Maicos - The Rare Years

[opfermanmotors]

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?

That's my worry as well, esp. b/c it's an MX transmission.  So, my 1982 isn't geared too shabby, it's a GS model and it's the older motor.

However, now going into the 83, the 83 I originally had the Spider gearing, which is a 4 Speed where first gear is 2.07 ratio.  When I was riding this I was originally riding wider open trails, so wasn't so bad, but now I ride almost exclusively single track.

I switched to the sand spider gearing, 5 speed, 1st gear is 2.36.  This was STILL quite high, had to do too much clutch and this I still had a 14 Front and 56 Rear.  So now I have a 12 front and a 58 rear.  It's much better, however the thing is extremely torquey on the high RPM.  

Now, my 1986 as you see in the video, forget about it.  In 1985 and onwards they changed the gearing to be super high.  Primary drive is higher and first gear by stock is 1.96.  So, on my 1986, I am putting a 1983 primary drive and I got a new 1st and 2nd gear from Koestler.  They don't make the sand spider ratio (2.36), their enduro 1st gear ratio is 2.28.  So, I think that with this and a 12 tooth on the front and maybe even keeping the 52 on the rear may be good.

Flywheel wieght may help tone down the torquey ness of the motor, but the motor DOES pull from low RPM.  The problem is that "LOW RPM == 20-30 MPH!"  So, at idle you're going fast!  Also, most of these have internal rotors and not actual fly wheels.  HOwever, you can get wieghts for PVL rotors.

BTW, the ratios on my 86 match the new bikes.  They probably match the 98's also.  The 500, 620 and 685 have the same transmission ratios and primary ratios.  The 250, 320 have the same transmission ratios even as the 500's, however their primary drive ratios are lower.  

In the end, for gas milage if one plans to do some events and for gearing, the 98 320 enduro might be a good option.  A 1.96 1st gear ratio for MX is quite high for tight trails.

[maicoman009]

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!

We're definetly talking about the same guy Opferman.... He kind of drives you a little nuts! When he returned my call after he put me on hold for a half hour the first thing he said was "what do you want.Lets not beat around the bush!Tell me what you need!?So I went on about the 2003 Maico in the crate & somehow the conversation turned into how much he hated 4-wheelers & that they should be banned and he's having some problems with a land owner about riding his snowmobile on the owners land etc.etc. Trust me it took me quite a long time just to get the info off of him that I did get...

[opfermanmotors]

This is a 1997 Maico 320, but the 1998's look the same.

[opfermanmotors]

This is a 1999 maico 500 but the 2003 is going to look simmilar.

[maicoman009]

This is a 1999 maico 500 but the 2003 is going to look simmilar.

I love the look of the 1999 Maico and the 2005's look almost exactly the same as the "99's",at least the "05's" on Koestlers web site look very similar to the "99's".
 Also Opferman,would going up 2 teeth on the rear sprocket help that "03" Maico-500 be just a tad bit more trail freindly?

[SachsGS]

I once rode a 2000 320 Enduro that was flat out incredible. I haven't been able to wheelie through the gears in ages but that 320 was so smooth and powerful it was effortless to loft the frontend.

That guy in PA almost sounds like he's hesitant to sell those Maicos, don't blame him.

[maicoman009]

After reading what Opferman said about the 320 Maico I think I'm going to call the PA. Maico guy back and see how much he'd sell that bike for? I'm not really sure if he said that the 320 was a 1998 or what?Actually I just looked at my notes I was writing down when I was speaking to the guy the other night and I see that the Maico-320 is a 1995.

[maicoman009]

What can I say, I've never found a hole that I can hit that will use all 12 inches.

I take it you've never been to West Virginia Jetz? LOL....

[opfermanmotors]

I put a speedometer on my 1983 Maico 490 now.  I geared that bike down, it has the 83 primary, a 2.36 1st gear and a 58 / 12 rear sprocket setup.

Based on my calculations, the bike should do approximately the following, depending on how high RPM it gets to:

1st = 20mph
2nd = 30mph
3rd = 40mph
4th = 50mph
5th = ~60mph

So, with my speedometer installed I wanted to see how accurate my website is then.  Well, I went down a road and I was able to do wide open at 5th gear for a few seconds.  When I stopped I checked the maximum recoreded speed.  It was 60.xx mph (the website said about 63mph for 7000rpm and 70 for 8000rpm, hard to get to 8k rpm on a big bore).  I found the other gears are all quite in line with my estimates also for 7000 rpm.

[maicoman009]

 That gearing would work good for me @ least on the 500 Maico because I could still occasionally ride the MX track that I ride about once every other month and the gearing would still be good on the very rocky mountain trails I ride.I wonder if the gear box off of a 320 enduro would work on a 2003 Maico-500?

[opfermanmotors]

Just note that your cruising RPM is very low on a 500, with this gear ratio even tho 1st can max out near 20mph, that's redline speed.  I can put into 5th gear and cruise at 30-40mph easily with this range.  Also, with a 58/12 the 2003 gearbox unchanged would be slightly faster in 1st and 2nd gear.  1st would do 30 mph, 2nd would do 40mph, 3rd would do 45mph, 4th would do 50mph, 5th would do 60mph.

I wonder if the gear box off of a 320 enduro would work on a 2003 Maico-500?

It may (there's a full 380 gear set on ebay right now), however note that the smaller bikes sometimes will either gear exactly the same or even higher than the 500.  In the case of Maico, this is true (I have a 86 250 gear set and 1st gear is geared even higher, I think it was 1.86 for first) that the gear sets are either the same or higher.  They use the primary drive to change the output ratios and not the gears.  So they have a very low geared primary drive.  I don't know if the primary drive from a 250/320 would fit into a 500.  

It saves on costs to keep the transmission the same since they just mass produce it for all ranges.

You know that the 490, 500, 685, 620 all use the same connecting rod since 1983?  They just change the location of the rod on the crankshaft aor size of crankshaft pretty much.

[maicoman009]

Just note that your cruising RPM is very low on a 500, with this gear ratio even tho 1st can max out near 20mph, that's redline speed.  I can put into 5th gear and cruise at 30-40mph easily with this range.  Also, with a 58/12 the 2003 gearbox unchanged would be slightly faster in 1st and 2nd gear.  1st would do 30 mph, 2nd would do 40mph, 3rd would do 45mph, 4th would do 50mph, 5th would do 60mph.

I wonder if the gear box off of a 320 enduro would work on a 2003 Maico-500?

It may (there's a full 380 gear set on ebay right now), however note that the smaller bikes sometimes will either gear exactly the same or even higher than the 500.  In the case of Maico, this is true (I have a 86 250 gear set and 1st gear is geared even higher, I think it was 1.86 for first) that the gear sets are either the same or higher.  They use the primary drive to change the output ratios and not the gears.  So they have a very low geared primary drive.  I don't know if the primary drive from a 250/320 would fit into a 500.  

It saves on costs to keep the transmission the same since they just mass produce it for all ranges.

You know that the 490, 500, 685, 620 all use the same connecting rod since 1983?  They just change the location of the rod on the crankshaft aor size of crankshaft pretty much.

No Opferman I did'nt know that Maico used the same connecting rod on all of their big bore bikes.Especially the 685! The main thing I'm a bit worried about is if I decide to buy the "03" Maico-500 in PA.is for instance when I had my 97 RM-250 I almost always rode on the same mountain trails that I ride my KTM-300xc on & that RM-250 would always stall on this certain sharp corner hill climb because when I approached the climb I had the RPM's way too low because the tightness of that climb! I don't have the same problem with my KTM-300xc because it can idle down really low in 1st 2nd & even fairly low in 3rd gear so I'm really hoping that the Maico won't stall on the same climb in 1st gear! That would really SUCK! Although I really would love to have another Maico because they are well built bikes & I never got to enjoy my "81" as much as I would have liked because of my light weight & age when I owned the bike!The only absolute solution that I know of is to load the Maico-500 up on the pick-up truck & go to some riding area's I know of in PA.,OH.& IN.where I can get the ol' Maico-500 to somewhat spread it's wings!And then again I may not have those problems with the Maico if it can idle down kind of low in 1st & maybe a little in 2nd gear?........

[opfermanmotors]

so I'm really hoping that the Maico won't stall on the same climb in 1st gear! That would really SUCK!

I know what you mean.  The answer is it won't stall in low rpm provided you realize that low rpm means 20mph on that bike

It's not that you want to do low rpm there, it's that you want to hit that trail at a certain speed which is not too fast and so where ever that speed is in the RPM range is how you would hit it.  The RM didn't have enough power in that RPM range to pull it, the KTM does.  However, if the Maico makes that speed at 10 RPM, of course it will stall! 


I've ridden a KTM 300, several of them, I know they have great pull down low.  The Maico is the same.  The KTM however is very slow in those gears.  Put it to you this way, after riding my 83 Maico when it was the 4 speed (and this is geared lower than the 2003 Maico 500 is), I was like holy crap.  How many gears does this adamn thing have, 50?   I kept shifting the thing just to get to 1st gear speed!  Which at the time was about 30 mph.

Those KTMs do good but like I said they're geared low.  The Maico is geared for salt flats pretty much.  This is the exact same reason I didn't buy the 2004 that was for sale here for $4k.  I called him up and talked to him about it.  First thing I asked was is first gear high and he said yes it's very tall and he put a 54 T rear and 12 T front sprocket on it.  It was for $4500, I probably should have just gotten it anyway since its hard to find a newer Maico used for sale.


 

[SachsGS]

A friend of mine has ridden and sold Maicos for 30+ years and could probaly answer a lot of questions as well. Rick can be reached at 1-509-453-2121. Come to think of it, he probaly has used gearboxes/primary drives as well.

[opfermanmotors]

You talking about Rick Largo, at one time he told me he had a sand spider gear set somewhere, but I don't think he ever went to look for it.