Maico KR250

[firko]

Among the Christmas cards and bills in yesterday's mail was the attached title document for the little KR250 Maico I purchased a year or so ago. Along with it was the print out of a forum Q&A between a former KR owner and well known German Maico expert Ulrich (can't recall his last name). Ulrich worked for Maico right up to the end and as they shutting down he thankfully retrieved a large amount of the companies production and export records from the skip bins. He used to frequent the Yahoo Maico forum but he told me that he was tired of continuously looking up the paperwork for individuals trying to trace their bikes history so he stopped posting. He's extremely knowledgeable on all things Maico, especially the 60's-80's era so I tend to believe him when he wrote that the flat track KR250 made specifically for the USA market came before the Motoball Special model. Another thing that comes to light, this time on the title document is the bike being a 1968 model. Frank Ronicke's Maico bible gives the 'Motoball' model a 1963 release date so if Ulrich is correct and the short track version came before the motoball model, the date on the title should read 1963 not 1968. Perhaps a misprint occurred somewhere along the way? I'm not trying to wangle a back door acceptance for the pre 65 class either as it fits in fine as a flow on from the '63 release but more to the point, I doubt it'll ever be raced. This is to be a show bike with the possible club day or practice day skid, nothing more.

                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             

[Tahitian_Red]

California titles often have errors.  Two of the ten bikes I have left have typos on the year, but notice the first sold date.  I have a '74 model that was sold in '75 and the title states it is a 1975 model.

[Maico-Mac]

Hey, did you see that on ebay USA (2012 i think) ? :






The first of them i've ever seen 

[firko]

That's the only other one I've seen Marcus. Here's a photo out of Frank Ronicke's 'Maico' book. At least mine will have a proper tank on it once I restore it, thanks to you. I was wondering what the original colour was? Is that blue tank original paint?
                                                                         

[Maico-Mac]

I dont think the colour is original. It's not out of Maico's portfolio.
Normally the Frame was black and the tank red or maybe yellow or blue. But red was the prefered colour in those days 

[firko]

Here's one I bet you've not seen before Marcus.....my 1973 Maico trials bike. It started life as a '73 Maico 250 motocrosser and was built into a trials bike by an unknown genius back in the seventies. It features a complete custom made trials ratio transmission and final drive ratio, Yamaha reed valve/28mm Mikuni, modified squish, + highly modified 1973 MC 250 frame, Wassell tank and much much more
                                                                 
                                                                 

[Maico-Mac]

   I have seen picks in the web before  It's looking very nice, but how does it ride ?
It must have been very difficult to lower the power and get mor torque for trial riding .....

Here is what Maico has build in the 60s:

[firko]

It must have been very difficult to lower the power and get mor torque for trial riding 

You're right Marcus, but I don't profess to know everything the builder did. I do know that the head has been modified, the inlet port narrowed and fitted with a DT Yamaha reed valve block and the earlier mentioned transmission and final drive changes. It works very well as trials bike. I'm a long way from being a proficient trials rider but it goes just about anywhere I try to take it. The last time I rode it was with two mates on modern Gas Gas and Sherco trials bikes and while it's a long way from those two bikes, it (and I) still managed to get everywhere they did. I'd like to let a serious classic trials rider give it a go in an event to see how it compares and to see what further development, if any is needed.