MXA PHOTO OF THE DAY: THE GREATEST MOTOCROSS BIKE EVER?

The year? 1981. The bike? Maico 490 Mega 2. Track? Saddleback Park. Often considered to be the greatest motocross bike of all-time, the 1981 Maico had the torquiest engine built up to the time, could turn on a dime, had great forks and oozed German coolness. Okay, the stock wheels would unravel in the first ride, the brake shoes had to be arced and the shocks need triple-rate springs with cross-over tubes to hold the bike up, but loyal Maico guys didn’t mind. They knew that the end product would be a bike that almost rode itself. If you raced at Saddleback Park this is the bike you chased, but never caught.