Planning mid May 2022 informal Laverda gathering Nelson British Columbia Canada

still travelling, on Vancouver Island at the moment. Will post some photos when I get a chance. Was a thin turn out of Laverda's, but a good turn out of Laverda owners both past and present. This apparently has been coolest/snowiest/wettest spring in British Columbia ever. Was tons of snow in the mountain passes getting to Nelson from Alberta. Going to do it again next year, but later in May or early June
 
andre g said:
Vancouver Island! One of the best places I ever visited, have a good time….
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Yes, many years ago I was fortunate to ride Vancouver island on my 78, I experienced unusually great weather, the campgrounds were pristine with free firewood, and heated toilets(bathrooms) showers, community kitchen areas, amazing roads with friendly police officers. Best of all no crowds, when was this?? Went to see a new movie release in Victoria, Russel Crowe in Gladiator. I should do it again before I'm too old to do it. As my mate, Dave keeps reminding me, "not long to go now"
 
just back in Calgary. A week in Nelson then two weeks on Vancouver Island. Damaged the Kawasaki H2 SX SE and myself first day in Nelson, just ordered $3,000 in Kawasaki parts, hurt myself, heavily bruised, and wrecked my back, bruises are fading but still on muscle relaxants and pain killers...... I don't bounce up from the hard asphalt unscathed the way I used to, bloody hell.

last year we scheduled for mid June, got a large number of committed attendees, then had to cancel due to huge forest fires and heavy smoke. British Columbia in May is usually lovely, so this year we scheduled for mid May to avoid the forest fires, May 2022 was the coolest and wettest May ever. Next year we are going to try early June..........

only got 15 attendees total, but a great time was had by all. Numbers were way down due to weather. No-one could ride to Nelson from Alberta or east, too much snow. Was possible for some attendees to ride from Vancouver, Vancouver Island, etc but was cool and wet for them. For those of us east of Nelson, was impossible. See the first three photos of my trailering two bikes through the mountain pass. Others drove in cars, etc.. Ugly weather. With better weather I would have expected 30 +

Craig (Ventodue) and Valerie from France dropped in on a driving tour of western Canada, and went on to visit Wolfgang in Nakusp. One of the long time attendees of Wolfang's Laverda rallies over the years liked the area so much he and his wife have retired nearby, he is bevel Ducati central, a couple of photos.

Lots of good company, group meals and sampling of all the local craft beers, local trips, Ainsworth Hot Springs. A more mature crowd, I doubt anyone was under 60......;)
 

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Paul LeClair said:
just back in Calgary. A week in Nelson then two weeks on Vancouver Island. Damaged the Kawasaki H2 SX SE and myself first day in Nelson, just ordered $3,000 in Kawasaki parts, hurt myself, heavily bruised, and wrecked my back, bruises are fading but still on muscle relaxants and pain killers...... I don't bounce up from the hard asphalt unscathed the way I used to, bloody hell.

last year we scheduled for mid June, got a large number of committed attendees, then had to cancel due to huge forest fires and heavy smoke. British Columbia in May is usually lovely, so this year we scheduled for mid May to avoid the forest fires, May 2022 was the coolest and wettest May ever. Next year we are going to try early June..........

only got 15 attendees total, but a great time was had by all. Numbers were way down due to weather. No-one could ride to Nelson from Alberta or east, too much snow. Was possible for some attendees to ride from Vancouver, Vancouver Island, etc but was cool and wet for them. For those of us east of Nelson, was impossible. See the first three photos of my trailering two bikes through the mountain pass. Others drove in cars, etc.. Ugly weather. With better weather I would have expected 30 +

Craig (Ventodue) and Valerie from France dropped in on a driving tour of western Canada, and went on to visit Wolfgang in Nakusp. One of the long time attendees of Wolfang's Laverda rallies over the years liked the area so much he and his wife have retired nearby, he is bevel Ducati central, a couple of photos.

Lots of good company, group meals and sampling of all the local craft beers, local trips, Ainsworth Hot Springs. A more mature crowd, I doubt anyone was under 60......;)
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Great photos Paul 👍🏽
Looks like Leon Russell showed up too 😎🤩😁
 
rowdypat said:
Great photos Paul 👍🏽
Looks like Leon Russell showed up too 😎🤩😁
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Leon (actually Steve Veltman) and I have known each other close to 40 years, he is a serial Laverda owner, currently owns Moto Morini, Ducati's, BMW's, modern Triumph, modern Norton, etc.. In retirement he now lives a bit south of Calgary, was going to ride out, delayed a day due to the heavy snow, then drove out in his supercharged Mini. Everyone a character, everyone with an interesting life story........
 
piranha-bro2 said:
Great gathering if a little down on numbers and good weather Paul. Nice little bevel museum!
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I'll tell Rene you liked his bevel museum, although I think he would object to the term museum. Actually only part of his garage, they are all riders, more bikes in the other side of the garage, in the driveway, stuffed in sheds, etc.. Sue is quite a rider herself. http://ducatimeccanica.renewaters.ca/ now retired not far from Nelson, British Columbia, outside Kaslo on the lake, the road in to Rene and Sue's place is 28 kms of nicely paved twisties. A Google search describes Kaslo as Kaslo, a quaint village on the shores of Kootenay Lake in the Selkirk Mountains, overlooks the soaring peaks in the Purcell Mountain Range. I tried to talk Rene into getting the freshly finished NCR Ducati replica out of the kitchen for a blast but it was raining while we were there, although that didn't deter Rene and Sue from hosting a barbecue for the group. Very nice people. There was also a garage wrenching session on one of the particpants ailing bike which had to be fettled to be ridden back to Vancouver Island. Always great fun watching half a dozen veteran vintage bike "experts" wrangle over the best way to fix something.....
 
martymoose said:
Glad you are mending OK Paul, can't believe it is 7 years since I was there. Hope you get lots of riding in this season.
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Hi Marty

time does fly.... that trip was was for your 50th..... plan on coming back for your 60th.....?

healing seems to take longer these days. As I don't accept limitations easily, I keep re-aggravating my back injury, but I have just discovered that riding the now partially repaired H2 (super glue, two part epoxy, clear duct tape, gear shift lever and various brackets hammered straight, etc.) is curative ;) :rolleyes: :ROFLMAO:

Some of the proper repair parts are backordered to end of June, bike looks a little rough but the clear duct tape should prevent parts from flying off at speed in the interim.
 
the embarrassing truth..... due to the snow I trailered two bikes to Nelson, the 1982 Laverda 1200 TS Mirage Series 2, and the supercharged H2 SX SE. When we arrived it was sort of half way between snowing and raining. I was unloading the H2 off the trailer by myself and my foot slipped on the wet metal ramp with the H2 just starting off the trailer. The bike went over the side of the trailer from the trailer deck, took me with it, and slammed into the ground with me under it, doing quite a bit of damage to me. The bruises were spectacular, some of them are still lumpy, but worst was I really hurt my back. Wiped out most of the left side of the H2 despite my body having somewhat cushioned its fall.......:rolleyes: I spent the time in Nelson on heavy pain killers, but managed to participate in most group things, other than any riding. The hot tub at my rental accomodations saw a lot of use, as did the passenger seat of the Range Rover with the seat heater turned on high. Also found several craft dark beers that helped ease the pain, both physical and emotional....... missed out on riding some of the best mountain twisties in British Columbia, bloody hell.

I did an initial assesment in Nelson of the damage to the H2 and ordered $1,800 of parts on May 16 of what I thought would be all the parts necessary to repair the damage, got home to Calgary a couple of days ago, took the H2 apart and discovered I need another $1,200 worth of parts for a proper repair, which I ordered Friday June 3. A bunch of the bits from my May 16 order are "back ordered" to end of June, not sure about the parts from my additional order June 3. I have straightened bent brackets and the bent shifter/quickshifter/clutch lever etc etc and gone wild with super glue, two part epoxy, clear duct tape to make the H2 rideable again, took it out yesterday but today am bloody stiff and sore..... still healing.

I wish I had a better story:eek::eek: I may have to give some thought to making a better story up......:ROFLMAO:
 
ok, sorry, dont like it, what a tragedy, hope you and the bike will be well soon.
I today with windy conditions felt out of a small sail boot in middle of a big lake. Was not so funny because the boat was too hight to climbe in again. But finally I m here and can post 😊
 
I was at a famous motorcycle crash repairer in Sydney having the Graphics added to my Pantah when a tilt tray flat bed truck turned up with a damaged bike strapped on. The truck driver tilted the truck bed to an angle and started to unstrap the bike not noticing it had leaked a puddle of oil out. As he started wheeling it down the truck tray he slipped on the oil and both he and the bike exited pretty quickly in a tangled pile. Even the pros fuck up.
 
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