As cool as an XL250 powered Maico is, it's not as easy a swap as it looks. The owner of that XL250 powered Maico sometimes pops up on this forum (he actually posted today) so he may be able to walk us through the conversion. Personally I shudder at the thought of chopping up a perfectly good Maico frame for a hot rod. I gave two frames to Les Richters that had been badly "Hondafied" (not by me) so it may be worth dropping him a line. A much simpler and in my opinion better frame swap is to use a Husky frame. Compared to the maico, the engine swap's almost a drop in, engine mounts being the only major mod. As a bonus, because of the extra weight of the Honda engine over that of the Husky, the turning ability of the bike improves noticibly. All of the Husky Honda owners I've spoken to over the years have commented that the Husky handles better with the Honda engine. Go figure that one?
I've built an XL350 Honda a powered Montesa King Scorpion cocked up to look like a VB Cappra and later used the same engine in a CZ after figuring that the Monty conversion weighed more than a stock Honda XL! Mick Bakewell in Armidale still has the old Monty and 'NSW' Ray Atkins (as opposed to 'Victoria' Ray Atkins) has the CZ.
Peter Rowlands owns the Yamaha MX250 powered Maico Dave mentioned. It's a really good bike and although Pete spends a lot of time in the USA these days, he still brings her out for the occasional skid when he's home.
Mike Jolleys XL250 'Maicosport' as it was first built (red) and as it is today(yellow). He's raced the bike for nearly 20 years.
A crap scan of a crap photo of a very cool bike. Peter Rowlands MX250 powered Maico. The bikes in DT trim these days but is an equally good MXer. It's also beenaround since the early days of VMX.
