MXA 1981 open class shoot out maico 490 vs cr 450

[yota]

some of you know I have an 81 maico 490 so I'm having fun with the vintage CR guys here. scroll to the bottom for the shoot out.
http://motors.opferman.com/Images/Magaz ... st_MXA.pdf

[100hp honda]

those old maicos were cool bikes. makes you wonder why they fizzled out and the honda continued on

[redrocket190]

From a restoration point of view, who cares? From a historic racing point of view, you could compare a 1983 Maico (Scorpion?) mono [edit] shock with a 1983 Honda CR480R and come up with the same one-sided result but in the other direction. In 1981 some would argue Maico "peaked" while Honda - from an Open class perspective - was just getting going. The CR450R was a mediocre first effort for Honda, but they just stuck at it. Maico's first effort at a single shock bike was a disaster due to very high leverage ratios which snapped shocks. By the time they got it fixed they were toast in the American market, and brought down folks like Wheelsmith too. (Super Hunky has got a blow by blow account of their downfall as a company.) But you have the last laugh because you know that while its "evens" Honda v Maico in the open Age classes, Maicos trade for substantially more than Hondas. I've ridden a 490 and it was fantastic.

[100hp honda]

its too bad maico didnt have a better line up of engineers in their corner. seems like KTM had the same problem.......always a couple steps behind the japs.

[4Z]

Rumor has it that Honda purchased some Maicos and drew upon the reverse engineering of them??

[nmdesertrider]

Too bad magazines don't write articles like that any more.

[yota]

From a restoration point of view, who cares? From a historic racing point of view, you could compare a 1983 Maico twin shock with a 1983 Honda CR480R and come up with the same one-sided result but in the other direction. In 1981 some would argue Maico "peaked" while Honda - from an Open class perspective - was just getting going. The CR450R was a mediocre first effort for Honda, but they just stuck at it. Maico's first effort at a single shock bike was a disaster due to very high leverage ratios which snapped shocks. By the time they got it fixed they were toast in the American market, and brought down folks like Wheelsmith too. (Super Hunky has got a blow by blow account of their downfall as a company.) But you have the last laugh because you know that while its "evens" Honda v Maico in the open Age classes, Maicos trade for substantially more than Hondas. I've ridden a 490 and it was fantastic.

there was no 83 maico twin shock, they went mono in 82. the 82 mono shock rear suspension was mediocre, the 83 was amazingly good but thats where it gets interesting as to why maico died out. the company was owned by the Maisch family in germany. one of the brothers who was in charge of quality control tried to do a take over of the company. he sabotaged the heat treating of rear hubs and a few other parts hoping that sales would plummet and he could buy out the family business for a song. well sales plummeted all right but his plan to takeover and revive the company failed. The 83's that had the defective parts replaced were awesome bikes, esp the 490's and are still good bikes today although they don't bring the money that the 81 twin shocks do.

here's the story from superhunky

All through the mid and late '70s, the big Maicos dominated, in spite of an indifference in attention to detail. When the Japanese companies started learning how to produce competitive big bikes, Maico responded with the phenomenal 1981 490.

A brute of a bike, it had a staggering spread of power and all the legendary Maico handling habits, in spite of wimpy shocks. People bought the bike in droves, and even willingly paid the extra money for decent after market shocks.

The bike was so good, that every Japanese factory bought several 490's and tore them apart down to the last nut and bolt to study them. It took another three years before Japan figured out how to successfully copy the power-band of the 490 Maico ... and the copies were just that, pale copies.

Shocks broke on almost every 1982 bike sold. In 1983, transmissions started shredding gears like popcorn, and even bizarre things like rear hubs exploded.

Maico was still reeling from the Corte & Cosso shock fiasco in the 1982 models, and absolutely had to come out with a winner to erase the bad memories of destroyed rear suspension systems.

The 1983 models were released to the dealers in November 1982, and initially, the dealers were ecstatic. Here's what Wheelsmith had to say: "You can tell all the workers at the factory that the new Maicos are so good, we can't believe it. Yesterday, I got to ride the new 490 for the first time. Words cannot describe the way I feel about the bikes. I sold five bikes the first day I had them in the shop. If this is any idea of things to come, this will be the best year for Maico and Wheelsmith. Again, thanks to all the workers for bringing to the USA the best bike in the world."

Greg at Wheelsmith surely looked back at this statement sadly a short time later, as the grief started happening almost immediately.

About 430 rear wheel hubs that were installed on bikes, suddenly started failing. Several concerned dealers had the faulty hubs checked and found they were never heat-hardened.

Gear-boxes started exploding like popcorn. Same story. Improper heat-treating. Receipts were found from the Mohr & Lopez company (the contracted heat-treaters), which proved that the gears received only one part of the heat-treating process, rather than two. And guess where the orders came from for the change in heat-treating procedures? Right from the Technical Director, Wilhelm Maisch, Jr.!

It was found out by accident, when a memo was discovered from a tax consultant named Brosamle, written to the Maisch brothers, telling them what was needed to force Maico into bankruptcy and how to bid to take it over once the deed was done.

As part of the plan to destroy Maico, the brothers allegedly started a campaign via their friends in the press, and an onslaught of negative articles started appearing. Peter Maisch, the press relations expert, was seen constantly hanging around the Sudwest-Presse building in Tubingen right before the most destructive article came out, and was later seen at the race track, laughing and joking with the reporter who wrote the article.

Numerous articles appeared, and in every instance, the reporter was a close acquaintance of Peter Maisch. The most damaging was a malicious article that appeared in an English magazine, causing sales in England to come to a virtual stand-still. The British importer, Goss, pointed out that the article was written by a journalist who was a close friend of Peter Maisch.

Maico desperately tried to borrow money to warranty all the damaged bikes, but when the banks saw the stories in the press, they slammed doors in the face of Otto Maisch. In desperation, Otto and his daughters depleted their savings and tried to save the company, but the internal sabotage had been done far too effectively. Several riders in the US had been hurt because of the defective exploding hubs and weakened transmissions.

The law suits started, and that was the beginning of the end. The final nail in the coffin was hammered home, when an American racer, David Dion Scott (Virginia) was paralyzed when his rear hub failed, causing a brutal crash. His law suit not only put a virtual halt to further importation of the bikes, but it had US dealers scared to death of becoming involved in the litigation. Numerous bikes were returned to the distributor, and others were dumped at a fraction of their true value.

Otto Maisch made one last desperate appeal to the government banks to help the company through the problem, but on May 10, 1983, the District of Baden-Wurttemberg flatly refused to give the Maico GmbH credit. The notorious publicity campaign had done its job; no one would lend Maico a spare Mark.

On May 10, 1983, Maico GmbH declared bankruptcy.

Smelling blood, the Maisch brothers quickly formed a company, and by pulling strings with the bankruptcy receiver, Dr. Grub, were able to get control of the company for a mere DM 300,000 ... a bit more than a hundred thousand dollars US.

For the price of a CNC machine, the Maisch Brothers now owned a company with at least 7 to 8 million Marks worth of equipment, machinery, inventory and buildings.

The three brothers had, at this point, fulfilled their goal of owning the company and ousting Otto Maisch, and were able to get it for a tiny fraction of its true worth.

THE AFTER-MATH
An internal memo we saw tended to point out the sabotage theory in a rather intimidating fashion. In the memo, Wilhelm Maisch, Jr., admitted that his department had used the wrong material in the gear-boxes and that this material had been improperly hardened. Since this was a primary responsibility of the Technical Division, one can only raise an eyebrow in shock. Also, this information could have only come from Wilhelm, as he was the only one with the authority to make any changes in material selection and heat-treating processes.

Driving the point home, Wilhelm drafted a rather smug letter to Theo Holznienkemper (a former US Maico manager) on February 23, 1984, in which he said that it had always been his dream to take over the Maico company, and now that dream had been realized.

Oddly enough, the Maico US headquarters in California and Virginia were still owned by the Otto Maisch family, and the factory still owed them all kinds of money from the hundreds of failed bike warranty claims.

The Maisch brothers tried every trick in the books to get control of the existing Maico distributing, but couldn't pull it off. The lawyers from both families had a field day, trading a barrage of claims, threats and counter-claims.

They were fighting over very little, as the dealer network had obviously disintegrated, and the fact that the horribly flawed bikes were the direct result of Wilhelm Maisch, Jr., did not sit well with most. It's one thing to fire off a shot; it's another thing entirely to shoot yourself in the foot in the process.

In desperation, the Maisch brothers, who were now properly heat-treating hubs and gears, were desperately trying to sell bikes. The European distributors were irritated beyond belief, and showed little - if any - interest.

The only way the "new" factory could succeed would be to recapture the massive American market, the one where the name Maico had once been legendary.

A deal was worked out with Ted Lapadaikis, the force behind the Hercules Distributing Company that handled Sachs and KTM in years past. The "new" bike was called the M-Star, a truly dumb sounding name.

The 250 was basically the 1983 Maico, with all the warts removed, and a water-cooled barrel. The fins were gone, but the old drum brakes were still used at both ends.

The M-Star 500 Supercross was exactly a 1983 Maico, fins and all. A few low-quality decals were slapped on the tank to make it look different. The "Supercross" name showed the complete lack of familiarity with the American dirt bike market. Open class bikes were not even raced in Supercross. And the fact that all the big changes were given to the 250 instead of the 500, displayed an almost complete ignorance of the track record of sales. The big Maicos always outsold the 250s on at least a three-to-one basis, often more.

With lackadaisical advertising, virtually no promotion, a feeble racing effort fielded by a few local second-stringers, and a near-hostile relationship with the motorcycle magazines, M-Star faded from sight within a year. Few bemoaned the passing.

BRINGING THINGS CURRENT
The Maisch brothers soon became history. Too many bad memories, too much of a bad track record to overcome, and a general inability to function in a business-like manner, had the doors of the factory closed, and the government put it in receivership.

The take-over had now become a farce. And a sad one at that. Over the next few years, a number of companies tried to revive interest in the marque. There were enough parts left over to build some bikes, and that truly amazing 490 engine retained enough power from its glory days to make it fun to ride.

But nothing serious happened. Right now, another small concern is bringing the Maico in to this country in limited numbers. Mostly, though, it remains a curiosity, and is purchased by people who fondly remember the days when Maico was the king.

What's left of the family (Otto Maisch died a few years ago), is still trying to find some justice. A mass of evidence of the deliberate sabotage in 1982/83 was found and taken from the abandoned factory.

When they tried to bring this before the German courts in the hope of recovering the factory and restoring Maico, they were met with stony silence. No one wants to admit that they are wrong, least of all, the legal system. Then there's the fear of admitting that some German products were faulty, and this would hurt the image of German exports world-wide.

What will happen?

We don't know. It would be fascinating to see the German judicial system review the case, now that these heretofore unknown documents have surfaced.

To those of us who used to dearly loved the fabulous old Maicos, perhaps a simple case of justice properly served might be satisfying.

Meanwhile, hang on to that grand old 1981 490. Someday, it'll be a collectors prize!
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[redrocket190]

The 1982 Maico was of course a mono shock - that was the point of the second comparison in my post but I mis-typed. The leverage ratio was way out of whack with what the other OEMs were using and that over-whelmed the poor shock. They did change this for 1983, but the damage was done. And to Hunky's point - the 1981 is very very much sought after today. The Maico is the Ferrari of motocross - it has a certain appeal that goes beyond the simple mechanicals. However proficient a Honda struggles a little to have that same charisma (unless you have a works one). Fortunately not everyone tucks them away as "garage queens", and you can still see them race. (There is a perfect one only a street away from me now that hasn't turned a wheel in 8 years.)

[yota]

I also have a 73 250 maico, the old hype about maico handling was much more true with the older ones as they were also so low. The 80's models were very tall, like the new bikes. my 73 practically turns itself but of course 4" rear travel. a lot of people don't know that much of the turning prowess of the old maicos was in the fact that they used a chain primary drive in the gear box which creates a gyro affect. There were a few attempts at putting jap engines in maico frames and the magic handling just wasn't there. the old maicos used a triple chain primary, my 81 has a double chain primary drive.

[CR500R7]

Thanks for the history lesson.