some 25 years ago Wilhelm Sr. was struck by two bikes and paralyzed. Thereafter, control of the company lay in OltO'S hands. He led Maico to much success in business and racing, but may in the end have tried to do 100 much. By the 1980s Maico had grown top heavy in management and began 10 face stiff competition from the Japanese. They even challenged the 500cc "Open" class. heretofore stricti y European turf. At the same time the world recessjon hit and sale dropped. German labor laws prohibited large scale layoffs, so the company suuggled along. As the boltom line flirted with red ink. inventories grew and then the bombs dropped; the 1982 models suffered suspension problems. The rear shock shafts, supplied by a subcontractor, often broke. But even worse. the 1983 transmissions malfunctioned. The gears required special steel alloy and elaborate, two-stage heat treatjng. All this went awry. and so did customers. By late 1983 Maico had twice been to the point of bankruptcy. There were a number of financial problems, and Otto Maisch was sued by the Union of Industrial Metal Workers. The German government assumed conuol and liquidation appeared imminent. Byt then the three Maisch brothers, sons of cofounder Wilhelm Sr., secured over $1 million in financing and reorganized the company into Gebrueder Maisch, which translates into Maisch Brothers. All their lives the three had been involved in Majco, but ilisputes with their uncle OltO and the American disuibution department left them out in the cold and without jobs. "But all that is history," says Peter Maisch, the youngest, who is in charge of sales and publioty. "Now there is nothing to stop us from produong excellent motorcycles. " Wilhelm Jr., the oldest brother, and effective president of the new firm is an engineer. He was director of production and development under hi uncle's regime. '" am convinced that the gearbox problems are over for a lot of reasons, but basicall y because of the new design of the gearbox. Our new American distribUlOr, Ted Lapadakis had to ask a lot of hard question before becoming involved with us. If , were in his place' would have a 'ked the same djfficull questions. So we tested the components at the University of Stuttgart and he was satisfied." Ted Lapadakis is a busine sman and former racer whose enthu iasm led him to import Sachs and Puch motorcycles begjnning in 1967. By Valentine's Day, his Hercules Distri- buting Company will have received its first 80 Maisch-produced five-speed 490s. Wilhelm Jr. ay, "Mr. Lapadakis knows the American market very welL: We have a very good exchange of information by telephone. And of course this makes us capable of producing bikes that fit U.S. market needs 100%." An expansion into desert racing is likely. One by-product of the continuing litigation between Otto Maisch and his three nephews i that the trademark "Maico" isn't presently used in the United States. Instead a new logo has been designed. It's similar to the old "M" but incorporates a star, and Hercules Distributing has designated them "M Stars." However, "Maico" remains the marque's name in Europe and the rest of the world. After the legal dust settles in the USA the outcome could be the same. There's no lack of humor at Majco, bot resolute determination pervades every department. To explain Maico's struggle for survival in today's marketplace, Wilhelm Jr. muttered, "Leistung's Gesellschaft." In other words, only high achievement is sufficient in today's society - it's a dog eat dog world. In light of this Maico has chopped overhead. With a target of 1500 bikes by mid-1984, production was consolidated in one large building, and the production crew drastically reduced. Compared to a former peak of hundreds, on the day we visited fewer than 30 workers were bui Idi ng motorcycles. Management and planning shrank from 110 to 25 persons. Wilhelm prefers "to keep the company at this level. If I want to know what's going on I can take a five-minute walk through the building. Whenever Maico gets larger there shouls!.. be another division thllt is completely autonomous." Computer-controlled machine tools are de rigeur, and the youngish crew works 50-hour week. This gives them two months 0[[ in thesummer, and further reduces costs. The Maico works are peppered with people who were number oneat

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