750 SFC Comfort?

ksoholm

ksoholm

Senior member
Location
Bellingham, WA, USA
If any? Looking at the seating triangle, the pegs - seat distance looks very tight with a long reach to low bars. Some taller blokes I've spoken with (I'm 6'1" or 185 cm) claim SFCs are satanic to ride, that they wanted to get off within 20 miles.

I've always had sportbikes and have no back or joint troubles to interfere with enjoying sporty seating positions. My Moto Guzzi Sport 1100 is quite comfy for me.

So, what are SFCs really like to ride?

Thanks -
 
Depends.
Disc brake are more cramped than the drum brake models.
I did tens of thousands of kilometres on my SFC, sometimes complete with camping gear.

My back and neck were ok. Before.

Paul
 
ksoholm said:
Some taller blokes I've spoken with (I'm 6'1" or 185 cm) claim SFCs are satanic to ride, that they wanted to get off within 20 miles.

Thanks -
Click to expand...
I'm 1.80 cm tall with 92 kg and I have an SFC Elettronica.

I have repeatedly driven the SFC from Nuremberg to Breganze, Umbria or Switzerland on the smallest of roads.
These were daily stages of between 400 and 800 km per day - country roads.
There was also a non-stop ride from 6 p.m. to early in the morning across the Alps - only small roads/pass roads!

If you replace the paddle shifter with a normal, simple gear lever AND the foot brake, clutch lever and brake are optimally adjusted, you can very well drive long distances with an SFC. However, you should avoid city traffic and rather drive in the not entirely legal range of 80 - 140 km/h.

It is best if you use a medium-sized tank bag that supports your upper body for long distances. The fun of driving and the adrenaline make up for the somewhat unfamiliar attitude.

The driving experience is extraordinary in a positive sense. If you drive originally without indicators and rear-view mirrors, it's really scary how little turbulence (and wind noise) there is in the 180 - 220 km/h range.
Just as a GT or Eagle engine offers a different driving experience, driving a real SFC engine has nothing in common with a normal 750 Laverda.

However, there are two things you should definitely keep in mind for longer journeys:
- make sure to wear ear-protection!
- be careful when you reach out and squeeze someone's hand after the ride!

Thomas aus LAU

on the road.JPG
 
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Thomas aus LAU said:
I'm 1.80 cm tall with 92 kg and I have an SFC Elettronica.

I have repeatedly driven the SFC from Nuremberg to Breganze, Umbria or Switzerland on the smallest of roads.
These were daily stages of between 400 and 800 km per day - country roads.
There was also a non-stop ride from 6 p.m. to early in the morning across the Alps - only small roads/pass roads!

If you replace the paddle shifter with a normal, simple gear lever AND the foot brake, clutch lever and brake are optimally adjusted, you can very well drive long distances with an SFC. However, you should avoid city traffic and rather drive in the not entirely legal range of 80 - 140 km/h.

It is best if you use a medium-sized tank bag that supports your upper body for long distances. The fun of driving and the adrenaline make up for the somewhat unfamiliar attitude.

The driving experience is extraordinary in a positive sense. If you drive originally without indicators and rear-view mirrors, it's really scary how little turbulence (and wind noise) there is in the 180 - 220 km/h range.
Just as a GT or Eagle engine offers a different driving experience, driving a real SFC engine has nothing in common with a normal 750 Laverda.

However, there are two things you should definitely keep in mind for longer journeys:
- make sure to wear ear-protection!
- be careful when you reach out and squeeze someone's hand after the ride!

Thomas aus LAU
Click to expand...
Again Thomas, that is true of a disc brake SFC.
Drum models are not comparable.

Paul
 
Thomas aus LAU said:
I'm 1.80 cm tall with 92 kg and I have an SFC Elettronica.

I have repeatedly driven the SFC from Nuremberg to Breganze, Umbria or Switzerland on the smallest of roads.
These were daily stages of between 400 and 800 km per day - country roads.
There was also a non-stop ride from 6 p.m. to early in the morning across the Alps - only small roads/pass roads!

If you replace the paddle shifter with a normal, simple gear lever AND the foot brake, clutch lever and brake are optimally adjusted, you can very well drive long distances with an SFC. However, you should avoid city traffic and rather drive in the not entirely legal range of 80 - 140 km/h.

It is best if you use a medium-sized tank bag that supports your upper body for long distances. The fun of driving and the adrenaline make up for the somewhat unfamiliar attitude.

The driving experience is extraordinary in a positive sense. If you drive originally without indicators and rear-view mirrors, it's really scary how little turbulence (and wind noise) there is in the 180 - 220 km/h range.
Just as a GT or Eagle engine offers a different driving experience, driving a real SFC engine has nothing in common with a normal 750 Laverda.

However, there are two things you should definitely keep in mind for longer journeys:
- make sure to wear ear-protection!
- be careful when you reach out and squeeze someone's hand after the ride!

Thomas aus LAU
Click to expand...
I agree with Thomas, I rode Motodd Robs 74 SFC on a few occasions and found it to be a fantastic thrilling ride, however, I also rank it as being probably the most uncomfortable bike I ever rode. I don't know how he does/did it but Rob never seemed the worse for wear after a long ride on his SFC. San Fran to Vancouver I would be crippled.

The gnome rode his SFC Perth WA to Newcastle NSW and back and he's only 5'5'' hence the name, should have called him 'stretch'. Ahh but we were young and invincible and often feeling no pain!
 
I bought a '74 SFC in the south of Italy when I was MUCH younger and rode it back to London with one overnight stop in the Milan area in the early spring. It was a blast, no tunnels used, stops only for fuel and meals/nature breaks over the Alps on small roads with deep snow either side but my neck, wrists and back told me about it for about a week afterwards.
Would I do it again at my current age? NO WAY! As a foolish 20-something year old with no money and no fear it was a totally different world than now.
I love to ride them short distances or on the track but, multiple hundreds of miles without breaks, no more.
However, the '74 was far more comfortable than the earlier fuel tank shape on a borrowed restored first generation SFC - I can't imagine many hours with the earlier fuel tank shape.
I'm (or was) tall and slender, long torso and relatively short legs, I think it would be a different story for shorter riders making the stretch over the length of the tank.
(the older I get the faster I was?) = (it was much more fun when I was young and clueless)?
 
Yeah Dave the Gnome was a little out there. That trip east remember Gnome turning up for our early morning meet on his SFC with a sleeping bag strapped to the rear hump and nothing else. Don't think he even had tools. Perth to Newcastle would have to be 4000 kays.
He lost his sleeping bag sometime before Coolgardie. Rode back a few miles to look for it but no such luck.
We were all pretty loose back in the 70s. Fun times indeed.
 
Motorcycling is definitely a sport over longer distances and therefore exhausting - then and now today.
Who would be surprised when a climber or hiker is tired after a long tour and his feet or hands hurt in the evening?
And yet it will start again the next morning.

Don't forget the positive effects of adrenaline. After three days of celebrating Laverda's 70th birthday (and little sleep) we drove to Milan with 3 Laverdas on country roads on Sunday evening. We arrived at 1 a.m. and after a 10-minute break it was our starting time for the first stage of the Milano-Taranto.
We drove all night and only stopped to refuel. At around 10 a.m. we arrived on monday at our destination, the market place in Breganze. Without the body's own adrenaline it would not have been possible to drive over 650 km after a party and at night.
Do we look tired in the pictures or like masochists? By the way - the Laverda 500, the Eagle and the Jota were just as fit at the finish line.

Thomas aus LAU

IMG_4050c.JPG IMG_2642a.JPG IMG_4054b.JPG
 
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motoddrob said:
Yeah Dave the Gnome was a little out there. That trip east remember Gnome turning up for our early morning meet on his SFC with a sleeping bag strapped to the rear hump and nothing else. Don't think he even had tools. Perth to Newcastle would have to be 4000 kays.
He lost his sleeping bag sometime before Coolgardie. Rode back a few miles to look for it but no such luck.
We were all pretty loose back in the 70s. Fun times indeed.
Click to expand...
Never did it in the 70's but people don't appreciate how much of it was dirt back then, 1000 K's? Impressive. Now the biggest issue is not falling asleep.
 
Thomas aus LAU said:
Motorcycling is definitely a sport over longer distances and therefore exhausting - then and now today.
Who would be surprised when a climber or hiker is tired after a long tour and his feet or hands hurt in the evening?
And yet it will start again the next morning.

Thomas asu LAU
Click to expand...
There is however a difference between tiredness and pain.

Two months after riding down to Breganze in 97 for the "50 th" birthday, 3000 km there and back, I woke up one morning unable to lift my right arm. The nerves to my shoulder were pinched in my neck. Corticosteriods and physiotherapy more or less got things back to "normal".
I put it down to riding with a rucksack and some heavy gear, which pulls your shoulders back when your neck is already flexed back.

I did plenty of trips on that bike afterwards but had a painful neck after a day's riding on any motorcycle for years after that until more recently, I think that the vertebrae have lost mobility and so possibility of inducing pain. It was dangerous since after a few hours in the saddle, I couldn't turn my head at a crossroads.

I've done about 15 km on my SFC since getting it back from restoration. I couldn't see where I was going due to the pain in my neck when I tilted my head back. I've yet to try riding it again, as soon as the weather dries out to see if things are better.
If not, there'll be one SFC for sale.

I am however, a lot nearer 70 than 60. Last outing on my TT2, I had to lift my feet onto the pegs with my hands! My old carcass hasn't aged too well, but as long as I can ride a bike with a more sedate position, I'll be out there.

Paul
 
My SF2 was fitted with drum SFC tank and seat since my first factory visit in 1977 and the bike remained my only motorcycle until the late 80ies. Ergonomics of the bike were same as a drum brake SFC, never was a problem, to this day. At some point I did raise the clip-ons a little.
Many people find the low seat/high footrests of the disc brake SFCs troublesome, the drum SFCs are better in that respect. Others have troubles with the wide rear portion of the tank of the drummer, the disc brake models are better in that respect.
I was so crazy about these bikes that comfort was the least of my priorities. What comfort can one expect from a 70ies road racer?

Marnix
 

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"Same here. I'll stop when coming to a halt, I can't take my feet off the pegs or lift my leg over the seat to get off the bike. The later is already the case. Getting off the bike when I have saddle bags is a perilous endeavour indeed."

not me, I will go back to sidecars when this happens
CLEM
 
I have found my SFC electronica to be best on a racetrack, for which they were designed. Comfort improves past 140km/hr on roads. These days, pushing 70, I only do about an hour's ride and return with some pain in neck, back and knees, but a huge grin that stays for some time.
 
I haven't picked this up yet as travelling is still a pain in the arse in Canada (covid and winter) but it was used for touring by the previous owner. Lowered footpegs and not so low handlebars. Late model SF2 based.
I may not keep it that way so if anyone is interested in some low rearsets .....

Jim


 
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I only ever rode a nice early badge replica. It never was "my cup of tea" really... You need to have very thin and short legs, a long upper body and arms even longer than that. I know many that drove on theirs for long distances - I am simply to fat to do that.

I have very deep respect for the guys in the 70's that raced the bikes. But maybe that is the secret: if you are hanging on one or the other side, it might be better. just sitting on it felt a bit like a jokey on the top of the horse, just with the arms straight forward as if he would be trying to grap the leather strap that goes from the ear to the mouth...


w1200_h615_x600_y307_RP_48418247_1066345685_RGB_190_1_1_915a5492ae2fbe4c04601c4f1a676f9c_15501...jpg


here is a video that shows a ride-out and a good view of the riding position:


see the straight arms and the heels under or allmost behind the butt. see also knee positions and angles.
 
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