BIKES YOU’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE: 2009 ATK INTIMIDATOR 700cc TWO-STROKE

Dirt Bike Magazine’s Pete Murray on the ATK Intimidator.

In 2009 ATK decided to import the Maico 700 and rebadge it as the ATK 700 Intimidator. The ATK 700cc two-stroke was a short-lived project brought to the U.S. by Frank White of ATK. Even though it says ATK on the side of the tank it was the last vestige of Maico. After family problems caused the break-up of Maico in the mid ’80s, the tooling and the intellectual rights went to a Dutch company. The gigantic two-stroke motor, as it turned out, was great to power sidecars, and that’s what the company specialized in for the next 30 years. The engine was actually pioneered by Axle Koestle and built by Hermannn Walgenbach for one of the many break-away Maico firms that rose after Maico’s demise.

A Honda CR500 piston in an ATK 700 cylinder.

With the ATK 700 you received a mighty 685cc two-stroke that pumped out 78 horsepower and boasted a top speed in excess of 110 mph. It had an MSRP of $12,995. It also weighed just 238 pounds dry. Most people couldn’t handle the power this beast puts out—and there was a 620cc engine if you felt that you needed a little less power, but it was still too much.

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