Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1542196
January 2026 35 Frank's Maicos were good. Very good. However, as with the other quality European brands, they were expensive. Considerably more expensive than their Japanese counterparts. The Japanese bikes, however, were not on par with European products in terms of performance at that me. Ok, there it is, Frank thought—the gap. Produce a bike with the quality and performance of the European machines, but at a lower price, closer to what the Japanese bikes sold for. To help him reach his target price, Frank looked into having the bikes made close to home to keep import costs down. Labor-union-dominated U.S. manufacturing was out, so how about right across the border in Mexico? Cooper soon established a dialogue with Moto Islo, located in Sal llo, Coahuila, Mexico, which had been in business since 1955 and was busy produc- ing commuter motorcycles for the Mexican market. Frank then sold MI on a plan for him to provide en- gineering and design elements to have motorcycles built to his specifica ons, which he would import to the U.S. and distribute to a series of as-yet-un- established dealers—quite a gamble. From the start, Cooper's inten ons were to produce and sell a 250cc machine, in both MX and Enduro trim. Us- ing design elements from Maico (frame) and Yamaha (engine), the first batch of bikes was assembled and released in the American market as 1973 models. The end result was promising. The bikes, in fact, looked good. Dis nc ve, bright yellow paint, chro- moly frame, Betor-copy forks, Boge shocks, and all the right bits and pieces. The claimed dry weight was around 225 pounds, and the engine was alleged to put out around 28hp—through-the-frame high pipe for the Enduro and a serious-looking downpipe for the Motocrosser. However, even on the surface, there were a few component elements of the Coo- pers that were ques onable: steel rims and fragile fiberglass tank, fenders, and side panels for starters. In prac ce, the bikes performed decently. The Mai- co-inspired frame geometry provided precise, stable handling, and the Yamaha-based engines put out good power. Suspension components were on par with the basics of the day. Gear ra os, however, were not par cularly favorable, limi ng the top end. But then issues began to appear. Transmission break- age and kickstarter gear failures, plus other compo- nent problems, began to plague those bikes first out in the field. Some of these issues were the result of design shortcomings, while others were simply due to the poor quality of components. Frank Cooper worked hard to address the various problems and