Part XIII - The Zan? Virus
As said, when the first Zan? bikes came on the market, I was really impressed by them. They were sooo different to the Breganze bikes and still had somehow that flair of progressively bringing something to market that outbeats the competition. I mean - keep in mind that USD-Forks were still not standard on bikes, on most of them you could only buy them as aftermarket tools and they cost around 1.200 - 1.500? - way to expensive for most owners.
Compared to what the bike offered, a Ducati 750SS or even a 900SS (talking of the "Pantha-Motor" equiped one, not about bevels...) looked simply overpriced, even if the "basic price" was lower than on the Laverda. But the Laverda came with lots of high class components (Marchesine Rims, Brembo 4-pot gold-line brakes with floating discs, WP USD suspension front and rear etc. etc.). If you had bought a 900SS and upgraded it to those components, you would have ended up at 20% over the Laverda price - with almost the same performance...
In 1994, I went to the German "IFMA"-Trade show for bikes, where the "new Laverda" had ordered a booth but - did not show up. Several rumors ran around and basically the fact was that they were sold again and the money was not there to bring the bikes over. I was seriously dispappointed as that was why I came to the show. No other bikes really tempted me as much and I left the show just after 2 hours or so.
After the show, I followed the press which was not really happy about the Zane bikes, as they had some problems (quality) and so in 1995 (or 1996?), the new Investor and the new Management changed also the names from "650" to "668" as well as the design of the front fairing and some other parts. Still I liked the look of the bike but was financially not able to afford one (for the better I think today...). I was really keen on having one and beeing the first registered user and intended never to sell it, as I already saw the potential of it getting the next class of classic bikes. I still see that potential, but I guess it will take another 20 years to get them there...
In 1996, during the Pompone meeting we went to the factory and got a tour around the production. What we saw shocked me seriously... "FORD" Symbols on the electric plugs (still have that negative filter on me in regards to Ford due to the Fiesta I once had...), valve-seats on the heads had been damaged by a grinder while trying to clean the area of the spark-plug-hole, the production line was very tiny and we found a big box of - damaged cylinder-heads outside the factory building (Robert took some with him, one of whitch was obviously mounted the wrong way when the oil-lines had been drilled - one hole was ending in the inlet-channel...). Overall, the quality was - sorry - really, really crap! However - it was an interesting experiance to be at the factory and get some deep insights into the bikes.
1997, during the so called 50th anniversary, we went to the factory and saw the production of the new 750 twins. Watercooled, even more powerfull but styling-wise almost unchanged, I was really positively impressed. Even the "FORD"-Logo on the electric plugs had disapeared...
However, money was rare anyway (was married the 2nd year, first son was born, house just built and so...), so no chance to buy me the bike...
The years passed on, M?rz (the importer) gave up on Laverda and Stein-Dinse took over, the 750 Formula (black with orange parts) came on the market and right away I though - man - what are you doing there in the factory??? Laverda is orange (thanks to the dutch importer in the early 70's...) and has to be orange - especially the top product! I sent in some changed grafics (just with my poor little "Paint") and asked the factory to build something more tempting than that black Formula. Mainly it was inverting the color-sheme from black with orange parts to orange with black parts. I guess you get the idea...
I got a friendly mail back saying that they would like to thank me form my thoughts and suggestions, however they would seriously look at the market-trends and found that the existing color-sheme is exactly what the market was looking for. Well. Not sure which market they meant - Venus? Mars? Pegasus Galaxy?? ???
Surprisingly, they brought another Formula on the market in 1999 in "classic orange/silver" and "classic orange/blue". I am not really saying that this was based on my suggestions as it was to far away from what I sent them, but I was impressed by the look. It was exactly what I wanted! Long time I had an issue deciding which color sheme I like most but finally decided for the orange/blue.
In 2000, the new modell with improved performance, 5-spoke-wheels and some littel upgrades came on the market and I was totally in love:
However, my Jota was just under rebuild, the 1000SFC had been bought just recently and my pockets - again - were empty... :-[
Then mid/end of 2000 the rumor came true and Laverda was bankrupt again. What a shame...!!! :'(
In 2001, I could not afford one of the lasting models Stein-Dinse still had in stock, as I had to pay the rebuild of my Jota and believe me - that was not a small amount...
I continued riding the Breganze bikes but allways was thinking about a Formula, and it had to be 2000 modell!
One day in 2004 when I had financially recovered from the 1000SFC and the Jota, I stepped into OCT and saw a 2000 Formula in a "well used" condition. It had 17.000Km on the clock but was re-painted to orange-silver (originally orange blue), had some wild stickers on them (a large eagle on the side of the fairing...) and looked quiet messy. I talked to Volker and told him I would love to have that bike but- please - in orange blue and with a repaired engine (the problem with the rod-bearing was known at that time and OCT had a solution for it...).
We agreed that when they had done the motor, he would take some parts out of the stock (they had bought lots of stock from the factory) and make it an orange/blue original, well looking and technically perfect machine for me.
I called them 6 weeks later asking for the status just to hear the machine had been sold. I really was pissed! Volker appologized several times and told me that he will focus on a bike for me now and has something in mind already. 2 weeks later, he asked me to come over and take a look at a bike he has reserved for me. It was an original 2000 Formula, the demo-bike from Stein-Dinse that was used for all road-tests and magazine-reports in 2000! See the original Report of my bike in one of the most famous Bike-Magazines MOTORRAD. See the "Stein-Dinse-Sticker on the fairing and the italian land-scape/key that is the symbole of Stein-Dinse. The Symbole is still on my bike...
http://www.laverda-register.de/images/zane/Motorrad00-17-Vergleich_Laverda_750_SFormula.pdf
It was also borrowed to a friend of the Stein-Dinse owner for a race and made 3rd place (see the german report: http://www.ducati-spezial.de/racing/berlav.htm).
I agreed with Volker that they should first open the motor and check for damages, as it was ridden hard by the Journalists and in the race as well as I feared the rod-bearing would brake and damage the bike seriously. They checked and replaced the bearings, else the motor was in perfect condition and in March 2005, I was the proud owner of a 2000 Formula!!
Some improvements have been made since (mash-type oil-filter, optimized chip, starter-motor renewed and better wiring for it) and since then, it runs perfectly and is a true fun to ride. It handles sooooo easyly and even on very twisted roads, it is a great fun to ride!
This bike even almost convinced the brother of my wife and he was very close already to buy him one. From time to time I borrow him the Formula when we go on a ride, just to re-infect him again and again. Some deseases take long to infect, but he was already very close. Still loves his Honda though... :-\
Coming next: "To rebuild or not to rebuild - THAT is here the question...!"
) asked me if I would be interested in buying a Laverda. I shoke my head telling that if I would buy another Laverda, my wife would surely devide the house in two parts: the garage, where from now on my bed would be and the rest of the house... :-[
