Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1540851
November 2025 43 crank case, ala Can Am back in the day. Again, for those unfamiliar with the rotary valve design, it's basically a round disc the size of a CD, mounted di- rectly to the cranksha with a cutout, and med to let the incoming charge into the bo om end (crank case). Rotary valve 2-stroke engines are known for their low-end grunt. Coupled with another car- buretor in the piston port configura on, the Puch Twin Carb made for a broad powerband with an explosive hit on top. No doubt an ingenious design for the day, it also proved to be phenomenal by producing a whopping 51 horsepower! Huge num- bers for the me, since back in the mid-70s, your average big bore 2-stroke struggled to make 40 hp. As for 250's? Your average 250 motocrosser was producing around 30 horsepower... Puch had built a rocket ship! As for the chassis, it was also dripping with trick- ness. Suspenders were furnished by Marzocchi. Forks featured handmade magnesium sliders deliv- ering a full 9 inches of travel – a significant amount during that period. Rear shocks were gas-charged piggybacks mounted in the lay-down posi on, also offering 9 inches of travel. Hubs and brake backing plates were also constructed of magnesium. Frame construc on was also unique, with tubing of lightweight, chrome-moly steel featuring a bolt-on engine cradle. To keep weight to the FIM minimum, the gas tank was constructed of fiberglass. Each and every component was hand-cra ed, some rather crude, since func on, along with the lightest weight possible, was the goal—clearly not an assembly line, produc on machine. Puch's efforts paid off during the 1975 season with Harry Everts taking to the all-new MC250 quite well, earning his and Puch's first 250 World Championship, ahead of Sweden's Hakan Andersson and Germany's Willy Bauer. Heinz Kinigadner, mostly known today as a KTM champion, was also a Puch factory rider, aboard an MC250 during this me period. In an effort to honor this epic win, Puch decided to build a limit- ed run of Harry Everts Replica MC250s for the 1976 season. Replica might be a bit of an understatement since the same team that hand-cra ed Everts' factory bikes built each and every Harry Everts Replica. Actual produc on numbers are somewhat unclear. We've been told 97 were produced, although some say the actual number was half that. Since the MC250 was not a produc on bike, it was not available to the U.S. public.