1973 3C eBay USA

Vince said:
Hi Ric, the Honda dealer was probably Scotts Honda, I bought my first bike from them. I was so green I couldn't ride a proper geared bike, only minibikes so had to get it delivered to my house. A horrible thing, the road-going version of Hondas Elsinor MX bike called an MT 125, full-blown FOO FOO bike. Totally gutless. Brett was telling me about your black Jota and it resurrected a story of my first ride with another Laverda. I was heading to the Italian bike show they used to have called Latins by the Lake at Lake Macquarie on the central coast and by chance, I met 2 other Laverdas heading there as well. We were on The Old Rd, maybe The Road Warriors, not sure and I agreed to follow them there. So it was 2 Laverdas being ridden 2 up, female pillions on both but I distinctly remember one of the Laverdas was black. I don't remember the other bike, I was on my 3C. What I do remember was pushing really hard to keeep them in sight, revving the nuts of my bike was required and even then I struggled. It surprised me how fast they were even 2 up. Don't remember any more, it stuck with me over the years as other than one of Cripins bike it was the only black triple I ever saw. So did you ever go to Latins on the Lake with another Laverda 2 up and run into me 25 years ago? I would laugh my arse off if the other bike was Bretts.
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Did the guy on the black 79 Jota with Fornales shocks, a 140 rear tyre, foam grips, and megacycle 3/1 have a John Farnham mullet and horn bag blonde girlfriend, named Helen?  :D The bloke on the orange Jota with patina a Kiwi.  :D
 
Paul Marx said:
Australians race bikes.
Americans at the time rode around in circles.

That's what sold bikes back then.

Now it's glossy paper.

Paul
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http://www.virhistory.com/vir/bikes/bikes.html

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chrisk said:
Did the guy on the black 79 Jota with Fornales shocks, a 140 rear tyre, foam grips, and megacycle 3/1 have a John Farnham mullet and horn bag blonde girlfriend, named Helen?  :D The bloke on the orange Jota with patina a Kiwi.  :D
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Was that you Chris, who was the other bloke. Here are 2 more stories. I was looking at one of the Canberra blokes photo book collection and see a pic of my bike taken at Oran Park at either a Swan series or 6 hr race. I tell him it's my bike and that results in an hours argument about how it's wasn't. Kinda funny. And I was telling a bunch at a club night about how the first time I saw a Laverda in person was in the huge car park at Gore Hill TAFE. That was 2 stunningly beautiful green 3Cls. What was funny was Dave H who I was telling about this, it had happened 30 years ago actually owned one of those bikes. Small Laverda world.
 
Vince said:
Was that you Chris, who was the other bloke.
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My girlfriend worked at a cafe on Oxford St in Paddington. My bike was parked out the front of the cafe and a bloke was looking over it. Thinking he was about to steal it, I went and had a chat. He lived around the corner and took me back to his place to have a look at his weathered Jota. It sat out in the open 24/7. The next weekend we went to Wogs on the Water together, before I went back to Victoria.

Karl the Kiwi.

No, I don?t remember talking to you...... but then again
Given girlfriends names and consequent dates, that should have been about 28 years ago.
 
Scott's Honda..  That was it Vince!
That was not me on the old road that day. I only rode with one other Laverda back then. It was a very nice green 3CL with none other than our Brett aboard. He eventually traded that for an '80 Jota (first one with a fairing) at Action Suzuki.
We rode those bikes to Darwin in '81. He sold it up there and bought the Corsa he still has, and rode it the rest of the way around the continent.
I tucked the black Jota while scrapping with an 1100 Katana. Had to trailer it back to Sydney, since no parts were to be had. Eade had burnt down. Stanco out of business.
I repainted the bike to candy apple dark red with same gold stripes after my brother bumped the tank (off of the chair I had it resting on) parking his Suzuki. So it's not my black bike referred to earlier. I added factory rearsets (swapped the guy in Darwin who bought Brett's '80).
So if my bike still exists, it might still be dark red, rearsets, but still black frame. I sold it to fund the Mirage I built from scratch, but used an '81 Jota fairing. I painted it Bottle green and sold it to a mate in Newcastle.
Apologies to folks if I got off topic...

 
3CBRG said:
So if my bike still exists, it might still be dark red, rearsets, but still black frame. I sold it to fund the Mirage I built from scratch, but used an '81 Jota fairing. I painted it Bottle green and sold it to a mate in Newcastle.
Apologies to folks if I got off topic...
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And that bike in question is number 6263 and its current where about's is still unknown but one day it will turn up.
Must confuse the hell out of the rivet counters with its rear sets  :P forgot about that so that means my old 80Jota wont have its rear sets the hunt is still on for that one... here is it in its former glory with 6263 sticking its front wheel into the pic.
Now where have I a pic of 6263 I'll have a look later on.

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Hi Brett, did you get the email I sent with the pic of the Honda on The Gibb River Rd in 1986. Some pic, here is that ride report.No Laverda content but the pic of THAT road is interesting, the story is a good read as well.
https://advrider.com/f/threads/around-australia-1986.1002024/
 
The main thing that got my attention was the pic of The Gibb River road, talk about Gibbers. The bloody road is made out of Gibbers. Occasionally you in the off-road world hear about tracks made of off Baby head-sized rocks, or rock gardens. Pre-long-travel suspension days and that type of surface was horrible, wouldn't be fun on a Laverda. Might make a few stone chips.
 
Thanks for that, Vince.
I met the guy who directed the Dick Smith 'Bourke to Burketown Bash' back in '85 and we started plans to go on one. Sadly, reality, in the form of the Customs costs, spiked our aspirations, but your tale and photographs made me wish that, maybe, we'd pushed a bit harder to make it happen.
I look forward to the next instalment.
 
Its not my trip, it just got posted on Adventure Rider a week ago, I just liked the fact that it was 1986 and reminded me how the bush looked back then.
 
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