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Vintage Resurrection Vintage Resurrection 1979 Maico GS 440 1979 Maico GS 440 By Kurt Flachbart By Kurt Flachbart 34 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com Like many of our vintage features, this old Maico was plucked from the ra ers of my old buddy Howie's barn. Howie was a lover of European big bores as they fit his stocky German frame oh so well. Although How- ie was mostly a Husky guy, he did have a love for the Maico brand and owned many over the years. As for myself, although I've owned a handful of Maico motor- cycles, they seemed to pass through my hands rather quickly before I became in mately familiar with them. It was the '77 AW 440 we resurrected last winter that lit the fire for this interes ng Teutonic manufacturer. Howie was one interes ng person with many posi ve traits, one thing he was not was a maintenance king. Howie always enjoyed the ride to the fullest. At the end of the day, most o en his bikes were ridden hard, put away wet and this old Maico was no different. Howie was a busy man and would rather purchase a new bike every year than spend hours in the shop freshening last year's ride; fortunately, for us, Howie rarely sold a motorcycle. I'm not sure how many years ago this GS 440 was hoisted up into a second stage in his sprawling barn but I'm guessing close to 40 years ago given the fact that I remember it well ai ng up there in the early 90s. Fresh from the spark of that AW 440 project, I reached out to Howie's family, and they so graciously let me hoist down the GS with intent to breathe life into it once again. We all enjoy keeping his memory alive through his toys. It had been quite some me since I'd given the GS a good looking over and in fact, I thought it was a 490. Once we hoisted it down, we found the bike to be all there, an original survivor but in pre y rough shape. Regardless, we love a challenge and loaded it up in the Sprinter and hauled it north to Maine. The first order of business would be a proper deep cleaning. Covered in over three decades of barn dust and a fair amount of sun damage from a s nt le outside, we gave it a good washing and then set it on the li for evalua on. What we found was interes ng yet typical of Howie. The bike exhibited signs of low use such as the original Metzeler res front and rear. Dent-free gold anodized rims with no tell-tale scratches of re changes, minimal foot peg and brake pedal wear, and original bars, grips, and levers told the rest of the story.