rocketonarail
Hero member
- Location
- Gloucestershire,England
Just to say you may have got the impression that I am not a fan of the V6...not the case , quite the opposite in fact , (not that my opinion counts for anything , but this is supposed to be General Discussion so your`e gonna get it anyway ! ) .
It just seems to me that the V6 at that time would have taken too much time and money to turn it into a competitive racing motorcycle . Massimo said it would have been possible to get the V6 down to a weight of 190 kg , " all it would have taken was money " which kind of sums up the whole problem .
How did the factory view the V6...as a test bed for a new model range , endurance racer , flagship sports roadster ? ... probably all three .
The Japanese could afford to turn out one off prototypes or projects (Hondas oval piston 500 GP racer , or Yamahas 700cc water cooled two stroke four cylinder road bike for example) , but if these ventures failed miserably (Honda) , or came to nothing (Yamaha) , it didn`t matter , the Japanese had the resources and corporate strength to shrug these losses off , and the ability to just carry on churning out thousands of profitable motorcycles as if nothing had happened .
For a tiny concern like Laverda the V6 took on much more importance than that of a project that may or may not work .
Selling low volume production good quality motorcycles at inflated prices may have worked in the past , but with the Japanese now producing equally good high performing machines at much lower prices what do you do now ?
Would a range of motorcycles derived from that original V6 saved Laverda ?
How long would it have taken and how much would it have cost to develop such a range , and even if that had been possible how could Laverda have produced them in sufficient numbers to generate any sort of return on that investment given the production facilities available to them at the time .
The V6 itself could have been marketed as a flagship model at an inflated price in order to cover costs (maybe) , but any V twin or V four derived from the V6 would have to be produced in higher volumes , and at a competitive price in order to be profitable ......would Laverda be in a position to deliver on that ?
It was rumoured at one time that Luciano Zen tried to persuade the Laverda brothers to kill the V6 off , through jealousy / resentment due to the fact it was really Alfieri`s baby , not his . This was obviously rubbish as Zen and Alfieri worked closely together on it , but you do wonder if Zen might have pondered sometimes as to exactly where the V6 was taking Laverda .
His approach from the 75 singles onward had always been that of careful ,methodical development , not leaping in at the deep end with a new radical design .
Maybe he was the only one who could see the V6 for what it really was : a technological dead end which sucked the likeblood out of the original Moto Laverda company...( Still a fantastic bike though )...
It just seems to me that the V6 at that time would have taken too much time and money to turn it into a competitive racing motorcycle . Massimo said it would have been possible to get the V6 down to a weight of 190 kg , " all it would have taken was money " which kind of sums up the whole problem .
How did the factory view the V6...as a test bed for a new model range , endurance racer , flagship sports roadster ? ... probably all three .
The Japanese could afford to turn out one off prototypes or projects (Hondas oval piston 500 GP racer , or Yamahas 700cc water cooled two stroke four cylinder road bike for example) , but if these ventures failed miserably (Honda) , or came to nothing (Yamaha) , it didn`t matter , the Japanese had the resources and corporate strength to shrug these losses off , and the ability to just carry on churning out thousands of profitable motorcycles as if nothing had happened .
For a tiny concern like Laverda the V6 took on much more importance than that of a project that may or may not work .
Selling low volume production good quality motorcycles at inflated prices may have worked in the past , but with the Japanese now producing equally good high performing machines at much lower prices what do you do now ?
Would a range of motorcycles derived from that original V6 saved Laverda ?
How long would it have taken and how much would it have cost to develop such a range , and even if that had been possible how could Laverda have produced them in sufficient numbers to generate any sort of return on that investment given the production facilities available to them at the time .
The V6 itself could have been marketed as a flagship model at an inflated price in order to cover costs (maybe) , but any V twin or V four derived from the V6 would have to be produced in higher volumes , and at a competitive price in order to be profitable ......would Laverda be in a position to deliver on that ?
It was rumoured at one time that Luciano Zen tried to persuade the Laverda brothers to kill the V6 off , through jealousy / resentment due to the fact it was really Alfieri`s baby , not his . This was obviously rubbish as Zen and Alfieri worked closely together on it , but you do wonder if Zen might have pondered sometimes as to exactly where the V6 was taking Laverda .
His approach from the 75 singles onward had always been that of careful ,methodical development , not leaping in at the deep end with a new radical design .
Maybe he was the only one who could see the V6 for what it really was : a technological dead end which sucked the likeblood out of the original Moto Laverda company...( Still a fantastic bike though )...
Last edited:
