CNII ARCHIVES
P130
BY KENT TAYLOR
(Left) In 1974,
Maico offered
two open-class
motocross bikes to
choose from, the
MC400 and MC450.
(Above) Cycle News
compared two very
similar motorcycles
that had a $100
price difference.
T
here are some words in
the world that just don't
translate very well from
their mother tongue to English.
The French, for example, use
the phrase "jolie laide," which
literally translates to English as
"pretty ugly." But the French use
it as a term of endearment, as in,
"The mademoiselle resembled le
Carrot Top, yet she possessed a
jolie-laide charm that made her
inexplicably desirable." !
"Achtung" is the headline of
the February 19, 1974, issue of
Cycle News. More familiar to
Americans, the word can mean
everything from "attention" to
"be cautious" to "danger." The
dirt test that followed featured
two new Maicos, the 400cc and
450cc open-class MX warriors.
Brothers from the same mother,
separated by a few cubic centi
-
meters and little else. Germany's
Irish twins,
in a motorcycle way.
Dangerously fast, so one must
be cautious with throttle control.
Please pay attention.
"Why would one of the small-
est competition motorcycle
factories
in the world make
two bikes that would compete
against each other in sales and
on the racetrack?" That was the
opening line for the test, and
the crew had a good point. A
motorcycle manufacturer of the
21st century will often square
off against itself, offering virtu-
ally the same powerplant across
many different models.
It was
a different story in 1974. There
was one Honda 750. One Kawa-
saki 500. One Rokon.
But there were two Maicos in
the open
class, separated by a
few cubic centimeters and a few
bucks. More alike than different,
parking these Maicos with their
long-as-a-crowbar sidestands
was a brain teaser. Find seven
differences? Nope. Check the
specifications, and 10 of the 14
BROTHERS
FROM
THE SAME
MOTHER
Maico 400 Versus Maico 450
