Maicoletta
The super scooter
The reason for this unusual odyssey can be explained in one word, or more precisely, acronym: COVID. After waving goodbye to his faithful conveyance as it sailed out of Sydney Heads, Brendan and his wife Tanya planned to fly to UK, collect the crate, and set out upon a two-up tour of UK, France, Germany and Switzerland. But between the ship sailing and their own departure, scheduled for April 22nd, all hell broke loose, borders were closed, aircraft grounded, and the holiday cancelled. For a while, there was much despair that the Maicoletta would ever be seen again, but thanks to the efforts of the shippers Get Routed, it eventually returned to these shores none the worse for its experience. So before we get into the analysis of Brendan’s beloved Maicoletta, it is worth examining the history of the model itself – perhaps the fleetest of the breed of super scooters emerging from Europe (mainly Germany) in the ‘fifties. The Maico story began two decades earlier, when brothers Wilhelm and Otto Maich (the Mai in Maico) began to think there was an opportunity to join the ranks of German motorcycle manufacturers, dominated at the time by BMW, Zundapp and DKW. They set up shop in a modest way in the city of Würtemburg and commenced production in 1934, initially producing their own frames and cycle parts and sourcing 98cc Ilo and 125cc Sachs engines. But just over the horizon was the conflict that would engulf Europe, and while the ‘big three’ motorcycle manufacturers enjoyed military contracts for their motorcycles, Maico was not so fortunate. The reluctant decision was taken to cease the core business and turn the factory over to the manufacture of aircraft components.
The new direction involved moving Maico to a larger factory in Pfäffingen, and with a lucrative contract from the Lüftwaffe, business boomed. By 1945 however, not just the war but the boom was over, and Maico was once again looking for work. Not surprisingly, they returned to the business they knew best, making motorcycles, and with the larger factory, were in a position to make complete machines and take advantage of the heavy demand for cheap, reliable transport.
The first post-war Maico was a 150cc two-stroke single, launched in 1947. Maico quickly gained a reputation for innovation, quality, and above all, performance. The range swelled to include the M175, a 250cc single, the M250 Blizzard (see
OBA 38), and the fabulous Taifun ( OBA 87), a 350cc and later 400cc twin possessed of an amazing turn of speed. Both the M175 and M250 found favour with the German Federal Forces, which purchased over 10,000 units. ►
The Maich brothers could not fail to notice the impetus surrounding motor scooters, which had grown from spindly Italian basic transport into increasingly sophisticated machines. In 1950, they leapt into that market as well with a curious looking creation called the Maico Mobil. The press soon coined the name “car on two wheels” for the Mobil, and Maico did nothing to dispel the notion. Despite its bulbous bodywork, the Mobil had solid motorcycle origins, with a tubular steel frame with swinging arm rear suspension with Maico’s own telescopic front forks, conventional steel handlebars and the 150cc engine unit from the M150. Onto this chassis was placed body panels of pressed steel and aluminium with a truly massive enclosure for the front wheel, topped by an equally imposing Perspex windshield. During the Mobil’s production run, which lasted until 1955, the engine grew to 175cc and eventually to 200cc, and the transmission from three speeds with a twistgrip control to a motorcycle-style rocking pedal with four ratios in the gearbox.
A testament to the Mobil’s durability is that Dutch photo-journalist and war correspondent Wim Dussel rode one around the world in 1953. He travelled through far-flung regions including Persia, Turkey, China and the USA on his heavily laden machine and apparently suffered no mechanical issues. In 1957 he was off again, this time on a Maicoletta with a small Steib sidecar attached. This trip was recorded in his book “The world is still round”. There was also a marathon journey in a Heinkel bubblecar. He later transferred to four wheels, completing another circumnavigation in a tiny DAF car (towing a caravan) and cycled 6,000km across USA in 1976.
Take Two
Coinciding with the demise of the Mobil, Maico introduced a new design which was much more conventional and importantly, lighter – the Maicoletta. Utilizing the M175 and M250 engines with a four-speed, foot pedal operated gearbox, with chain drive to the rear wheel, the Maicoletta was still a big unit by scooter standards with a very long wheelbase. Complete with a very efficient hydraulically-damped front fork that had been developed on the very successful Maico off-road models, swinging arm rear suspension and fat 14 inch tyres, the Maicoletta was as steady as a rock, even when heavily laden.
With full enclosure of the powerplant restricting air-flow, Maico employed fan-cooling to keep engine temperatures under control.
The Maicoletta specification was indeed impressive, with standard accoutrements such as a steering damper (a gnurled knob under the handlebars), a quality VDO speedometer with a built-in indicator for gear position (as on the M250 and Blizzard), a glove box with “thief-proof lock”, choke lever mounted near the glovebox to eliminate the messy job of tickling the carburettor, full-width hub brakes, a hinged dual seat (which gave access to the fuel tank cap), and full enclosure for the rear chain to prolong life and keep the area clean. An 8-day clock, mounted in the dashboard, was an optional extra.
The entire centre section panelling could be lifted off by removing a single bolt, giving easy access to the power unit and rear suspension. The engine could also be accessed via a large door in the panelling. In 1957, the company extended the range by adding a 277cc engine to the line up, primarily designed for sidecar work. As the company’s brochure said, “The whole family can tour on a Maicoletta combination. No mountain pass is too steep for the Maicoletta. With this machine there is no lame ‘chugging’ up hills merely because the engine is not powerful enough to pull a loaded sidecar.”
While the whole machine in its various engine capacities reeked quality, one component proved to be a very weak link. The luxury of push-button starting was a new experience for most riders, and Maico made much of this feature on the Maicoletta. The reality was somewhat different. What was termed ‘Rock n Roll starting” by the press was actually a Bosch unit that had been developed to fit motorcycling (or motor scootering) needs, embodying light weight, compactness, and cost efficiency. The Bosch ‘pendulum’ unit had its origins in a German tractor powered by a massive 2.5 litre single cylinder two stroke motor and was known officially as the Bosch Combined Dynamo, Rocker-starter and Battery Ignition Unit. This comprised an alternator, an 8-pole stator and a pair of contact breakers and replaced the normal flywheel magneto. An explanation of ►
the process went, “After the initial twist in the normal direction of engine rotation, the starter motor suddenly reverses and swings the crankshaft the other way. This pendulum motion is accelerated until the kinetic energy generated carries the piston over TDC and, with the ignited gas expanding, the engine begins to run under its own power”.
If this unit could crank over the huge tractor engine, the Maicoletta should have been child’s play, and for a while, it was. However the unit soon began to develop problems, and with no kick starter fitted, the only means to commence riding was to push start the Maicoletta – hardly a major sales feature. This deficiency has become synonymous with the model to this day, although there are now solutions at hand.
Throughout the eleven years of Maicoletta production, Maico itself and various energetic dealers around the world kept up a constant stream of information as to the achievements of the model. One such was the December, 1959 expedition to the Isle of Man where a standard and well-used Maicoletta co-ridden by David Gallagher, the Manchester agent, and Harold Rowell, the IoM agent, was punted around the famous TT course over two days. Thick fog and rain hampered the effort, but the results were still outstanding. First, the pair covered 1,000 miles in 22 hours 48 minutes 41 seconds, an average of 43.8 mph which was exceptional given the conditions. But with the weather clearing a second target was aimed at – a 24 hour run that concluded at noon on the second day and saw 1062 miles clocked up at an average speed of 44.26 mph.
The fan club
Brendan vandeZand is a staunch advocate of the Maicoletta, which has a worldwide following and plenty of followers in Australasia. His Maicoletta gets a good workout as often as possible, as he explains. “My favourite riding is in our Victoria/NSW Alpine regions and I’m a big fan of the back-to-basics type rallies, such as the Dargo Rally, and the Maicoletta doesn’t mind a bit of dirt road to get to a good spot. She has done a lot of 500+ km days out touring or participating in our Mille events around the country. “Most people find the “Rock n Roll” Bosch 6 volt pendulum dyna starter problematic as they need careful adjustment to keep operating. After the novelty of resorting to push starting wore thin
(there is no kick starter), these scooters were often parked up with about 25,000 miles on them, usually in pretty good condition. To keep them starting off the key today is still a challenge that few people can get their head around.
“Another clever idea is the fuel pump being a simple thin hose directly from the exhaust into the top of the petrol tank to provide a positive blanket pressure to help keep the fuel feeding to the carb.
The tank sits quite low in relation to the carb so when powering uphill you don’t want a 2 stroke to starve of fuel. However it can be somewhat scary when you have filled it to the brim on a hot day and return from paying for your fuel to find petrol is now running out your exhaust, and when you then anxiously start it, spraying fuel meters behind you as you leave the bowser. Thankfully it hasn’t ignited doing this, yet.
“The engine I’m currently running is a fairly stock 250 cc with a modified crank running a 400 conrod to give the benefit of a needle roller small end.
This also involved some balance factor re-work to suit the heavier rod. In the latter years of production the factory made a special 277 cc version with lower gearing for sidecar use. I have managed to source the components to do a 277 upgrade that will involve boring the cases and more crank balancing to suit the heavier piston. Hopefully this will let me run slightly taller gearing to drop a few revs at cruising speeds.”
Today, the Maicoletta (affectionately known amongst the cognoscente as the ‘Letta’ – Latin for ‘joy’) has a cult following, which is well merited. In the ranks of the European super-scoots, there is none faster, and possibly more carefully designed and executed, than the swift singles from Pfäffingen. ■