Ken Maely

I am getting excited for the indoor speedway ice racing in a couple weeks at Springfirld Civic center. So tonight I am on the shitter reading a 1984 Easyriders. In the moldy pages there is a spread on a speedway bike built by a guy named Ken Maely. Speedway bikes are very small and light, usually powered by a 500cc single running alcohol or some other fuel mix. They race four lap races on a small dirt oval and the competition is fierce. I think it is pretty big in Europe 'cuz you can wager on it.
So I decided to do a little research on this guy who built his own USA made speedway bike to take on the Jawas and other Euro mounts.
Here is some facts about a really cool and well loved blacksmith.


For longer than almost anyone can remember Ken had been custom-fitting the country's flattrack riders with skid shoes, and he was for more than 25 years a fixture around the pits at AMA Nationals, working out of a truck as a mobile smithy. Ken was, most especially, a regular at Ascot where, in a back-handed sort of way, his speedway machine has its origins. Ken Maely's abiding enthusiasm for all forms of motocycle racing led him from speedway to his involvement with half-mile competition, and it was the Ascot half-mile that pushed him back into speedway.

Modern speedway was more to Maely's liking, in a couple of ways, he pointed out that it wasn't hard on equipment, which meant a rider got to keep more of what he earnt; and all the tracks were so tight and slow that riders didn't get badly hurt when they fell. The only thing Ken found distressing in speedway was the equipment itself. He saw the new generation of Jawa and Esso speedway bikes as being unnecessarily difficult and expensive to maintain, and that's how he got started on the road to making his own racing engine-which, added to what he'd already been fabricating, gave the world a complete Maely speedway motorcycle.


Ken Maely saw problems with Jawa's speedway frames and became interested in building replacement chassis parts. The Jawas, like most of their kind, caried the oil for their total-loss engine lubrication systems in their frame tubes. There was a small, threaded nubbin on the frame top tube, and you unscrew an aluminum cap to add oil. It was clever, but the Czechs got carried away with a passion for lightness and made the threaded nubbin out of tubing so thin that frame flex distored it into an oval, causing the cap to jam on the threads. Maely's own frame looks like one from Jawa, and would take a Jawa engine, but had been refined in ways that included an answer to the oil-filler problem: the Maely version's threaded nub was made of thicker tubing, and the gussets around the steering head had been placed to avoid concentrating bending loads right at the oil filler opening.

Maely offered two reasons for having decided to create his own speedway engines: he was pretty sure that with a little help from his friends he could produce something better than was available from Europe; Ken also thought it would be fun to try Further, given his circle of friends, there was good reason for him to think he could top the Europeans. Harley-Davidson's Dick O'Brien, the Gray Fox of oval-track technology, Jerry Branch, the porttlow wizard, Jerry Magnuson, patternmaker extraordinaire, Tom Sifton and Art Early, Windy Briggs, Bob Milray and Irwin Moon were all at hand for Ken's project.

A common denominator among all the men named here was years of experience in racing, which meant a strong preference for simplicity; for the proven instead of what is only potential. Ken Maely's speedway engine was a reflection of these men's collective preference, though the actual design work was done by Milray, Moon and Maely.

from:http://www.cybermotorcycle.com/archives/speedwaybikes/malpage1.htm



The Maely MK1 differed from the later MK2 in that it was a unit constructed engine with a wet clutch that ran in an enclosed oil bath. Of the MK1 there were three different variations, #1, #2 and #3, the first being available in 1974 and we cover these three variations on this Page of the Maely story.

LEFT: The type #1. On this engine you can find a inspection cover (secured by 4 allen bolts for controling the camchain tension) mounted in the side of the cylinder.

The MK1 had a crankcase that looked a bit like a strengthened version of that for a BSA Goldstar, with a rearward extension to carry the bearings for a jackshaft and clutch. But the old BSA single's crankcase was encumbered with a side compartment for its cams and tappets; the Maely engine's timing-side casting has only a shallow cavity for the sprocket and chain driving its single overhead camshaft.


There was a worm extension on the nut holding the cam sprocket, and that engaged with a gear in the side cover to drive the oil pump plungers-one pushing oil to the crank bearings, the other's output goes up to the cylinder-head. Ken was very proud of his oil pump: he said it was so flat and compact and strong that it wasn't going to get knocked off the side of the engine when some rider dropped his new Maely.

(RIGHT:) The single overhead camshaft is shown here in place in a partially finished head casting. It turns in rolling element bearings and works two forked rocker-arm followers.

Maely's was also terribly pleased with the clutch arrangement they'd worked into the design. He'd admit that the clutch is a transplant from some big-displacement Japanese motorcycle (he wouldn't say which) but would rather talk about its right-side mounting position and the manner in which it's driven.


(LEFT:) A Morse Hy-Vo chain runs back to the wet plate clutch inside a no-grit oil-tight case. Ken tells us the other speedway bikes were English-traditional in this respect, with left-side primary drives and clutches, countershaft sprockets buried behind their clutch baskets, and substantially exposed primary chains. His right-side clutch was less apt to be damaged in a spill, its Morse Hy-Vo chain ran fully enclosed in an oil bath, and the jack-shaft sprocket was covered by nothing more than the three-screw plate that serves as a guard and clutch throwout bracket.

The Maely-Motor's crank comprised two large flywheels into which mainshafts and a crankpin were pressed. All the journals ran in caged roller bearings. The connecting rod was made from an aluminum forging of a type familiar to hot rodders, but left in one piece and had a heavy steel bearing race pressed into its big-end. The crank assembly was very massive, and its bearings wouldn't have to contend with contaminated oil: once the oil gets past the bearings and into the crankcase it simply puffs out on the ground via a pair of one-way flapper valves located in a boss on the sump.

There's an echo of technology-past in the Maely-Motor's cylinder arrangement: the cylinder axis is offset "a little over an eighth-inch" behind the crank centerline. Ken says this improved torque. The cylinder was an aluminum casting, with an iron liner and an 88-millimeter slipperskirt forged Arias piston. This bore, in conjunction with the 82mm stroke, gave the engine a displacement of 498.7 cubic centimeters.
(LEFT:) The cam chain wraps over a crank sprocket inside this case cavity, which has the twin-plunger oil pump built into its cover. Oil leaves the crankcase through flapper valves in an extension on the sump's base.

Pistons of different crown heights were available, to provide compression ratios from 10.5:1 up to 13.5:1. If the Maely-Motor cylinderhead looks familiar, it's because its design was inspired by the Honda XL350-which also provided most of the actual parts. Still, it wasn't just a made-in-America Honda cylinderhead. Jerry Branch took advantage of Maely's intention to cast a new head to do a massive reworking of the ports, and it was discovered while flow-testing an XL350 head bolted over an 88mm cylinder that the larger bore alone gave an immense increase in flow capacity. . . by unshrouding the paired valves at their sides. Further flow improvement was gained by giving the intake port a steep downdraft angle, and Branch said bulkflow should be more than adequate in the Maely 500 even though its head uses Honda 350 intake and exhaust valves.


The best aspect of the above expedient was that Ken Maely didn't have to spend a fortune developing his own valve gear, and customers were be able to find many replacement parts at the nearest Honda dealership.

(RIGHT): The type #2 (1973). The second type of the MK1 is without the inspection cover but has normal cooling fins for head and cylinder.

Not only that, but the multitude of trick (i.e. performance) parts made for the XL350's top end could be used in the Maely-Motor. The single, very important difference between Honda and Maely valve gear was that Ken opted for needleroller and ball bearings at the camshaft journals instead of Honda's load-limited and lubrication-sensitive plain bearings.


Some thought the Maely-Motor's CDI magneto was a "Krober." They'd be wrong, but the mistake would be entirely understandable because the capacitor-discharge system in question is very nearly a wire-pertect copy of a Krober. It happens that Ken Maely had yet another good friend in the electronics business, and he supplied Ken with Krober look-alikes. The Mikuni carburetor wasn't a copy; it was the real thing, with a 38mm throat and with all its fuel passages reworked for use with alcohol. Maely's merry men drilled a flock of spill holes in the Mikuni float-needle body, fitted outsized main and needle jets with the appropriate throttle slide and jet needle, and had a carburetor that worked exceedingly well on any alcohol- fueled, 500cc speedway engine.






From: www.azspeedwaymuseum.com

Ken Maely
Ken Maely, the "Shoe Man," is best known for making steel shoes for almost all of the top AMA Grand National and world championship speedway competitors from the 1950s to present. Maely’s steel shoes are famous for fine craftsmanship and durability. Some veteran riders have worn the same Maely-designed shoe for nearly 30 years.

A former racer, Maely was much more than just the best-known steel shoemaker in the country. He also ran a flat-track training facility in Southern California and designed engines that are used in Chinese scooters and motorcycles. On his ranch, he also grew Oriental vegetables used in Oriental restaurants and groceries across the country and raised prized race horses.

Maely was born in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin to a racing household. His father was a farmer and motorcycle racer during the 1920 and ‘30s. After the crop was planted in the spring, Maely’s dad would head off for the fair circuit, racing all summer at tracks across the Midwest.

As a young boy, Maely often traveled with his dad to the races. He remembers his father donning a canvas helmet before heading out to the track. The racing machines Maely’s father owned naturally attracted boys of the farm community to the Maelys' home. At the age of 10, the temptation became too great for Maely and, in front of an enthusiastic audience of his buddies, he began riding his dad’s race bike around the farm fields on Saturdays when his dad would go into town.

In the late 1930s, Maely, like his father, began racing the fair circuit during the summer months. After World War II, Maely moved to California and took up speedway racing and got the opportunity to compete all over the world in team and individual speedway racing competitions. Maely recalls with great fondness his days of racing with speedway greats such as Wilbur “Lammy” Lamoreaux and the Milne brothers, Jack and Cordy.

It was during this time that Maely began making steel shoes for himself. Like most other dirt track racers of the time, Maely used the end of automobile bumpers purchased from junkyards for 50 cents. The problems with the bumper steel shoes were that they were made out of soft steel and would wear out in only a couple of weeks of racing, not to mention that they weighed a hefty eight pounds. Maely fashioned his steel shoes from band saw blades and the result was a lighter and more durable shoe.

"Other riders would borrow my steel shoe and I practically had to fight them to get it back," Maely recalled. He started making the special shoes for friends and, through word of mouth, Maely’s shoes became highly sought-after items. In 1951, Harley-Davidson approached Maely about making steel shoes for its factory team members and, in a matter of a few short years, Maely’s hobby had become a thriving business. Maely proudly pointed out that every AMA Grand national champion since 1952 had worn his steel shoes, as well as a dozen or so world speedway champs. Three generations of dirt track and speedway riders have worn Maely’s shoes. Over the years Maely, refined his shoe-making process by using rare metals and a special tempering process.

Maely retired from racing after 1950, but for a brief return to speedway racing in the early ‘60s. He turned his attention to modifying speedway racing bikes. This eventually led to building speedway frames and, ultimately, entire bikes. His engine-building skills led to a Chinese manufacturer approaching Maely about building engines for its motorbikes. Maely-designed engines are produced in various displacements for the domestic Chinese market in the hundreds of thousands. Maely frequently traveled to China to oversee the production of these motorcycles and scooters. He met his wife, Rose, in China (she managed one of the manufacturing plants) and the couple settled on a ranch in Corona, California, where they raised a niece from China.

When inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999, Maely, nearing 80, was still as active as ever making steel shoes every day, overseeing the ranch and running his training facility. Many of the top dirt track, speedway and road racing elite from all over the world trained at Maely’s facility. Maely spoke fluently in five languages and riders from such diverse countries as Japan, England, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and Spain trained at his ranch. Over the years, he also served a valued advisor to many of the top racers.

Ken Maely died in late 2003.
Inducted in 1999

Dirt Track's Steel Shoe Maker

from: http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/hofbiopage.asp?id=219

Sounds like a dude I would have liked to have met.