Tag Archives: Maico Technological history

SMALL MAICOS: THE 125s (Continued)

A continuation in our investigation of 125 Maicos; the first part of the series you can find here. Preparation: Getting Ready to Ride             The 125 Maico was a dichotomy. On one hand, it used a superb, unbreakable, fine handling frame. It had excellent suspension. It was light, and the engine produced the most horsepower […]

Early Maicos in the United States

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, […]

Definitions, and the Maico as Material Culture 1.1

1981 Maico 490 t shirt

A Social History of Motorcycle Technology This post and many to follow is a social history of a technology.  By this I mean that it examines an item of technology—in this case the German-made Maico motorcycle—and explores the links between the object and that segment of humankind who interacted with it.