1967 Maico 360 Scrambler - 3-Page Vintage Motorcycle Road Test Article

Description

1967 Maico 360 Scrambler - 3-Page Vintage Motorcycle Road Test Article
Original, Vintage Magazine Article
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
MAICO 360 SCRAMBLER
As versatile as any ISDT works special :
A powerful beast that goes like fury—
A precision machine, a real trials plonker
In European motocross, the faithful old
5OOcc 4-stroke single is just about dead.
Dead at the hands of overgrown 250cc
ring-dings, which appear to have no
respect for tradition or what would best
be the proper order of things. It is not
seemly for the mighty 500 bangers to be
humbled by little 2-stroke engined toys—
but it happens anyway. First the 2-strokes
swept the boards in their “natural”
250cc class—and then someone noticed
that the 250s were getting around faster
than the 350s. Inevitably that someone
overbored a 250cc 2-stroke, to sneak it
into the 350cc races. That ploy worked,
and from there it was only logical that
full-sized 350 2-strokes should be devel-
oped. These, in turn, were faster than
the 500cc 4-strokes, and a new round of
overboring began. The “360” 2-strokes
are sprouting everywhere, and have been
so successful that they are even appearing
in other than pure motocross form.
Maico, a West German firm, has
followed this line of development very
closely. Their successful 250cc engine,
with a 67mm x 70mm bore and stroke,
was stretched to a 350 by adding 4mm
to its stroke and taking the bore out to
77mm. To get a 360, they use the same
bore, but take the stroke out another
2mm, to 76mm. Interestingly, all of these
engines are currently in production and
most parts are interchangeable. They
even share the same carburetor and com-
pression ratio, but somehow their charac-
ter varies greatly. The 250 motorcross
is high-strung and snappish. The 350
motocross is brutally powerful, with a
tendency to get the bit between its teeth
and go like fury even when that wasn’t
exactly what its rider had in mind. And
then there is the 360enduro model (which
the distributors, for reasons we do not
quite understand, have labeled “Scram-
bler.”) This 360 comes close to being all
things to all men. In sheer power it is
well into the tiger class; yet it can be
ridden like a trials plonker, hauling itself
slowly through mud, rockpiles -or what-
have-you with the engine slogging along
barely above an idle.
It’s vastly accommodating nature may
come from the fact that the Maico 360
enduro (pardon us; scrambler) is a true
ISDT replica—as close to being a real
“works” special as a production motor-
cycle can get, and the works-specials
one sees in the ISDT are, above all,
agreeable to widely varied riding condi-
tions. If nothing else, you’ll look like a
champ, riding the newest from Maico. It’s
all very business-like with solo seal,
knobby tires and very high exhaust pipe.
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