While it could be argued from several standpoints, we can say with reasonable evidence that Maico produced the first two-stroke, purpose-built dirt bikes to reach North America. They didn’t come in great quantities at first, may have had lights installed, and didn’t (at least in the mid-1950s) resemble our modern idea of an off-road motorcycle, […]
An examination of the unique business model of retail sales, as the “motorcycle boom” of the late sixties and early seventies reached the United States. This was a time when hardware stores, used car dealerships, individual racers – and, nearly anyone with a few hundred dollars and some extra space – could become a dealer. […]
The Vintage Motor Company is proud to release part 3 of 3 of our series on motorcycle personalization and modifications. New readers are encouraged to read part 1 of the series located here. Part 2 is located here. Having discussed general aspects of motorcycle modification, we’ll regroup and return to the specific aspects of the […]
Vintage Motor Company is pleased to present a three-part series on why Maico riders modified their bikes–and why owners of motor vehicles are still motivated by the same desires The pick-up truck bounced into an open dirt patch on the Pennsylvania hillside. It came to rest abruptly; a drawn-out scratch of the emergency brake finalized […]
“You don’t test a 501; it tests you.”[1] Maico was known as the company which made big-displacement motorcycles, the best. Though it produced smaller ones, it was Maico’s larger motorcycles that forged its reputation. During the company’s prime, as has been previously noted, over half the machines on the starting line of an […]
RACING: HOPE, IMAGE, REALITY THE SUCCESS YEARS: AKE JONSSON “Everything was possible:” the 1971 World 500cc Championship 1971 was another successful year for Maico and Jonsson. It did, however, also hold one of motorcycle racing’s bitterest stories of poor luck and defeat, for both him and Maico. Jonsson, while leading the 500cc championship series […]
Part 1: The Success Years: Ake Jonsson “Watch Ake slice inside his line and pass him, seemingly with no effort. What makes a man ride like this?”[1] “I think Ake was probably the best motocross rider, ever.”[2] The Vintage Motor Company is proud to release part 1 of a 2 piece series […]
(From the Beginning to the 1970s) The cubist, brightly-colored motorcycles that fascinated American racers originated in a small automobile repair shop in post-World War I Germany. Maico (“Maisch & Company”) was formed in Poltringen, an industrial town in the southwest corner of Germany. The year was 1926—the same year the reparations-wracked and starving country was […]
The Maico – The People and the Culture As the premier tool used by the most dedicated racers of the time, I see the Maico motorcycle as an excellent touchstone for this little-studied American group. By analyzing the motorcycle as material culture and studying the relationship between this machine and the people who interacted with […]
By David Russell Introduction Most Americans would profess to some basic knowledge of the culture and history of motorcycling in this country. Some among them have likely encountered Hunter S. Thompson’s Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga , and may have at least attempted to absorb Robert M. Persig’s Zen and the Art […]