Help needed with my bike

[hd50el]

Hello, I am new to the forums, and am in need of some help with a recently aquired bike. I have no idea what I have. Someone removed all of the decals, and the only thing I can find on it is the frame number, which is HMX3660360-LAP0092. The engine has no markings on it at all that I can find, and doesn't even have the displacement on the jug. It is water cooled, and the kick start and shift levers are on the left side, and the chain drive is on the right side. The only parts that have markings on them are the rims (Spain), the radiator cap (Italian wording), and the front caliper (Brembo). It has red bodywork, and the seat was originally blue. It seems like it might be in the 400cc-500cc range. I have taken some pictures of it in the hopes that someone will be able to tell me what I have, so I can try to aquire parts to repair it.
Please email me for the link to the pictures, as I cannot post the link here.
Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thanks,

John C. Smith

 

[hd50el]

Hi, I was just informed that my bike is a Maico 500 circa 84-85. Now I just need to find a source for parts. Thanks,

John

 

[IndyMX]

Hi, I was just informed that my bike is a Maico 500 circa 84-85. Now I just need to find a source for parts. Thanks,

John

Nice!! Would love to see some pics of it!

 

[hd50el]

The photos can be seen by going to my homepage that I linked through my profile. It's a little rough, but I think I can bring it back to life if I can source all of the parts. Many thanks,

John

 

[IndyMX]

That'll be a pretty nice scoot when you're done.

 

[hd50el]

I hope so, as I'm just getting back into off road bikes after 15 years. I rode on the street for a long time, but I had a couple close calls, and one accident due to negligent drivers, and I decided to sell my street bike, and go back to off road where I don't have to worry about stupid drivers.

The parts that are missing off of the Maico 500 are:
carb and throttle cable
kick start lever
spark arrestor
clutch lever w/mount
front brake lever
rear brake rod

The engine is seized, so I'm going to locate piston, rings, gasket set, and seals, and do a total rebuild on the engine. The front fender is not the correct one, but I have found a source for new plastic bodywork. I hope to have this one done by late spring, as I have five other bikes to rebuild after this one. Thanks,

John

 

[rmc_olderthandirt]

I love the bailing wire on the rear brake!

Seriously, what is the attraction to this bike? That bike looks like it has been set aside for quite a while and looks like it wasn't cared for very well when it did run last. You could spend a small fortune getting that engine going again if it needs bottom end work, clutch rebuild, transmission rebuild, etc.

Just a top end, find a replacment carb, and all the missing pieces would probably cost a lot more than what I would think a bike of that vintage would be worth.

Rod

 

[hd50el]

Well, I wouldn't call it an attraction, I just tend to take on more challenging projects. I take my time, however long it takes, and eventually gather together everything that I need to restore a bike. Cost isn't a big factor to me, as I usually wind up with little or no money in my bikes, due to the fact that I have a lot of local sources for parts, and I do a lot of bartering for the things that I need.

 

[VintageDirt]

I bought one of those new back in 85. Those were the dark days for Maico, in fact they weren't allowed to call them Maico in the US, that's why you can't find any markings on the engine. They were called, MStar. The engine is basically the same as the 83 490, which is pretty good. You'll spend a ton of money getting that thing going again. I've had good luck getting parts from www.usmaico.com and www.nwmaicoandcz.com , but not so good luck with www.vintageiron.com . Mine was the MX model, which was the GM 500 and I raced a few desert races in the old ADRA series in Arizona. With the MX fuel tank I was lucky to make 25 miles and the way the radiators stuck out, if you tip over you're gonna bend one. The rear tire won't last much longer than your fuel. I once tried to do the Mile High Enduro on mine and that was the longest, muddiest, most painful day of my life. Here are some photos from back in the day:

Mile High1
Mile High head banging tunnel
ADRA, Heber 100?
Heber 100 for sure
Gila Bend GP
And another Gila Bend GP

 

[john221ex]

Attn: vintage dirt

What ever happened to the ADRA?
I ran those while attending ASU in the late '70's and had a great time avoiding mineshafts!
Gila Bend in particular was really great.
Did you get to ride Snowflake?

John

 

[VintageDirt]

Did you get to ride Snowflake?

John

If I remember, I did Gila Bend, Snowflake/Heber, Cherry Creek, and it seems like one other when I had my 84 250 MXC. A lot of guys from NM used to go down there for the Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco) race, I think it started in Mexico just across the border from Lukeville, AZ and then went down to the big party at Rocky Point. I think the race was actually called Sonoita to Rocky Point 100. Every one always talked about getting a bucket of beer and a bucket of shrimp.

 

[robbie_new]

universal

alot of the parts you listed, as long as your okay with it can be bought brand new as some of the parts are universal i had to do this for a bultaco that i had

 

[hd50el]

Well, I pulled the engine out, and tore it down. I found that the piston was not seized, but the big end of the rod was locked solid, so I guess I'm going to have to find another rod. A friend of mine is in the motorcycle salvage business, and he happened to have a bunch of NOS Maico pistons that he bought 25 years ago, so I got lucky to find one that is the next oversize complete with ring, pin, and clips. So now my parts list for the engine rebuild looks like this:

Rod assy
Kicker shaft
Gasket set
Seal kit
Clutch push rod
Clutch hub spring and bolt
Water pump bearing
Crankshaft clutch drive gear nut

The clutch push rod, and the clutch hub bolt and spring were missing because someone had the clutch apart at some time. I guess that whoever had it before thought that the engine locked up due to a problem with the clutch.
So now I'm going to start gathering all of my parts up so I can get the engine rebuilt. It will take a little longer to rebuild this bike, but that's ok, as I have six other bikes I can work on while I'm getting everything together. That's all for now. Thanks guys,

John

 

[VintageDirt]

If you want your kicker parts to live, use the compression release everytime you start the bike. That's assuming you get start it someday.