bytheway, quite a few motorcycle enthusiasts here in germany would have preferred to see an audi involvement in a different manufacturer: audi is heavily promoting their ducati deal with their "tradition" in motorcycle manufacturing (nsu, dkw). now there's in fact a company that truely represents this tradition. the name is "mz". r
Now that you mention it, it would have been interesting if Audi could have resurrected the MZ brand and developed a line of motorcycles with reliable high performance, clean burning 2-stroke engines for both dirt and street.
actually, mz was never gone. they went bankrupt, found new investors, went bankrupt again,... and so on. since 2009, mz belongs to ex gp riders ralf waldmann and martin wimmer and wimmer's wife. they are selling scooters and they are racing in moto2 and moto3. http://www.muz.de/en r
actually, you can buy an official 2012 maico if you wish to. http://maico-bikeworld.de/catalog/index.php?language=en&osCsid=d1f67cd855ebbd0691465ba1f7df107e they only make 50 bikes per year. considering the low production quantity, they are quite affordable. i love the idea that there's at least 1 place on this planet where one can still buy a brand-new 500cc single-cylinder two-stroke 48kw road-legal supermoto bike. r
I guess in the mind of a European I am "mixing some things up". However, I just got off the Facebook page of a German girl that spent almost 2 years in the USA as an exchange student (living with my Mother in Pennsylvania almost 10 years ago). I find it interesting that she is STILL a "student"... living on her parents' income... while still "attending university" for "free"... at 28 years of age. Not trying to start a shitstorm here r, but if that's not socialism in Europe, it IS socialism in the USA... where many, if not most people at age 28 have been gainfully employed since age 24 and contributing to society... rather than TAKING from it.
Did you see the 685 2 stroke option that's an arm stretcher/widow maker in my opinion. great for super moto Robert-Jan
the big 700 maico in supermoto, as run by ATk was a real disappointment, the engine was ment for sidecars.....
