rare maico

[paul]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Other-Makes-1975-maico-501-very-rare-vintage-motocross-ahrma-/231009188687?pt=US_motorcycles&hash=item35c9387b4f&vxp=mtr

[Slakewell]

Looks odd to me I didnt know such a beastie existed. 

[MauriceR]

It's a 73 that someone modified the rear suspension, wrong forks for a 75 also

[flyingdg]

It’s the real deal 74 ½ GP 501 (first type GP frame) The forks are correct for this model. All real GP fork sliders have the tab in the back but are not drilled like the earlier forks. I have a friend that has one just like this bike that he picked up from the first owner. They raced together back in the day him on a 125 maico and his friend on the 501.

[MauriceR]

It's not correct
run the serial #s it's a 73
check the upper shock mounts, i attached a pic of the proper ones for a 74 1/2 or 75 frame (his are aftermarket there are 100's of modified frames around
you can pretty much always tell by the formed shock mount and the holes behind it
forks are wrong for a 75 as he is advertising, if he was advertising a 74 1/2 they would be correct

[paul]

on a side note .those sort off upper shock mount for a 74.5 and a 75 may look the same but are different when you compare them side buy side

[GMC]

check the upper shock mounts, i attached a pic of the proper ones for a 74 1/2 or 75 frame (his are aftermarket there are 100's of modified frames around

The “74.5” Maico’s had at least 2 different styles of shock mounts that they used from the factory, the pressed ones that you showed are more typical of what they received in the US. The style in the e-bay add are more like what were received in Aussie. Hard to tell from those pictures but they look genuinish to me.

Yes there are lots of modified Maico’s out there but both styles of shock mounts are genuine.

[firko]

I can remember Blair Harley importing a '74 501 that'd been specially ordered for a customer. I think the customer was some sort of celebrity who wanted the bike purely as a play racer. It's not the 501 race car driver Kevin Bartlett owned, it was a 72 model with the factory go fast mods. I asked him about it at Classic Dirt and he said it was "flucking frightening".

[MauriceR]

You guys need to read his ad, he says it is a 75 not a 74 1/2
If you run the serial numbers it is a 1973 frame not a 75, the only 75's produced had the style of shock mount i posted and they came with the larger forks
As far as receiving both styles of shock mounts in Australia for 74 1/2 bikes I would bet they were modified by the Australian distributor the same as they were in Canada before being sold
Canada's and Australia's sales were minimal compared to the US so the distributors couldn't get 74 1/2s to sell, the public wanted the GP style so the distributors modified the 74's themselves so they had something to sell,74 1/2 bikes were released on pretty short notice and the factory still had 74's to sell
 I would bet back in the 70's some California dealers probably sold more bikes in a week than the Australian and Canadian distributor's combined sold in a year

[GMC]

I wasn’t debating what year the bike is, just saying that style of shock mount was original for 74.

I doubt the Aussie distributor changed them, I have seen too many the same and they all look like the rest of the bike in regards to welds and fabrication etc.

It may have also been an early late scenario, the fabricated early mounts came to Aussie first then the US got the later version pressed style.

I consider these to be kosher...

[paul]

http://www.vintagemaicos.com/74.5info.htm

[paul]

[firko]

As far as receiving both styles of shock mounts in Australia for 74 1/2 bikes I would bet they were modified by the Australian distributor the same as they were in Canada before being sold

Believe it or not we got the 74 LTR (Long travel rear) in late '73 or very early in '74 , way before the US. The importer Blair Harley is a friend and he told me that the frames were modified at the factory because they didn't want to be stuck with a bunch of 'old school' frames due to the impending suspension upgrades. I can recall being in his shop when they were unpacking the first shipment with the new frame and we were stoked as we weren't expecting them so soon. The bikes with the later rear subframe and improved airbox mount and purpose built (flimsy) airbox arrived mid year without any of the 74 1/2 fanfare. To us it was just another mid model update. They were never called "74 1/2 models" here.....the first time I heard that term was when I moved to America in late 1975. Ironically, the Americans didn't use the LTR term for the frame as the Euro's, Brits and Aussies did.
                                                                                                                      
                                                     Maico second generation '74 model with "75 style" top shock mount gussets wheras Pauls Maico in the previous post is a factory modified early LTR frame.

The 501 for sale is indeed a '73 with 75 forks.

[MauriceR]

Firko in a round about way you have just explained exactly what I have said, the early ones you guys received were modified frames and not technically called 74 1/2 bikes (never heard of them being modified by Maico so I stand corrected there)
The bikes with the later rear subframe and improved airbox mount and purpose built (flimsy) airbox arrived mid year without any of the 74 1/2 fanfare. To us it was just another mid model update.
That is why they are called 74 1/2, they came out 1/2 way through 74

[firko]

The 501 for sale is indeed a '73 with 75 fork 

I really need to get new glasses, and lighten the coffee octane a tad.........The 501 shown for sale is a 73 frame by number but it probably left the factory modified to 74 spec. I stand corrected on the forks, they're the correct external spring version for the model. The 75 forks have the word MAICO cast into the legs and have internal springs. I'd like that 501 in the collection.

The point I was trying to make Maurice was not so much the frame differences but the difference in what the models were called here as opposed to the 74.5 thing...and to make the point that the frames were factory modified. I agree on numbers sold....Just Wheelsmith alone would have sold more in a month than Blair Harley's full year allocation for Oz and that was only one small So-Cal shop.