Maico Motorcycles

Maico was founded in 1926 by Ulrich Maisch in the small German town of Poltringen, initially servicing cars and selling bicycle and motorcycle parts, before Maisch's sons began building motorcycles and scooters under the Maico name in 1932. After the Second World War, brothers Otto and Wilhelm Maisch rebuilt the company, and through the 1960s and 1970s Maico became one of the world's leading off-road manufacturers, exporting motocross bikes prized for their engineering. Its 1981 model is often cited as having set the basic layout for modern motocross machines. A troubled single-shock rear suspension redesign in 1982, combined with warranty problems in the American market and a family dispute over control of the company, pushed Maico into bankruptcy in 1983; German receivership rules forced it to keep a workforce it could no longer support on collapsing sales. A reduced operation, Maicowerk AG, kept building small numbers of motocross and enduro bikes - sold in the US as "M-Star" for legal reasons - through 1986.