2 laverda 500

michipons

michipons

Hero member
Location
Palma de Mallorca
Hi!

I am considering to buy this 2 Laverda 500, as the seller will only sell them together. Both of them for 5000?. I know I know, is too much, but, they are behind the corner, have spanish papers, and I am curious for a bit smaller bike, as most of the roads on our island are quite narrow. One of the bikes would be for a friends project, the other one for me.

I don't have experience with 500 models, I also don't know the history model, nor engine evolution and characteristics. Would you light me a bit on that? what should I look at? are there better 500s than others? any big changes between models? ARE THEY FUN TO RIDE?

Miguel.

P.S. for the time only have those photos, next week I will have frame numbers and better photos.

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They will require a lot of work if you want them perfect. Perhaps a lot of money as well.

If you want a bike to ride then you could just clean one up and make it a bike for riding. Perhaps the second bike would be useful for spare parts but maybe just fix it up as well and sell it ....... or keep it as a bike for guests and friends to ride.

Many possibilities but the decision is for you.

Jim
 
Maybe they look better when they are cleaned.
It seems that both bikes, if the photos are showing both do not have mayor visible damages. So maybe clean, make a service and buy a new battery and they go.
I never have driven a 500 but people which have one say that they are handling very well.
One of the first 4 valve moto engine which were build and there are two versions,  without the first and with balancer shaft later- can be seen on the left engine cover. I think These are with balancer.
2500 ? for each, if condition without damages is ok imho.
 
500s have two cams and 8 valves.
If all's well, fine, if not, that is the potential source of twice as many problems as say a 750 twin. I seem to remember potential problems with cam bearings.
Bottom end, apart from gear primary drive, is standard Laverda.

They are nice little bikes and solid if respected.

Parts are hard to come by.

Paul
 
All of the 500 have four valves per cilinder??

I bought all my Laverdas to this seller. His bikes are in poor condition, but on both previous cases he said the bike was running and they were. This 2 500s, he said, were ridden from him, and they stopped running, without damages and almost 100% original with no modifications🤷🏼‍♂️

Are there different types of 500 engines?? Or let?s say some big change within their evolution that makes one better than other?

Miguel
 
Dear Miguel,
all have 4 valves, it was a revolution those days, balancer shafts I told you. Other questions are for the specialists.
I think, good bikes for Mallorca and for the races at Puig Mayor- do they still exist?
Andre
 
michipons said:
All of the 500 have four valves per cilinder??

I bought all my Laverdas to this seller. His bikes are in poor condition, but on both previous cases he said the bike was running and they were. This 2 500s, he said, were ridden from him, and they stopped running, without damages and almost 100% original with no modifications🤷🏼‍♂️

Are there different types of 500 engines?? Or let?s say some big change within their evolution that makes one better than other?

Miguel
Click to expand...

First 500s had no balancer shaft. The balancer was driven off the crank on the left hand side and there's a different primary cover with a bulge when the balancer is present.
The balancer is not necessary, racers often take it out.
The bikes in your photo are second type. The fuel tank is different between the 2 types.

There was a sport version of the 500 built for monomarque competition in Italy, the Formula 500. Special bodywork, engine with different camshafts, high compression domed pistons, slightly larger valves, close ration gearbox and a very free exhaust.
There was a sporting version for the UK known as the Montjuich. Some of them had Formula bits in the engine.

In Italy, there was a 350 with the performance of a lazy donkey.

The 500 engine had a very tuned version for the Italian TT2 championship, the 600 TT2. Very rare indeed.

The 500 engine was the basis for the Atlas Trail bike and for the Zane built bikes that followed the collapse of Moto Laverda, the 650/668/750s.

Paul
 
I think it was in the 80th, I used to make road races and made my vacations in Mallorca.
At a petrol station I saw a guy with a Bultaco cace bike with numbers in a caravan. When ask him where he wanted to go he told me to Puig Mayor hill race, first WE of august if I remember,. So I went there an had some fun.
Would like to watch it again.
 
Credit where credit is due: As my first bike (which I still own) is a Yamaha XS 500 which precedes the Laverda 500 by several years I must say the revolution of a midsize twin with four valves and a balancer shaft happened elsewhere. Four valve technology by itself of course was already ancient then.

andre g said:
all have 4 valves, it was a revolution those days, balancer shafts I told you.
Click to expand...
 
Laverda1000.de said:
Credit where credit is due: As my first bike (which I still own) is a Yamaha XS 500 which precedes the Laverda 500 by several years I must say the revolution of a midsize twin with four valves and a balancer shaft happened elsewhere. Four valve technology by itself of course was already ancient then.
Click to expand...

XS 500 came out in 76, Laverda in 78.
Not much in it.

Paul
 
Michipons, the 500 Laverdas are probably the sweetest fun to ride bikes the factory ever made. You will surely agree when /if you decide to go for it. I was stunned when they came out and had the pleasure of test riding them after services. If those bikes are as the seller claims it would be fantastic if you got them out onto the streets again. It is a bit of an unknown quantity just what is needed but if it is mainly servicing of cycle parts it should be quite doable. A concourse stye restoration with refurbished everything will be very expensive on any bike of that age.
 
MarnixSFC said:
The XS500 was seriously ugly.
Click to expand...

The earlier models were styled along the lines of the RDs, quite pretty actually!  The ugly stick came into action when the squared-off style came in, along with the XS250/360.

I have no good experience with spanish Laverdas, often run into the ground and bodged beyond viable repair because of lacking spares and maintenance back-up.  Especially the 500s require a fair amount of mechanical sympathy to keep them in good fettle.  Expect to embark on quite an odyssey searching for hard-to-find expensive consumables, the timing chain and carb/airbox rubbers come to mind...  They are a hoot to ride though, thoroughly chuckable, stable, with good brakes.  In good condition, the engine is quite strong and can be reliable.

piet
 
sfcpiet said:
The earlier models were styled along the lines of the RDs, quite pretty actually!  The ugly stick came into action when the squared-off style came in, along with the XS250/360.

I have no good experience with spanish Laverdas, often run into the ground and bodged beyond viable repair because of lacking spares and maintenance back-up.  Especially the 500s require a fair amount of mechanical sympathy to keep them in good fettle.  Expect to embark on quite an odyssey searching for hard-to-find expensive consumables, the timing chain and carb/airbox rubbers come to mind...  They are a hoot to ride though, thoroughly chuckable, stable, with good brakes.  In good condition, the engine is quite strong and can be reliable.

piet
Click to expand...

Hi Piet!

Thanks for your advice. Yes, I don?t expect the bikes to be perfectly maintained, and I am not looking for a concourse restoration, just to bring them back to life and decent looking. I hope those engines aren?t beyond repairable, if I give credit to the seller, the engine should be ok. But what you mention about the spare parts worries me a bit, because for sure I will need some spares! If the usual consumables that are needed for an engine rebuilt are impossible to find... then it wouldn?t make sense to get invovle in that bussiness, ehich would be very disappointing😕.

Who had been rebuilding a 500 engine recently and can share his experience finding spare parts?

Of course I would like to avoid writting you in two months asking for parts and you saying ?I hate to say it but... I told you?🤣🤣

Miguel
 
Tippie said:
The facts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_TX500
Click to expand...

You're right, I stand corrected.
I shall think of them every time I drink out of an aluminium can. "maybe this was a TX/XS 500?".

Paul
 
I've got a couple to maintain. My wife's and my TT2.
Parts have come from Piet and Wolfgang but Wolfgang apparently is to stop selling outside the American continent. He has quite a lot of parts.
Otherwise Italy but I have no experience for those bikes there.

Paul
 
Paul Marx said:
I've got a couple to maintain. My wife's and my TT2.
Parts have come from Piet and Wolfgang but Wolfgang apparently is to stop selling outside the American continent. He has quite a lot of parts.
Otherwise Italy but I have no experience for those bikes there.

Paul
Click to expand...

Hi Paul!

Really?? Since when he stopped selling outside American continent?? I was buying him a lot until now, and expected to make a big order for the triple restoration...

Miguel
 
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