Keeping up with the frantic pace of promotion, Maico International's latest excursion took on a rather emotional tone last weekend when the new Maico M.M.X. shed a few quiet tears as its wheels touched down outside the birth place of its forefathers at Pfaffingen in Germany.

Between them bosses of the U.K. Company Vincent Page and Lesley White share an almost unrivalled passion for the marque and felt it a fitting tribute to let the company's M.M.X. race bike sample its unique background before a wheel is turned in anger this year.

Pounding the snow-ridden roads from England to the small south German town where the name still rings bells with even its youngest of occupants, Vincent and Lesley arrived late on Saturday afternoon and set about recording the visit for posterity despite the falling snow.

The site of the original factory has remained a shrine to the once world beating bikes and stayed a desolate and empty shadow of its former glory for many years, after the company fell from favour in the early 80's.The less well known sister plant that handled casting work in nearby Herrenberg closed in 1983. In 2001 a majority of the site was re-developed and turned into a shopping centre with only two original buildings remaining in tact at the rear of the site.

Ironically the two long and eerily silent buildings that remain are the two assembly rooms where the bikes were built and set out in readiness for distributors to collect, with the distributor numbers still visible on the floor. Now being used by a company supplying garden furniture, signs of the legendary name that once paid for the upkeep are still around if you look hard enough, with outdated motocross stickers and marks on the wall, in fact you can almost hear the distant bark or a 490..... if the romantic notion allows.

The tragedy of this situation is that as you walk round the buildings peering through the dirty cobweb ridden windows taking in the whole ethos of what use to be, you can almost feel the soul of the place crying for the return of the name that once occupied its square footage and thrived within its walls.

As we made our way round the building, camera at the ready, locals would glance our way and cast a knowing smile, despite the transition of time, the clear economic effect on the local community and the great divide in cultures and language barriers a knowing smile was enough between the two of us............ they understood why were there.

As a mark of respect to what is without doubt the best two strike brand in the world we left a two stroke motocross sticker on the collection door, and braved the weather with the appropriate t-shirts,