What did you do to or for or with your Laverda today?

Cleaning Spark Plugs came close to killing me as an 18month old. My Dad was soaking plugs in a container of Petrol and I got up from a Nap thirsty and saw that container and chugged it down. That wasn't the big problem, the big problem was being forced to regurgitate it on the rushed trip to Hospital. Nobody who wasn't Medically trained back then knew how bad regurgitating and then asperating poisons were. I spent some time in Hospital with Pumonia from that Aspertions. I think that confirmed me as a Petrop head though.

Fucken hell, imagine how bad off you’d be if you’d have swallowed one of the soaking spark plugs! 😮
 
Well done, there is a lot of satisfaction in doing as much as you can.
A year ago I got a '73 Daytona which is getting very close to resto / freshen up.
Much of which I will do myself.
 
Friday night shed time - Found some old blinker shells so wired them up and mounted them on my rack so swapping between grab rail and rack is just a simple task. As I had promised to take the triple on some longer rides instead of the AE (and don't have to keep it looking pretty for sale :)) thought I might as well fit it ......
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Friday night shed time - Found some old blinker shells so wired them up and mounted them on my rack so swapping between grab rail and rack is just a simple task. As I had promised to take the triple on some longer rides instead of the AE (and don't have to keep it looking pretty for sale :)) thought I might as well fit it ......
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Nice rack ….. must be cold, I can see it’s winkers.
 
your rack needs extra diagonals down to the pillion footrest, like this. I painted the diagonal black so as to try and "lose" it a bit, has been used to crane bike on and off stuff, tie it down to stuff, and even hang it from a workshop roof. There was in intention to fit a high level towing U/J for use with a mono wheel trailer but I never did that, managed to get a kidney transplant and hence no need for the suitcase sized mobile dyalisis machine.
CLEM
 

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Not necessarily Clem. Have a closer look at Peter's rack. It has a stiffening web at the most highly stressed part of the rack frame - at the rear attachment point. A neat little feature. I thought about doing that to my own rack of similar design, but I used a larger diameter and thicker-walled pipe, so it wasn't necessary.
 
For full disclosure I will mention that my rack has been welded by someone who knows what they are doing as my chicken scratch welding would have created great mirth (I certainly wouldn't have posted a pic on the forum - always risky:eek::LOL: )
When I made the rack, I cut and shaped the pieces to attach to an old grab rail and took it as a box of lego to a mate who runs a rural machinery business, showed him how it all fits together and he welded it for me.
(He is also a keen motorbicyclist - his latest project was building a WLA Harley with sidecar, all from parts - beautifully made).
I also cut templates for the bracing which include a gusset in the elbow of the grab rail down tube and plates either side of the rear fixing bracket. My mate agreed with the bracing but suggested the fixing point ones could be better by making them a bit bigger which enabled the side tabs to be folded up and welded both horizontally and vertically along the rail and the mounting tab.
Rack is very strong and my mates verdict was "It won't break"
I know a rack is only as good as its next trip (Confucious?) but I have used it previously fully loaded on a couple of rides, one a bit over 4,000kms, the other 2,000+. Both trips had sections of rough road and a bit of dirt but admit no major corrugations which would really test things and I only usually carry bulky items like a swag back there.
I believe it is fit for purpose and happy to have kept it minimalist;)
I had not bothered much with the rack in recent years as I hadn't been taking this bike on longer rides, however I may well attach (perhaps as bolt on) a length of steel to the passenger footrest which would act as an additional support frame for the soft panniers I use.
At present I only bolt on a a bit of flat steel which runs down the outside of the rear shocks - an idea I think I stole from one of Cams posts on here............
 
At present I only bolt on a a bit of flat steel which runs down the outside of the rear shocks - an idea I think I stole from one of Cams posts on here............
Ha ha. I should have patented that idea. It's a lesson I learned from a previous set of soft panniers. The springs wore holes in the backs of the bags.

My Laverda rack actually has those lengths of flat bar that cover the shock springs welded to the front mountings, visible in the photo below. So when I bolt the rack on for travelling, the spring/pannier protectors go on with it. My Oxford soft panniers are still in good nick after several thousand km of travelling.

Unfortunately, I don't think my Laverda rack will see much more use, if it ever does, because I now have more comfortable bikes for touring (old age catching up). Perhaps I should give it to someone who'll use it. It's not a pretty thing, but it works.

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An apparently very clever bloke who was doing some work on my bike decided the 25mm x 3mm steel straps I had bolted down to the pillion pegs and my rack looked ugly and had to go. I reluctantly agreed and then spent the next 4 day Snowy Run pushing the rack back into place. The rack was relying on the friction joins and bolt tension to stay in place and not pivot down. That thought me a valuable lesson about conceding when I knew better. That clever bloke wasn't constantly worried about his panniers slowly sinking towards his rear tyre. I REALLY like triangles.
 
Very smart Piet, I like that solution a lot. I must confess to using loads of duct tape, stuck to both the shocks and my saggy panniers to prevent wear.

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One fine bike there too!
Do you still have the Police bike?
That IS/WAS a police bike. Sister bike with consecutive # is about 50km from me, still largely in italian police livery. Panniers and fairing are rather battered and shabby, but can be fitted anytime.DSCN9493.JPG

Mine is #xxx36, the red one is #xxx37.

piet
 
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