OzVMX Forum
Clubroom => General Discussion => Topic started by: John Orchard on September 09, 2013, 11:15:02 am
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Yesterday was marked as a significant day in my life, it was the first time I ever rode an air-cooled Maico ( '77 AW440) and a genuine HL500, thankyou very much Frank & Bert.
While the HL was nice, I felt it needed a little refinement to blow my mind, like thicker or more oil in the forks (kept tucking the front diving into corners) and a front brake that needed a little maintenance.
The Maico was mind-blowing, I cannot believe how well it turns, even when you stuff-up corner entry, just point the bars where you want to go and it goes, the front tyre sticks like you know what to a blanket!
The gearing was too low on the Maico, 1st gear was a total waste, I accidentily changed down into 1st for some corners, the bike just vibrated badly and was not driving forward, the bike loved changing-up and keeping the throttle pinned, man I truly loved it!
Sorry I just had to share the experience :-)
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Its alright John, we know what you mean.
Its hard to beat the sting of a well built Maico ;D
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The gearing was too low on the Maico, 1st gear was a total waste, I accidentily changed down into 1st for some corners, the bike just vibrated badly and was not driving forward, the bike loved changing-up and keeping the throttle pinned, man I truly loved it!
Welcome to the world of Maico John but it's a pity that your first Maico experience had to be on a 440 with its notoriously inbuilt vibration. If it'd been a 400 you might not have noticed the shakes and loved it even more ;D. The vibration problem can however be lessened to a major degree by changing the balance factor on the crank. The gearbox thing is pretty typical of riders used to Japanese 5 speed bikes. Treat the Maico as a 4 speed, using first only for riding back and forth in the pits, and you'll like it much more. Maicos are very sensitive to gearing changes, whereas the owners of some Japanese bikes might go through their whole life never changing the gearing, Maico owners, especially those with 4 speeders use different gearing for different tracks. When I took it all more seriously I used to take a full set of front sprockets and a couple of different length chains to a meeting. You won't find a better turning vintage bike than a Maico.
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Got to agree that the AW400 is a very nice bike to ride. Had a ride on Greg T's at Glenbawn Track a couple of months ago. Even though the suspension was miles out for my Ummm weight it handled like a dream and the power delivery was Oh so smooth 8)
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Shhh. Don't go telling everybody! Those crap maico breako's.
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Shhh. Don't go telling everybody! Those crap maico breako's
Yeah I know, my squarie shit itself last year.....I'd have thought it should have lasted much longer, I only rebuilt the motor in 1993. Not good enough I reckon >:(
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Glad you enjoyed the ride on the AW, you seemed reluctant at first and then did lap after lap.
We have our bar and lever positions miles apart so i wasn't sure who you would go, you certainly looked good on the AW.
I have ridden both AW 400 and 440 and do prefer the 400 for racing.
However on John,s superb track with masses of traction and grip the 440 was a blast to ride, leathal in the right hands.
Many thanks to John & Jody for a great days riding on there magnificent track.
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(http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i423/JohnnyRacer89/Maico_zps6b22842a.jpg) (http://s1093.photobucket.com/user/JohnnyRacer89/media/Maico_zps6b22842a.jpg.html)
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When my shoulder is better i would love to come up to your property John. Looks fantastic.
Cheers, Grahame
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Many thanks to John & Jody for a great days riding on there magnificent track.
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l'll second that :)
I really enjoyed the afternoon and the company.
My first ride on the kdx250 too.
Geoff
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Glad to read you had a great day John. Shame I couldn't make it.
I suspect you may have built your track just so you get to ride all the different bikes that come along. Good thinking! ::)
I know of a '77 AW that is being built with a centre port big bore XL350 motor in it. Now that would be a good Maico! It has all the requirements of a real motor, being that it has valves and a cam!
I'll give you a ride on my Honda 410 when I come over some time and you will find out what I'm talking about ;D
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Ha ha, no it wasn't so I could ride other peoples bikes, maybe drool over them? :-)
I'm just sick of other tracks either getting rained-out or not open on good days or not prepared or too supercrossy, I'm not one to complain (even tho I am a Pom lol), just fix it if I can.
I'd be interested in looking at an AW410 4-stroke :-)
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Mine isn't an AW410. That's a mates build which should be near completion. He had it near finished last time I was over there. Mine is a replica of what Honda built in 77 and raced by Moates at a few GP meets before they canned the idea. They ran a big bore 250 though. I think mine is a champion frame or similar.