Maico 490 Overrated?

[090]

Talking to Holeshot buddy(laughing) about his post of most overrated bike(mmm theres a thread!) with a reference to the mighty 490. What was the deal there. Was it in the running in the champs that year? Did they not secure the right riders? I saw 2 490's in S.E Qld and they were sweepers,chasing the whole field home.Can anyone tell me why the best mxer EVER never got the results? And while your at it,tomorrows lotto numbers(got to buy that 490 on ebay )

[Tahitian_Red]

I have a friend who is an Expert rider and he regularly stomps 81 490's on his 83 CR480, but that doesn't mean the 81 490 wasn't the best twin shock package to ever go out a factory door.  By the way he has been beaten by an 83 490! I had a 77 AW400 for awhile and sold it before ever riding it (needed an engine rebuild), so I'm not a Maicophile.

In 79 the KX250 was probably the best bike for sale, but I didn't see or hear of any winning races, because all the fastest riders were on tricked out Red Rockets. (which had it's design problems)  If there had been more Kawasaki dealers to sponsor the faster riders and a booming aftermarket business focused on the KX, things may have been different.

A couple of years ago I read a major magazine 250F shootout and all through the article they ragged on the KTM.  When I read the lap time stats for the test riders, all but one had their fastest time on the KTM.  Go figure.

I guess my point would be you can't always trust how something runs on paper or in bench racing sessions, but in the case of the 81 490 I believe the hype is true.

[Maico31]

From what i remember all the best riders were on jap bikes in '81. I guess the japanese had a lot more money to throw at the riders and in the US they had full factory single shock works bikes that would've been better than any twin shock 490 Maico. I don't even think Maico had a good rider riding the 500 GP's in '81.

[firko]

It's all pretty simple. In '81 Maico had bugger all money due to the 1980 model being less than brilliant and not selling that well. At the same time the Japs had a bottomless moneypit and had bought up any rider capable of finishing on the podium. Maico had lost Noyce, Neil Hudson and Heinz Kingadner in previous years to Japanese money so even though the bike was better than even the Jap works bikes, the factory couldn't afford decent riders. The same happened in the US where they had lost Magoo Chandler for the same reasons.

After Motocross Action, in the 490s first ever press test proclaimed it "the best motocross bike in history" they dealers couldn't keep up the demand. GP success didn't matter one iota to the factory when they sold more 490s in '81 than Honda sold throughout their entire range. Punters were winning their local races all over the world and that sold more bikes than winning GPs.

Even though they couldn't front a decent MXGP team, in enduros, it was a different story. At the '81 ISDE Maico won the manufacturers trophy and even though Aussie Jeff Ballard finished on a silver due to tyre problems, he blitzed the final day special motocross test ahead of team mates Franncu and Gerit Wolsink. He went on to become the greatest ISDE rider of all time and he puts the initial ipetus to his career down to the Maico being so bloody good.

Aussie importer Ross King imported far more enduro 490s than motocrossers and that is where their Aussie success lay. Laurie Alderton, Porky Eldridge, Chris Cater and many more enduro biggies won everything in sight on Maicos in '81.

Sadly itall came to an end a year later when the factory got it all wrong and released the single shock '82 model with nowhere near enough development. It failed miserably and the factory never recovered.

My old unrestored 490

[Lozza]

Firko do you if some of the legendary German tuners that were pretty active around that time had any input/consulting to the Maico factory.Blokes like Helmut Fath,Dr Joe Erlich(Champagne Joe) or even Walter Kaaden himself?? Port layout is miles ahead of anything in the era and would still work a treat on most engines today.Definitely not over rated as far as the bike goes. 

[firko]

I can't answer that Loz but it's a good question to put to my ex Maico factory pal Ulrich. I'll jet him off an email tonight. I've always wondered who is the genius responsible for the Maico engine myself. I know it wasn't any of the Maisch family. The only downside is the Belville washer clutch setup. Otherwise they're bulletproof.