1981 Maico 490 VS A 2003 KTM 525SX

ADB’s Test of Time: A 1981 Maico 490 Mega 2 vs a 2003 KTM 525SX
(and you’ll be surprised by the results!)

A Score To Settle

words:Mark Firkin
pics:the darkroom nudist

With more than a score (21 years, in fact) separating these two purebred race machines we decided to pit them against each other in a bar-to-bar brawl to see just how far we have come in race-bike development.

The Maico machine was widely regarded as the king of the open class during its era, and, more than 20 years on, the KTM 525SX now fills those shoes. So how far have we come? Before we get to that, a little background on the Maico to keep you sub-twenties in the picture ...

In the Beginning ...

1981 was a a very good year for motocross bikes. Yamaha released the wonderful YZ465, Honda and Suzuki released their first linkaged, rising-rate rear-suspension motocrossers and the small Maico factory in Germany released an open-class bike that many have claimed is the greatest motocross bike ever built, the 490 Maico Mega 2.

It didn’t come as a complete surprise: Maico had established a pretty solid reputation over the years for producing fast and good-handling machines, albeit with some irritating quality control foibles. The model preceding the Mega 2, surprisingly, called the Mega 1, was a major disappointment to Maico fans. It was too tall, prone to frame breakages and most importantly, gave away horsepower to Yamaha and KTM. Taking aboard suggestions from their American dealer network, most notably California Maico dealer Wheelsmith Motorcycles, the Maico engineers responded with the phenomenal Mega 2 490 in early 1981.

A brute of a bike, it had an earth-shattering power spread and the legendary handling that Maico was famous for. People bought them in droves. In fact, in 1981 Maico sold more 490 Maicos than Honda did their entire motocross range! The public weren’t the only ones to buy the big Maicos. All of the Japanese factories bought several of the bikes and tore them down to every last nut and bolt to try and figure out why such a simple bike could be so bloody good in every department. It took three years before the Japanese companies worked out how to re-create the power spread of the Maico. And even then they could only come close to it. They never matched it. Ever.

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A finely-tuned, well-balanced piece of machinery and one of the only good things to come from the dreadful ’80s – the Maico 490 Mega 2.

Why was the Maico so Good?

In a word, balance. Whether it be by good luck or just plain good engineering, the engineers at Maico managed to find a certain balance between brute horsepower and precise handling that hadn’t been seen before. It’s an indisputable fact that the more power you put into a chassis the worse it will handle.

Large amounts of torque and horsepower stress any frame and suspension, causing changes in geometry which translate into weird handling traits. Some machines suffer this malady more than others. Maico got the balance just right.

The key to the Maico is of course the engine. During the decade leading up to 1981, Maico had always been the horsepower king with its range of 440cc motocrossers. Suddenly Yamaha had released the fantastic YZ465 and Maico’s legendary 440 engine was no longer the top fueller of the class. What Maico did to counteract the new-found opposition was to take the already successful 440 engine and bore the shit out of it. The bore was increased from 82mm to 86.5mm but very little else was changed.

While the Japanese were by now using water cooling, reed valves and in some cases, variable exhaust ports, the Maico design was almost a throwback to the simple old days. The air-cooled, piston port single had none of those new fandangled gizmos. Nope, they got the desired effect with just plain good port design and cubic inches. To add insult to an already pretty basic design, Maico used a 40mm Bing carb. Bings tended to leak, run on and are sometimes difficult to jet. They also work better than anything else on the big Maico.

As perfect as the Maico was in 1981, there was still room for a little improvement. The Corte and Cosso rear shocks didn't have enough rebound damping and were prone to blowing seals. Swedish Ohlins replaced the Italian shocks on the later production runs. The stock front brake cable was too long and light to effect good braking. A shorter cable with less bend and thicker gauge wire helped a lot. A cable swap also helped the clutch pull. Maicos were cursed with the hardest clutch pull in the business, but a switch to a teflon-lined cable and careful routing helped solve the problem. Simple stuff, but as we’ve said, the bike was pretty much perfect out of the crate.

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In the drag race stakes, the Maico 490 was never too far behind the KTM 525SX as the boys pitched in to the first turn. All agreed that with a spruced-up motor the 490 would be every bit the match for the 525.

The Test ...

Over the years the prowess of the big Maico has taken on a sort of urban mythology status. Ever since the first track tests rolled off the presses back in 1981, the bike has been compared to everything except a top fuel dragster. All other comparable bikes were shuffled off into the also-ran file.

So, to celebrate the Maico Mega 2 490’s 21st birthday, we decided to take a 490 Maico to Dargle and see for ourselves just how the bike compares with the current king of the open class – the KTM 525SX. To help us in our rather loose shootout, KTM Australia supplied a shiny new 525 and 19-year-old factory racer, Jay Marmont. Evolution class No 1 plate holder Roy Gay was also on hand with both of his 490s – one a show bike (with modern shocks and graphics that we used for the static shots) and the other in race trim.

To really give the test a kick fair square in the goolies, we called in the great Geoff Ballard. Nobody on the planet has had more success aboard big Maicos than Geoff. His exploits at the Six-Days aboard 490s in the early ’80s are the stuff that legends are made of.

Our test procedure saw us swap all three racers around on the two bikes to gauge their opinions on the various facets of the 490 and how it compares with the new KTM. The test was always going to be flawed because of the newness of the KTM and the rather well-used condition of the Maico. The concept of the test however was never to actually compare them as race bikes. On an even footing the KTM is far superior. What we were looking for was to see just how far we’d come in 21 years and hopefully along the way we’d see if the Maico hype had any basis for truth.

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The Spec Sheets

1981 Maico
2003 KTM 525

ENGINE:
Two-stroke single
Four-stroke single

Capacity:
488cc
510.4cc

Bore/stroke:
86.5x83
95x72

Compression ratio:
12:1
11:1

Engine cooling:
Air
Liquid cooling

Transmission:
5-speed
4-speed

Horsepower:
53@7000rpm
47 (KTM doesn’t officially release hp/torque figures)

CHASSIS:

Frame material:
Chrome moly steel
Chrome moly steel/alloy subframe

Swingarm:
Chrome moly steel
Aluminium

Steering rake:
28.5 degrees
26.5 degrees

Steering trail:
12.45cm
11.18mm

Wheelbase:
152.42cm
148.08cm

Ground clearance:
37.08cm
38.10cm

Seat height:
95.76cm
92.46cm

Dry weight:
101kg
107kg

Fuel tank capacity:
10 litres
7 litres

SUSPENSION:

Forks:
Maico conventional 42mm
WP USD 48mm

Travel:
31cm
29.46cm

Rear suspension:
Corte Cosso, gas-charged
Twin shocks, no linkage
WP, gas-charged
Single shock, no linkage

Travel:
31cm
32cm

WHEELS/BRAKES:

Front:
1.6x21 Akront rim 5.3 inch inch
Single leading shoe drum brake
1.6x21 Excel rim 260mm
Brembo twin spot disc

Rear:
2.15x18 Akront rim, 6.2-inch dia drum .
300x21 and 4.50x18 Metzeler tyres
2.15x19 Excel rim, 220mm Brembo disc
80/100x21 and 110/90x19 Metzler tyres

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The Test Crew

Geoff Ballard (centre):

In 198O Geoff Ballard went to his second ISDE, held that year in France, and, despite getting lost and finishing on a silver, became an overnight legend. Riding a factory Maico 540 he blitzed the final motocross test ahead of French motocross champion Gilles Francu and legendary Dutch motocross ace, Gerrit Wolsink. The following year in Italy he rode a similar Maico to the first of his eleven gold and five silver medals and finished third in the motocross special test. In 1982 in Czechoslovakia three flat tyres put him back on a silver again but his blistering pace on the 504 Maico saw him win the final-day motocross test by 17 seconds!

The following year he signed with the American Can Am factory and eventually moved there. Geoff rode in the US Trophy team for the next three years before his return to Australia in 1984. From that day Geoff has been at the pointy end of the Aussie and international enduro scene and was an integral part in the formulation and success of the ADB Thumper Nats.

In 1997, Geoff prepared a 1981 490 Maico for the Italian ISDE in a bid to replicate his first gold medal performance in Italy back in 1981. Unfortunately a wet ignition caused an uncustomary DNF and the end to a cool experiment. Geoff still owns the Maico and operates the successful Ballard’s Offroad shop in Penrith.

Roy Gay (left):

Roy has been around racing for a long time, varying his action from vintage to evo motocross. Roy also races his 2002 520SX KTM in long track speedway.

He formerly raced Superbikes at the top level and still has the occasional road ride. He’s a sparky and operates his own RTG Electrical business in Sydney’s west. He is currently the top Evo 500 rider in the land.

Jay Marmont (right):

Wollongong-raised 19-year-old Jay Marmont has been racing since he was five years old. He quickly moved up to Kawasaki ’60s then ’80s before entering the senior ranks three years ago. He is now in his second year as Craig Anderson’s teammate at KTM and
finished sixth in the Open class of the Australian Motocross Championship in 2002.

We’ve Come A Long Way, Baby

The first thing the riders noticed was the noise of the Maico. In this day of super-smooth, water-cooled, well-silenced engines, the old, finned, air-cooled Maico harked back to a simpler time when noise wasn’t a major problem. Jay, who has only ever ridden water-cooled bikes throughout his career, was freaked out by the rattles, whines and pops that reverberated up through his helmet. He thought the Maico was going to shit itself while he was on board so it took him a while to come to grips with revving the big two-stroke.

Geoff Ballard also commented on the excessive noise coming from the 490, noting that it sounded as if it needed a piston. Roy agreed with the other riders, admitting that his trusty race bike had been through a rather tough race schedule in recent weeks, including a rare seizure at Barrabool a couple of weeks earlier.

Brakes were the next major shock to young Jay. The single leading shoe drums fitted to the Maico paled in significance compared with the superb Brembo systems fitted to the 525. Maico brakes were never the leaders in their field, even back in 1981, so that was the next big shock to our intrepid KTM punter. He had the look of horror on his face after his first attempted stop on the Maico. Ballard and Gay, both evolving from a generation where drum brakes were all you could get, didn’t mind the drums so much.

However they still admitted that they were at least three bike lengths slower to stop than the KTM. Ergos on both bikes speak loudly about how far we’ve come more than just about anything. The Maico was as trick and user-friendly as they came in 1981 but compared with the KTM, it shows its age. The KTM features big, wide footpegs, tapered handlebars, and a featherweight clutch pull due to its hydraulic action. The Maico had the typical iron man standard clutch pull, and the tiniest of footpegs. I guess they must have all been like that back then but they sure look small compared with what’s on offer today. The rest of the ergo package came down to “same stuff, different era”. The Maico and KTM share the same basic plastic clothing. Only the fashion has changed.

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Out Of The Gate

Let’s be upfront here. In any motocross race on almost any track the modern 525 KTM would whoop the Maico. Twenty-one years is a long time and the progress that motocross engineering has made over the past two decades is evident when you ride the KTM. The KTM stops better and has better suspension, although Maico’s self-designed 42mm forks are as good as one gets as far as conventional forks go.

The KTM engine has a much smoother power delivery than the “big bang” Maico hit. All of our test pilots stated that the KTM is not going to be knocked off its pedestal as the open-class king except for one very important thing – out-and-out speed.

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The drag race to the first corner

It is here that one starts to understand just why the 490 Maico has been surrounded by so much hype over the years. In the drag race to the first corner (or beyond) the Maico is the Big Kahuna.

We lined the bikes up on Dargle’s old, disused motocross track main straight and raced them, with differing rider combos, a dozen or so times. Almost every time the KTM won, but only by half a wheel or less. A couple of times though, the Maico actually got past the KTM. Now, remember back to earlier in the story when we stated that Roy’s Maico was a little sad after a torrid race schedule. We estimated that with a fresh engine the Maico could be about half a bike length quicker than the KTM on average.

While the old Maico might not be the most sophisticated motorcycle ever made, the hype surrounding it is spot on. The Maico 490 Mega 2, despite being in its 21st year, passes the test of time with flying colours. It would take a pretty good (no, great) rider to win on one against modern opposition, but the difference isn’t as great as the 21-year time frame would suggest.

If the Maico was fitted with the KTM’s forks and brakes plus a fresh set of Ohlins or WP (formerly known as White Power) shocks, it might just stick it to a lot of the hot open, class contenders ... Now wouldn’t that be a buzz?

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Bests and Worsts

Worst things about the Maico ...
Jay Marmont:
The brakes are horrible.

Geoff Ballard:
The noise.

Roy Gay:
Nothing.

Best things about the Maico ...
Jay Marmont:
The engine power is great.

Geoff Ballard:
The amazing power spread.

Roy Gay:
Everything.

The KTM

KTM Australia supplied a shiny new 2003 525SX and their hot young rider Jay Marmont for the test. The kid tried to like the Maico, he really did, however he was very glad to both see how it used to be aboard the Maico and get some laps on the new KTM.

The new 525 (it’s still the same 510cc) features a lot of new stuff. The main feature is the new 48mm WP fork that is similar to what the factory guys are using. The crank flywheels have been substantially lightened for more throttle zap and a new FCR 41mm carb is now in place. A new camshaft profile along with lighter valve springs are joined by a new, lighter ignition.

The KTM performed admirably and all of the test riders gave it the big thumbs up. The gauntlet has now been thrown down for the hottest open-class bike on the market. It’s going to take a pretty good bike to knock over the KTM, you can bet on that.