I can read this one like a book........ He's been lurking both here and on the Maico forum and spotted that Jack, our Philipino congressman friend is prepared to pay top dollar for the 'right bike'. Knowing that his 80 model 250 still has the original fork wipers and the Made in Germany sticker on the triple clamp and is therefore 'totally original' our seller figured the $10000 is a good honest price for such a rare piece of teutonic engineering. If an '81 is worth $12000 his even older '80 model 250 has to be a steal at 10k he surmises.
The flaws in the equation are...It's a 250, it's an inferior '80 Mega 1 that were among Maicos worst ever models, it's not all that cherry, it's got a Mikuni which are crap on Maicos. Going by the California off road rego sticker under the rear fender on the airbox, he probably bought it off eBay for '81 style money, paid too much to import it and is now trying to recoup the money he put out after discovering that 250 Maicos are not 490s and are a little ordinary in the oomph department (sorry Ribbo).