Maicowerk A. G., known by its trade name Maico, is a family-owned company in the Swabian town of Pfeffingen near Tubingen. Founded in 1926
By Ulrich Maisch.The company initially produced low-capacity two-stroke engines, but after World War II they began to produce their own motorcycles.
Road motorcycles were not popular, but the off-road company became famous all over the world!And thanks to their victories in competitions, they were sold much more than road ones!
The Maico motocross and enduro racing models proved to be very successful in both European and American competitions throughout the 1970s and early 80s. Despite the
lack of financial capital and the support of racing teams with big money, like the Japanese factories Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki, Maico racers proved to be serious
problems for Japanese factories and provided numerous finishes in the top three at the motocross World Championships.Today I will tell you about one of these motorcycles
The Maico 490 Mega 2, which appeared in 1981 and immediately received the title of the greatest open-class motocross motorcycle of all time.
After decades of European domination at all levels of sports, the «upstarts» from Japan began their offensive in the mid-seventies, and ousted rivals from the Old World
in almost every class. While classes 125 and 250cc were completely under the control of the land of the rising sun, the open class still remained the prerogative of the European
manufacturers.In which the Maico brand was in the lead, and Husqvarna was also competing with it.Moreover, these brands had different ideas about the 500 cc class and belonged
to different directions.At that time, some manufacturers believed that the engine of the «five hundred» should be closer to 400cc in volume, so Husqvarna had their model 430 CR,
but others were inclined to believe that the engine close to 500 cc was much better, so the Maico Mega 2 engine had 490 cc.
