1983 Other Makes MAICO

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MAICO 490, Sand Spider 1983 It was 1983, Michael Jackson introduced the world to the Moonwalk, the 76ers swept the Lakers in the NBA finals, the final episode of M*A*S*H aired to an audience of 125 million people, and West Germany’s finest off road motorcycle manufacturer, Maico, delivered unto the universe the legendary 490, Sand Spider. The big 490 motor for 1983 is considered by many to be the best of the bunch, as the motor had been completely revamped to up the “white knuckle” Maico power, and mirror the successful engineering of the Japanese big bores with a spring clutch, straight cut gears and a reed valve intake. Many felt it was the most responsive Maico ever, and the horsepower was off the charts at 53, on a 224lb dry, 243lb full tank and oiled up wet racing machine. Of course while the motor was the stuff legends are made of, the suspension design flaw that reared its really ugly head in 1982 with the 490 Alpha was getting better, but the “Ferrari” used Corte Cossa shocks were crap. They collapsed, they exploded, they imploded, and they generally met their demise with any word that contains “ploded”! Of course Ohlins were the ticket to fixing this issue on any of these single shock 490 Maico’s, and still is to this day. Needless to say these big bore beasts are becoming harder and harder to find, and since they “ain’t makin’ anymore of dem der Maico’s”, every year it seems like less and less current owners are inclined to sell. You can’t blame them, pretty sure if you invested your money into a bunch of Maico’s 490’s after the crash of 2009, you’d have easily doubled your money by now, and you could afford to buy more Maico’s. Of course they’d probably have to be stored in every square inch of your house or better yet your apartment, what fun that would be! Of course; on second thought you might want to check with your spouse on that matter first! Moving on, what we have here is a fine example of a 1983 Maico, Sand Spider. Yes it is the 5 speed desert model, and I always found it very cool that Maico named a bike after an insect for 1983, and stuck a graphic of a spider on the fuel tank! Now-a-days we tend to have bikes with names that sound like the answer to an advanced math question, example: KTM 450 SXF FE, wow, pretty sexy! I purchased this fine piece of precision West German engineering at an estate sale a few years back, some of the work had been done to the bike already (I imagine done the previous owner, but he was not there to ask). It ran great, but was missing some parts, some plastic, the chain, the rubber manifold for the reed cage was a little dry rotted, and the tires and tubes were brittle. The suspension on this bike works great, the rims have a few normal scratches but are true, new Pirelli tires and tubes front and back, and this has stupid crazy power and gorilla compression! Thank God for the compression release, but it still takes man leg to ignite this magical eye watering machine. This is a nice bike, not perfect, as I reserve that for the 1972 Miami Dolphins, and Bo Derek in that movie “10”! That said, this is a really, really nice example of a Maico, 490 Sand Spider. The good news, NO RESERVE, like all of my auctions you could get this bike for the price of a bag of your favorite flavored Doritos! As for my vintage motocross riding friends in Europe, Australia, Japan, etc., hey, if you want to bid you go right ahead my dirt crusted brothers! The bike came from West Germany, so maybe a homecoming is in order! If you are in the good old U.S. of A., a 1000.00 deposit is due within 24 hours at the close of auction from the winning bidder, and paid in full within 72 hours, no exceptions please. Even my crazy cousin Eddie gotta pay on time if he had any money to bid! If you bid from overseas you need to make a deposit equal to 50% of your winning bid within 24 hours, and pay in full within 72 hours. I will gladly store the bike for up to 30 days while you arrange shipping, and I will gladly interface with your shipper and give you my 2 cents on shipping if you’d like. That said, there will be a 40.00 per day storage charge on day 31, and every day aft. If you leave it long enough to where you owe me in storage fees what you paid for the bike, well, I got a new Maico! More good news! I accept Paypal, bank wires, and of course cash! Bidders, you need to contact me if you have zero feedback prior to bidding. This 1983 Maico 490 Sand Spider will come with a State Of California DMV Bill Of Sale, and my sincere prayers that you don’t loop this out in your driveway in front of your friends! Good luck bidding!