MAICO 501

[paul]

CAN ANY BODY  WHO HAS HAD ONE OR RIDIN ONE OR OWNED ONE  SHARE ANY PRODUCTIVE INFO 0N THE 501

[firko]

Over rated and similar in performance to a Yamaha SC500 unless they have the factory race porting. Then they are unridable. Good Classic Dit fodder.

[paul]

were there allot produced  firko 

[firko]

I'm not sure of the figures Paul but I do know that most of them were sold in America where they thought they might make good desert sleds.

[paul]

they surely pay big bucks for them now. im thinking off saveing my pennies and trying to find one to restore  but all looks a bit hard with them being rarer than most maicos ,you just never know when one will pop up some were for sale ,and any body with one would be hard pressed to sell  for sure ,and dave was right there was one for sale last week in the usa ,which went for round 3000  and it certainly seen  better day  ,but that was a good price considering

[Husky500evo]

The bike that I would like to own would be an AW501 . I didn't even know that Maico made any this late ,  until I saw the one at CD4 . I have since read posts in a Maico forum where they were talking about a factory built 501 in a Magnum frame .

[paul]

abit off the subject but
i just got this from john cadwell about makeing a aw 400 to a 500

john whats in volved with the 500 conversion

 I thought you would never ask. I use a 1980 440 barrel and remove the liner, I have a few 504 liners that match up with the later porting. I remove the head studs and weld them up. I open up the ports and open up the barrel and install the 504 liner and bore it out to take a std 490 mahle piston. I replace the head with a 490 one and install new studs. the 1980 barrel is a bolt on to any case down to 72 so this conversion will work on a 4 speed or a 5 speed. I also flycut the cases to accept the bigger barrel. There is a guy who does this but he uses a 490 liner and cuts it down so it fits the mouth of the case. Thats ok but it does not allow for many over bores. I believe this could be bored to about 525cc. I also port the new cylinder and blend the transfer ports and use a 40 mm Bing carb. My next step is to install a reed.
Cheers,
John

On 25-Aug-08,

[Husky500evo]

Geez , that would be one way to liven your humble 250 Maico  . Just stick a 400 crank in it , machine the mouth of the cases to accept the bigger sleeve & bolt that top end on . I don't think that it would be pre '75 legal though  .

[firko]

Sydneys Edgar Phipps has a very rapid AW440 that's been fitted with a reed from an MX360 and an SC500 Yamaha piston which gives well over 500cc. The bike was built back in the late seventies by porting whiz Bernie Foley from Rams Head Service for dirt track. It's a weapon. Along the same tack, Brisbanes George Mackenzie fitted a 490 top end to his '74 440 a few years ago and from the reports I've heard, the bike was almost unridable. It was a situation where the frame couldn't handle the power, causing all sorts of handling woes. 501 Maicos had a similar result when they were released in the original configuration. They reputedly put out over 50 hp which caused some weird handling traits. The factory radically detuned the next batch to around 38hp which helped with the handling but disapointed the horsepower hounds that had been sucked in by the magazine hype after the initial big horsepower models release. Period factory service bulletins are available showing the porting, pipe and carby mods needed to get the big neddies out of the 501 but I reckon that some modern port design and a modern pipe could really open up the big short stroke 501.

[firko]

The '77 AW501 spotted at CD4.

[paul]

 i had a good look at that  one firko , nice  collection  that guy had

[holeshot buddy]

the 501 maico
dont they belong to the
same club as the
tm400 sc500
fast bikes but...................

[Tim754]

501 engines were briefly tried as a full on solo speedway powerplant here in Australia . I remember seeing one race at Brooklyn in Victoria. They were banned by the authorities somewhat quickly.. Perhaps somebody here can relate the true story as I have been told a few reasons why . Tim  Arr yes I have a faded photo somewhere of a 501 in solo geared grasstracker frame at Romsey