Maicos - The Rare Years

[JETZcorp]

Wow, that's cool!  That sounds like quite a reasonable price for what sounds like a pretty potent bike.  I've heard the motor on that 500 is a real snorting beast.  I'm very surprised that this guy calls himself a "Maico dealer" but hasn't heard of Maico International.  I know guys who have never even seen a Maico product, but know of Maico International.

[opfermanmotors]

One thing to keep in mind is that the newer Maicos, 2003, the MX bikes are geared very high.  1st gear will do almost 50 mph, not very ideal for trail riding.

[SachsGS]

I own both blue (Lorenz Merkle) and red (Koestler) Maicos. When I got back into the sport I went through a slew of Japanese bikes but wasn't really happy with them. The opportunity arose to purchase a 1992 GS500 off a guy in California ad I've ridden Maicos ever since and couldn't be happier.

[opfermanmotors]

No doubt, they're great.  I found the same issue with Jap bikes.

[maicoman009]

Ya, that's what I remember, $6k for the crated one.  The 98's I think he wanted $4 for the uncrated and $5 for the crated.

So you going to pick up that 03?

More than likely if it's still there by the end of October.I have a friend that's going to buy my ol' 97 Ford ranger pickup truck off of me @ that time & when he gives me the money I'm going to drive up to Erie,PA and look @ all the Maicos' that this guy has & make a decision on what one to take home.The only thing that worries me about the 1998's is that's when they were being built in the Netherlands & I read somewhere that the quality control of the Maicos' that were built in the Netherlands was non-existent...?

[SachsGS]

An easy way to regear the newer Maico mx's is to fit the 83 250 primary drive. This change makes the bikes much better in the tight stuff.

[opfermanmotors]

The only thing that worries me about the 1998's is that's when they were being built in the Netherlands & I read somewhere that the quality control of the Maicos' that were built in the Netherlands was non-existent...?

From what I have heard it was the 1999 models that were bad, see the below.

From the start and before Maico Brothers purchased their 99, 500 Maico, e-mail from early owners gave a grim view of the 99 models. Stories of major defects were collected and a search for answers was on. We found a laundry list of production errors; port timing off, low compression, bad shifting, and even missing swing arm pivot bearings. The ghosts of the past were coming back but there were fixes. Maico brothers already had in place a great European network in the manufactures home base so answers were available. Milling the bottom of the cylinder corrected the port timing. Machining the shift drum and careful assembly of other portions of the bike made things better. One of our viewers had extensive work done to correct his 99 500.

The problems we found were "Production" and not "Design" problems. We found that in the 1999 production season, Rodem was "Slapping" together Maico's from their stock of parts to collect as much money as they faced bankruptcy. Another viewer told us that he literally waited for Rodem to build him a 500 Enduro model one day while stationed in Italy, on leave from the US Navy. He felt it was now or never. Three months later, the multi million-dollar parent company was gone. Brouwer Motors B.V. picked up the baton and fixed most of the production problems for the 2000 models but not all of them. To get a trouble free 2000 Maico, you must get it from Kostler in Germany, because Kostler will go through each bike and painstakingly correct all of the production problems built into the 2000 Maico's.

[opfermanmotors]

An easy way to regear the newer Maico mx's is to fit the 83 250 primary drive. This change makes the bikes much better in the tight stuff.

I'm doing this on my 86, I'm putting in an 83 490 Primary drive. 

83-84 = 65/31
85+ 66/33

The 250's have an even lower primary drive ratio, however not so sure that the cases are the same after 82 and if a 250 primary would work in a 500, it might though never checked.

[maicoman009]

One of the main reasons I would like to go get that 2003 Maico 500mx is because I like the $6000.00 price tag as opposed to going to my local KTM dealer & slapping down roughly $8000.00 plus on a 2011 KTM-300xc! I'm sure the 300xc would suit my riding style much better but if I could save a few bucks buying the Maico and maybe installing a 12oz. flywheel weight and then dumping the crappy Mikuni TMX carb for a Keihin carb without that costing me a fortune then I think I could get used to riding the 500cc beast.Back when I owned my "81" 490 mega 2 I was too young & way too skinny to hang on to that powerful yet gorgeous MX bike.All yeah I think I may have posted in an earlier site that the 2003 Maico had a Bing carb but that was wrong it actually has a Mikuni carb on it. I think I could deal with a Bing carb much better than a Mikuni anyday!
 I guess I'll have to just wait and see in October who I can get the best deal off of,I personally think it will be the PA. dealer but I'll still have to wait and see......
 

[opfermanmotors]

What prices did he quote for the 1998 and what sizes?  I think they were like $4k and I think at least 1 was a 250.

[opfermanmotors]

This is my 86, I amd gearing down the primary drive and 1st and 2nd gear.

1986 MStar (Maico) 500 Rebuild Part 1

I've already got most of the parts, still need to get the connecting rod and a few misc. parts and have the resleeve and crank done before putting it back together.  Been going slow with it since I have bikes to ride, this one I am just going to get ready for next year.  All the bikes I ride I've built myself.  I don't trust any one to build bikes, seems like most people are all thumbs even if they own their own shop and don't know what they're doing.

Truthfully, even if the 2003 or 1998's are just sitting in their crates I'd still be a little worried about any rust or mildew that got into the engine from sitting.  I'm going to find out if in general the 1998's had any issues and what's the difference from the 2003.

[SachsGS]

It's funny but we always think of the Bing as being a primitive carb, yet all of my Maicos run better then my friend's Gassers, TMs and Huskys. They always seem to be chasing some elusive setting that my bikes already enjoy. As for a flywheel weight, I don't think that the Maico would need it, the bikes are already very smooth and you'll find yourself going alot faster then you thought - the speed kind of sneaks up on you and you have to be careful.

The Koestler Maicos are very exotic looking motorcycles and will atract attention, unlike the KTM which are d*mn fine motorcycles but are a "Dime a dozen".

[maicoman009]

What prices did he quote for the 1998 and what sizes?  I think they were like $4k and I think at least 1 was a 250.

The "98"s in the crates were $5k and they were $4k out of the crates assembled.He told me that he had a 320 enduro that he was going to put a sleeve in the cylinder & make it a 250?
 When I called him I told him I was mostly interested in a big bore Maico like a 500 so that's when he started to tell me about the "98's" & the one "03" that he had in the crate.He also told me that he kind of hated to get rid of the 2003 in the crate but I told him that would be the one I would mostly be interested in and I asked him what his bottom dollar would be on the "03",which was $6k. The guy was a little hard to talk to because I had a hard time getting a word in edgewise!He really likes to do most of the talking.

[maicoman009]

It's funny but we always think of the Bing as being a primitive carb, yet all of my Maicos run better then my friend's Gassers, TMs and Huskys. They always seem to be chasing some elusive setting that my bikes already enjoy. As for a flywheel weight, I don't think that the Maico would need it, the bikes are already very smooth and you'll find yourself going alot faster then you thought - the speed kind of sneaks up on you and you have to be careful.

The Koestler Maicos are very exotic looking motorcycles and will atract attention, unlike the KTM which are d*mn fine motorcycles but are a "Dime a dozen".

I agree with you about the Bing carbs & the fact that the Koestler Maicos are very exotic & will atract attention & I know from owning a KTM that they are great bikes and they are starting to be a dime a dozen so I'm definetly leaning towards the Maico but I A=am a little worried about the Maico being crated for so long plus I do enjoy riding in tight woods at times but I don't know how much fun that will be on a big bore Maico?

[opfermanmotors]

I had a hard time getting a word in edgewise!He really likes to do most of the talking

LOL, same guy, the guy just goes on and on!  I was going to say how did you talk to him because he never stops talking!  I asked if he had a certain part on his 83 Maico and he basically told me an entire story about everything on the bike, which in the end, didn't have that part!