Genuine jota or not ?

Reserve not met on ebay, highest bid about £10,500. I think the fundamental point with this bike is that Keith apparently put in thousands of £ worth of his knowledge and workmanship into that engine. If this can be corroborated then to worry overmuch about the shox or exhausts being original seems a bit peripheral. You could always hunt down these things later if it still feels important. Anyway I reckon the seller probably wants a lot more than £10.5k
 
Andy J said:
It would seem that it is another case of I spent x thousand on buying the bike and y thousand on ‘restoration’ work and so the value of the bike must be x + y. Unfortunately it doesn’t really work that way in most cases.
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That's the crux, Andy. A highly respected engineer and builder saw the list of mods and custom parts that I put into the SFQ and said he wouldn't create it for less than A$75,000. My chances of getting my money back? Parts aside, luckily it was only my labour involved!

I do understand the dilemma of forking out for a Jota and not being fleeced if it's not 'genuine'. I reckon I'd be tempted to just buy a 3CL, fit the cams, pistons and pipes and spend the rest on travel and drugs :ROFLMAO:
 
I have an idea that people would like to think they would get their money back if they bought a Jota wisely but at the moment you would be lucky to sell anything here unless it was virtually a gift.
I've been down to my garage at the weekend trying to work out a plan of action, I will be taking a big hit financially whatever I do but I can't see myself bothering to build more than a couple more bikes. Looking at the spares situation in the UK It might be better to break them, sell whatever is in demand and throw the rest away.
 
It's sad but true, Hamish. And it's hard to think of it as just a downturn ... it really feels like the new age is upon us and trying to sell a precious Italian motorcycle ... there has to be demand. A friend bought a brand new MV, some sort of fancy 'collectible' he thought - an investment. Zero km. Paid A$32 for it. Been trying to sell it for well over a year. Had one offer for A$20k. Which he refused - he might regret that!
 
Dont get hung up on "is it a real Jota" as you may or may not know the classic bike market has all but collapsed, and Laverda is not imune to the fall in values, your better off taking advantage of the reduced sell prices and enjoy the bike for watever it is no one would know anyway.
In the 1981 range of 1000cc Laverdas there were very few 3CL's but there were lots of factory made Jotas that were really 3CL's internally, so the entire is it a real Jota concept is completely flawed.
I am currently restoring a bike very similar to the one you are disgussing only about 10 numbers different`in fact, its an early series 2 bike made in 1981, this bike was sold new with a black frame it was sold new to a country in western Europe if you base the assumption that all Jotas had silver frames you would have to assume it must have been a 3CL, but upon opening this engine it was clear that it had high compression Mondial Pistons and 4C cams so is it a real Jota or maybe it was custom built at the factory who would ever know there were other tell tale things on this bike like drilled discs (1981 3CLs had solid discs).
As far as early 1981 Jotas go some early bikes had a mechanical clutch, some had the clamp on Dellortos with aluminium inlet manifolds, but Im almost certain they all had the long Laverda tank badges this included the 3CLs.
 
My 1976 3CL was sold new in California as a Jota. When I bought it in 1992, the prior owner had the frame painted silver and the tank and side covers orange.

The only Jota parts it has are the exhaust and the decal on the side cover. I took the decal off once I realized it was just a 3CL. On the dyno it made 72HP at the rear wheel so is fast enough for me as it is.

The vast majority of Jota's in the USA had the cams and pistons added by the dealer and some like mine did not get the Jota motor parts at all. There are many more Jota's on the road today than the factory ever made.
 
FWI, the long badge tanks are wider at the fuel taps to assist in clearing the carbs, than the round badge earlier tanks. j.
 
1200ts said:
My 1976 3CL was sold new in California as a Jota. When I bought it in 1992, the prior owner had the frame painted silver and the tank and side covers orange.

The only Jota parts it has are the exhaust and the decal on the side cover. I took the decal off once I realized it was just a 3CL. On the dyno it made 72HP at the rear wheel so is fast enough for me as it is.

The vast majority of Jota's in the USA had the cams and pistons added by the dealer and some like mine did not get the Jota motor parts at all. There are many more Jota's on the road today than the factory ever made.
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My '79 Jota 'kicked back' often, to the detriment of it's starter clutch, which failed morning of departure to circumnavigate Australia. So bump started every time (not fun fully loaded with panniers and guitar). Approaching Brisbane we noticed rear tyre going soft. Local Honda dealer happened to have manager named Rabbi who was Club Laverda president if I remember correctly. Not only got flat fixed, but said starter clutch addressed using rollers from Honda inventory. Repair done at Rabbi's home during gracious overnight stay.
I have since learned that My Jota may have had cam timing issues since it was also turbo like in it's power delivery. Like a two stroke..
Thought they were all that way until last year when I rode Brett's Jota Cico. Red did the crank balancing. Brett the cam timing. Totally gobsmacked how smooth and linear the power curve. So yes the basic 3C plenty powerful and doesn't need such high octane.
Takeaway? A properly built Jota can be smoother than my 3C!
 
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