Maico 700 Cross `26: 685cc and 82hp at Just 101kg

Every so often a spec sheet lands on the bench and stops the whole workshop dead. The Maico 700 Cross `26 is one of those.

Here are the three numbers that matter. Six hundred and eighty-five cubic centimetres. Single cylinder. Two-stroke. Sixty kilowatts — call it 82 horsepower. And 101 kilograms.

Read that again, because it is the entire story in one line. A current 450 four-stroke makes somewhere around 60 horsepower and sits comfortably north of 110kg once you put fluids in it. The Maico makes roughly a third more power while carrying noticeably less bike.

Meanwhile the rest of the industry has spent twenty years chasing electronics, traction control and rideability. Maico has walked in the opposite direction. There is a 41mm flatslide Keihin hanging off the side of this engine. No injectors. No maps. No smartphone app.

So let’s go through what is actually bolted to this thing — and then let’s talk honestly about whether any of it makes sense in 2026.

The 685cc engine at the centre of it

The 700 Cross runs a water-cooled, reed-valve 685cc single. Bore and stroke are 100mm x 87mm, which tells you plenty before you ever hear it run.

That is an oversquare motor, but only just. Compare it to a modern 450 four-stroke, where bores have crept up around 96–97mm against a very short stroke, and the Maico looks almost conservative. The result is a long-ish stroke by big-bore two-stroke standards. In practice that means torque, and lots of it, from very low in the rev range.

Fuelling comes from a Keihin flatslide 41mm carburettor. Ignition is PVL digital, which is a proper race-grade system rather than an afterthought. Behind it sits a five-speed gearbox.

Now, five speeds on a 685cc two-stroke is not a compromise. It is a statement. With that much torque spread across the range, you simply do not need six ratios to keep the engine in its happy place. First gear will pull like a tractor and fifth will still be accelerating hard. Riders who have spent time on big-bore smokers know exactly what that feels like. You short-shift everything and let the motor do the work.

82 horsepower and 101 kilograms: doing the maths

Power-to-weight is where this bike stops being a curiosity and starts being genuinely intimidating.

Eighty-two horsepower divided by 101 kilograms works out to roughly 0.81 horsepower per kilogram. A well-sorted 450 four-stroke sits closer to 0.54. In other words, the Maico carries about fifty per cent more power for every kilo it asks the rider to move around.

To put that in context most people can feel: a superbike-spec 1000cc road bike makes considerably more power, but it also weighs twice as much and puts the rider in a completely different position. This is a 101kg dirt bike with a torque curve that arrives instantly and never really stops. On loose ground. With one hand on the throttle and no electronic safety net whatsoever.

That is not a criticism. It is simply what you are signing up for.

Chrome-moly, WP forks and Maico’s own Twin Link

The chassis follows the same philosophy as the engine. Simple, strong and built from proven parts rather than clever ones.

The frame is chrome-molybdenum steel, not aluminium. Steel flexes more predictably than alloy, it is easier to repair, and on a bike making this much torque it soaks up the abuse rather than transmitting every bit of it into the rider. Plenty of very fast bikes have been built around chrome-moly. There is nothing old-fashioned about the choice.

Up front you get White Power upside-down forks with 305mm of travel. That is a substantial amount, and it needs to be, because the bike also carries 388mm of ground clearance.

At the back, Maico runs its own Twin Link linkage with a Reiger shock. Reiger is a serious Dutch suspension house with a long history in trials, rally and off-road racing, so this is not a parts-bin choice. Brakes come from Brembo at both ends — a 260mm wave disc up front and 220mm at the rear.

Wheels are conventional and sensible: a 1.6 x 21 front rim on an 80/100-21 tyre, and a 2.15 x 18 rear on a 120/100-18. The 18-inch rear is the right call for a bike with this kind of drive, since the taller sidewall gives you a bit more compliance and a lot more grip in rough terrain.

The numbers that will stop some riders cold

Two figures on this spec sheet deserve a proper look before anyone gets too excited.

First, the seat height is 960mm. That is tall. Genuinely tall. Most modern motocross bikes sit somewhere around 950–965mm, so it is not an outlier in the class, but combined with 388mm of ground clearance and 305mm of fork travel, this is not a bike you casually dab a foot down on. Shorter riders will need to think carefully.

Second, the fuel tank holds 9.5 litres. On a 685cc two-stroke, that is a moto tank, not an enduro tank. Big-bore smokers are not famous for economy, and while the Maico’s torque means you will spend most of your time well below peak revs, nobody should be planning a long day in the bush around that figure. Maico sells a dedicated 700 Enduro if that is the goal.

Wheelbase is 1480mm, which is on the longer side and will make the bike very stable at speed. That seems like a deliberate decision on a machine with this much drive. You want stability when the rear wheel is trying to overtake the front.

No street homologation, and what it costs

Maico is direct about this on every model page: the 700 Cross has no legal homologation for road use anywhere. It is a competition machine, sold as a competition machine, full stop.

The price is 16,494.99 euro including VAT, or 13,861.34 euro before tax. At current exchange rates the ex-tax figure converts to roughly AU$22,700, and the inclusive price sits around AU$27,000. Then you add international freight, import duty, GST and compliance headaches, and the real landed number climbs from there.

Is that expensive? For a hand-built, low-volume European race bike from a factory that has been at this for a hundred years, it is roughly what you would expect. It also lands in the same conversation as a properly built custom big-bore two-stroke — which is exactly where this gets interesting for us.

Why we are paying attention in Pakenham

We spend a lot of our week on big-bore two-strokes. CR500 builds, 500-class restorations, and modern-chassis conversions are core business here, so a factory bike making 82 horsepower at 101 kilograms is not an abstract curiosity to us. It is the benchmark.

What the Maico proves is that there is still a real market for this. Not a nostalgia market — a genuine, paying, riding market for machines that do exactly one thing and do it with total conviction. Every time somebody argues the big two-stroke is dead, a German factory quietly builds another 685cc one and sells it for the price of a new ute.

It also validates a philosophy we run on every build that comes through the door. Sort the fundamentals first. Get the weight down, get the power delivery usable, get the suspension matched to the rider, and use quality components where it matters. Maico spends its money on Brembo, White Power, Reiger and PVL, then stops. There is nothing on this bike that exists purely to look good on a brochure.

Maico 700 Cross `26 — full specifications

Here is the complete spec sheet in one place, straight from Maico’s own listing.

Engine	685cc single-cylinder two-stroke, water-cooled
Induction	Reed valve
Bore x stroke	100mm x 87mm
Power	60kW / 82hp
Carburettor	Keihin flatslide 41mm
Gearbox	5-speed
Ignition	PVL digital
Frame	Chrome-molybdenum steel
Front suspension	White Power upside-down, 305mm travel
Rear suspension	Maico Twin Link with Reiger shock
Front brake	Brembo, 260mm wave disc
Rear brake	Brembo, 220mm wave disc
Wheels	1.6 x 21 front, 2.15 x 18 rear
Tyres	80/100-21 front, 120/100-18 rear
Fuel tank	9.5 litres
Wheelbase	1480mm
Ground clearance	388mm
Seat height	960mm
Weight	101kg
Homologation	None — competition use only

The bottom line

The Maico 700 Cross `26 is not a sensible motorcycle, and it is not trying to be. It has no electric start listed, no fuel injection, no rider aids and no road registration. It has a big carburettor, a steel frame, and an engine that will happily loft the front wheel in third gear.

For the right rider — experienced, strong, and genuinely comfortable with a bike that answers every throttle input immediately — it looks like an absolute weapon. For everyone else, it is a very expensive way to learn a hard lesson.

Either way, it deserves respect. In an era where nearly every manufacturer builds a version of the same bike, Maico is still building something that is unmistakably its own. Long may that continue.

Specifications sourced from Maico’s official model listing for the 700 Cross `26. Comparisons to modern 450 four-strokes and the power-to-weight analysis are ours.

---

Chasing big-bore two-stroke power without the German price tag? We build, rebuild and restore them at Garage Eleven in Pakenham — from full restorations to modern-chassis conversions.