Maico question

Indy,

No the 83 reed top end won’t fit the Magum lower end,

The 83 & up reed cylinders have much bigger transfer ports, thus the mounting studs are spaced farther apart.

I have both a 81 & 83 490, it’s obvious just by looking at the cylinders that they are very different.

Certainly its not a bolt on operation. Would require milling out and matching the mag cases to the 500 cylinder and re drilling for the base studs if there would even be enough room after machining the cases to the cylinder. Some welding may be involved. Also the rod is different between the 440 and 490/500 motors. Working on an 84 500 SC resto myself, have high hopes for it if I don't run out of $$ first! Good luck with your project.

Thanks for the good info, guys. I appreciate it.
It's hard to find much about the post 1982 bikes. They are probably the most rare of all Maicos, I would think. I'd like to have an 83-85 air-cooled bike one day....
I'll just keep my 1980 as a 440.

bigmaico wrote:

Indy,

No the 83 reed top end won’t fit the Magum lower end,

The 83 & up reed cylinders have much bigger transfer ports, thus the mounting studs are spaced farther apart.

I have both a 81 & 83 490, it’s obvious just by looking at the cylinders that they are very different.

Was it Todd Tracy who built the twin shock 490 out of the single shock frame? And took the later NOS watercooled engine and fitted the air cooled top end on it? That bike was trick.

bigmaico wrote:

Indy,

No the 83 reed top end won’t fit the Magum lower end,

The 83 & up reed cylinders have much bigger transfer ports, thus the mounting studs are spaced farther apart.

I have both a 81 & 83 490, it’s obvious just by looking at the cylinders that they are very different.

newmann wrote:

Was it Todd Tracy who built the twin shock 490 out of the single shock frame? And took the later NOS watercooled engine and fitted the air cooled top end on it? That bike was trick.

Those MaicoOnly guys in the UK that were building the 'S1' Maicos used the single-shock frame and late engine and converted them to twin-shocks. I don' think they exist anymore, though.

bigmaico wrote:

Indy,

No the 83 reed top end won’t fit the Magum lower end,

The 83 & up reed cylinders have much bigger transfer ports, thus the mounting studs are spaced farther apart.

I have both a 81 & 83 490, it’s obvious just by looking at the cylinders that they are very different.

newmann wrote:

Was it Todd Tracy who built the twin shock 490 out of the single shock frame? And took the later NOS watercooled engine and fitted the air cooled top end on it? That bike was trick.

Joe,

Yes it was Todd Tracy & Randy Howell that had Guus Mulders build the bikes.

i have the air cooled top end that was on Todd's bike, he took it off when he sold the bike.

it only has about 10 total rides on the cylinder, it still has the factory hone marks on if I remember right.

One of these days when I get healed up from the latest surgery, I'll put my 83' together.

What was the advantage of converting the single shock frame to twin rather than just sticking with the existing twin shock chassis? The original has the reputation for being one of the best handling bikes ever.

ATKpilot99 wrote:

What was the advantage of converting the single shock frame to twin rather than just sticking with the existing twin shock chassis? The original has the reputation for being one of the best handling bikes ever.

I never knew that MO used the single shock frame on the S1 models I thought that they came with new frames Would be no advantage in performance compared to the 1981 frame The reason that they were probably used would be that they would be easy to get The front wheel is 50 mm closer to the engine Not sure how much difference it makes to the handling compared to the 1981 frame Can remember asking could a 1983 barrel be fitted to the 1981 engine and I think it could be done it was 15 year ago so not 100% sure if I am right My memory is getting bad!

What ever happened to Guus? I bought my Maico from him in '01.

There is a 1973 Maico for sale on ebay in Britain with a 490 top end on it Not sure how someone managed to get it to fit