For readers that are wondering what I meant by Maicos history I will explain .
Maico was taken over by the 2 sons at some point and the son in charge of ordering hubs and gears from vendors decided they could save some moneyby skipping the heat treating process .
Wheels were exploding and gears shredding on many bikes in '83. One racer was killed ... warranty claims were costing them a fortune ! All of this followed the 1982 issue of miscalculating the linkage geometry and shock length on my model (Alpha1).
So Maicos went from being the most revered and feared MX bike in the world to bankruptcy in 2 short years !
1981 Miaco 490s are still considered the best open class MX bike ever !