In 74/75 I mounted 2 Bikes: A 70 Breganzie 750 SF0 and a 73 Ducati 750SS Desmo

Laverda SF

Laverda SF

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2 Great Cafe rides for there time. I preferred the Breganzie mainly because to was faster and easier to maintain.

The SOHC Breganzie had valve springs and the Desmo had NONE.

I wish I had them rides now; but at last I'm too old ;o(

Dismissing the Kawasaki H2 750 3cly 2 stroke, a death machine at the time.

I kept that Breganzie until I was 70 years old.

Your comments appreciated ;o
 
Ok, I’ll bite.


Back in 1973 I worked for a motorcycle dealership that sold all three brands you mention (and a few more.) Although I was running an H2 at the time, I had the opportunity to try an SF1 & had been quite impressed & wanted one ever since. A friend had a ’73 750 GT (not the Desmo) & he let me try it - damn thing had so much torque that I could break the rear tire loose on dry pavement in second gear at 2500 rpm - no shit! Not sure it was stock.
IMG_0015 (1).jpeg

Now, it’s not quite correct to claim that the H2 was a “death machine” - took some doing, like better rear shocks, bronze swing-arm bushings (to replace the plastic ones), hydraulic steering damper & heavier oil in the forks & a few other mods, but most of all moving the center of gravity forward with clip-on bars & rear-sets. I could scrape the exhaust on both sides at will & it never wobbled at any speed - fastest I took it was 115 mph in fourth gear when my buddy who was riding pillion warned me that we were catching up to the cop car a little too fast . . . glad it had decent brakes.


Bought my present SF1 in ’87, but life prevented me from putting it on the road until 2013.

Yes, I’m feeling a little old myself & seriously thinking about selling it in the near future. Sad to say, It’s getting to be a handful.
 
In 73/74 the Honda 750CB was showing up and popular at $1,100 (at almost 1/3rd the price of an Italian moped ;o) but the Honda was a DUD for me, compared to the Sporty Italian Cafes like the 750cc SF0 or 750SS twins. The 71 BMW 750S was a Sporty 2 up ride and of course the infamous Norton 750 Commando. I saddled just about all the English bikes before 1970, not saying they were not a great rides but they had BIG Maintenance and DEPENDABILITY ISSUES ;o(

Me in 74 with my 70 SF0:
Me in 1974 with my 70 SF0.jpg

For Joe from Gatineau QC - Great Pic of you on a H2 but I assume you feel LUCKY to be alive today.
 
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Nice photo of you on your SF0 - I always preferred the look of that model over the SF1, with its large black headlamp shell, velocity stacks & angled mouths on the mufflers. As for being lucky to be alive, many more things in my life have been much more dangerous than the H2!

You are right about the Nortons - they sold them at the shop I worked at. We used to carry lots of contact points, shims for the engine mounts, kickstart pedals & those large aluminium nuts that held the seats in place. Plus, there was always more than one Norton having its engine rebuilt at any time - got worse after they came out with the combat engines.
 
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Hey Joe: We looked GOOD back in them days ;o)

"life have been much more dangerous than the H2!" Now your getting personal and talking about my Wife ;o)
 
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My Honda K2 750/4 was not a dud, slouch or ugly. In fact, I loved it. As I fell off it, crashed it, thrashed it and eventually trashed it into a car. It remains a fond memory. RIP Harry Honda
 
Chrisk: RLOF ;o))))))

For Joe: "fastest I took it was 115 mph in fourth gear" (before she went snake , X-My heart) where as, an early well tuned 70's Italian 750 Breganzie or Ducati could cruise at 118 MPH+ in 4th & 5th ;o)
 
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Laverda SF said:
Chrisk: RLOF ;o))))))

For Joe: "fastest I took it was 115 mph in fourth gear" (before she went snake , X-My heart) where as, an early well tuned 70's Italian 750 Breganzie or Ducati could cruise at 118 MPH+ in 4th & 5th ;o)
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Shop I worked at bought back an SF1 from an insurance company, rebuilt it & ran it in a 24-hour endurance race at Mosport Speedway. They didn't win, but they did finish. Then it was bought by one of the salesmen who ran it for a few more years. Tough machine!
 
Back then I spent some time at Mosport driving a 69 Ford Lotus Cortina. I saw Jackie Stewart beat Sterling Moss in a rained out race.

Although the race was dismal the party was all out BONKERS !

Unfortunate accident at that event which killed a formula B driver in corner 1 who drove under an ambulance. His head literly ended up sitting on top of the engine.

By 75 the Japanese Kawasaki 900, 4Cly 4 Stoke, came out and was just as dangerous as the their H2 750 3 Cly 2 stroke and by 78 I was still beating Kawasaki 1100's with my 70 Breganzie 750 SF0 through the Cambrian Shield.

By 84 the Suzuki 1100 GXWS Kantana was King of the Road (Shut down the Breganzie Factory ;o( - Had one - Too Fast for me and sold her after one summer.

Of course in my mid 30's I have Woman whom I'm Engaged to.
 
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The early Kawasaki engines where spectacular but their frames, suspension, wheels and balance were suicide.

Kawasaki killed my motorcyclist friends in the 70's. The Honda 900 CBRF was a good bike but still could not compete with the Italian frames which where competitively under powered save for the 84 Suzuki 1100 GWRX Kantana which defeated the Jota.
 
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Cruising at 140mph with a Suzuki 1100 Kantana in 84 scared the SHIT outta me - Sold her in the Fall ;o)

I always had my 70 Bregnzie SFO which I enjoyed until I was 70 years old and road with a motorcyclist friend who mounted a 81 Harley HOG.

Major problem with my Brenenzie 750 SF0 is parking her - She would sooner fall over. Always use the Center Stand rather then that side stand.

The 81 Honda 900CBF was a beautiful machine - Sadly they only made it for one year. She was fast enough and handled did not mean she could escape my 70 SFO ;)
 
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Not brit, not jap; I took one of my early BMW K100s out, decided I would see what she would do. Twisted it around and was doing 110-120 or there abouts and the throttle stuck open. :eek:
fighting twisting doing whatever I could to free it up, final the idea bulb started to dimly come on and I hit the Kill switch.
At rest I banged and twisted some more and the throttle eventually freed up.
D@M BMWs
 
In 1971 I had a BSA RGS 650 aka Rocket Gold Star, I had owned it a few years and worked very hard on it, much engine tuning, including a 45DCOE webber, race 2:1 megaphone exhaust and chassis barke mods to go with it, but got sick of the crank breakages due to the plain timing side main bearing wearing out at about 8,000 miles, the blow up saw me sell it and buy a 1972 Rocket 3, I enjoyed the bike a bit but got frustrated with new tyre/rear chain and re-spoke rear wheel every 3/4000 miles, but the worst thing was, it was worn out to the point where I had to carry a couple of lkitres of oil to get me home from trips as little as 200 miles each way, got shot at 10 months and 12 or 13,000 miles, and bought my SF1 which I still have, much slower, much better handling, a buit harsher ride, but bomb proof reliable, it is now (since 1979) and Egfli or more crectly the CLEGBIVERDASON
almost 50 years in my ownership.
CLEM
 
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