There`s a picture on here earlier somewhere of Roger Slater riding a Vincent Comet through the mud competing in a Press Trial ........
There was a article written by journalist Dave Minton , ( so maybe 90 % fact , 10 % decoration ) , that said Roger Slater traveled over to Italy with a Rapide engine , with a view to finding someone who could manufacture parts , or maybe even complete engines , for the Vincent V Twin .......
Major players like Moto Guzzi and Ducati told him to get lost , so he tried Laverda , who had just settled down with 750 production by this time ....
Laverda took a look at the Vincent , reckoned it wouldn`t a viable option from their point of view ....... but told Roger they were working on a 1000 cc engine of their own , showing him one of the early 981 development bikes ........ Forget the Vincent , would he be interested in becoming a Laverda distributor back in the UK ?
So Roger loaded up a 750 twin or two in the back of his van , drove back to the UK , sold them ......... and that`s how Slater Bros ( Engineering ) Ltd. ended up becoming Moto Laverda importers for the UK ....... ( According to the story ... ) .........
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