Jota renovation

S

stevebat3010

New member
Location
Stratford upon avon
Can someone help me out with a recommendation to overhaul and renovate my Jota. I purchased a 1977 silver jota back in February 2023 and having read an article about Keith at Laverda Scozia I thought he was the obvious choice. I had the bike shipped to him in March 2023 before I went on holiday. Since then I have had a raft of excuses and zero progress. I need to go and fetch it back and put it in front of someone who is interested. I am sure Keith is good, his reputation is strong but he has had my bike for 18 months and seemingly done nowt other than a cursory diagnosis. I wasn't in any rush preferring the work to be done right but my patience has about run out. Off on holiday for 3 weeks then I will run up to Glasgow in the van and collect it hoping to find someone who can do the work. Any pointers appreciated.
 
Steve, I can not comment on Keith as I only met him once and spoke to him just a few words. All I can say is that good people have long lead times, mostly because they have a long list of customers and a dedication for details.

I had 3 of my engine overhauled by OCT in Germany. The longest they took was more than 5 years, the shortest I think was something like 2 years. Not everything can be done in-house, like laser-welding or some other stuff, which also does not improve the lead time.

As much as I can understand your frustration, I would speak with Keith and see if you can agree with him on what the steps are needed to complete the bike and if he can give you a clear plan on how to proceed. Others won't be much quicker I fear...

Just my 2 cents from 33 years of ownership and experience with workshops...
 
Laverdalothar said:
Steve, I can not comment on Keith as I only met him once and spoke to him just a few words. All I can say is that good people have long lead times, mostly because they have a long list of customers and a dedication for details.

I had 3 of my engine overhauled by OCT in Germany. The longest they took was more than 5 years, the shortest I think was something like 2 years. Not everything can be done in-house, like laser-welding or some other stuff, which also does not improve the lead time.

As much as I can understand your frustration, I would speak with Keith and see if you can agree with him on what the steps are needed to complete the bike and if he can give you a clear plan on how to proceed. Others won't be much quicker I fear...

Just my 2 cents from 33 years of ownership and experience with workshops...
Click to expand...
Appreciate your comments on this. I was always happy to wait but the absence of any movement after 18 months is frustrating. If I could find someone to move matters along I would move tomorrow but as you say, anyone who is any good will.likely have similar timelines and all I might achieve would be to lose the last 18 months and join the end of another queue
 
Phone GCS - Ged Shorten. A warning though, if the crank needs doing that will still end up with Keith but the rest of the work Ged would do. I would have a drive down to 3 Legged Cross and talk to him in person. You will see a small workshop full of Laverdas as a rule. He's good.
 
Hallo.
Regarding: total renovation, there are not that many companies that offer this service, here in Denmark there are no companies that would be able to get this service, I can feel that as there are more and more people who approach me, and currently so I'm quite busy with my own project, but I can see it takes about 1 year from when you start the project and until the bike is 100% ready, plus most people won't pay a regular hourly wage.Here is my last project: Laverda 1000, year 1973.
Br
Peder Heise
 

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As others have said, it takes time and patience if you want the small number of recognised specialist Laverda restorers to work on your bike. BTW Roger ‘Windy Corner’ Winterburn has retired from restoring bikes.
 
He was saying on Adventure Rider his last Laverda was probably happening now, but he does this for a living. Ask here.
www.advrider.com

Workshop Stories

Geez I thought my latest GS750 project frame was crusty but nothing like that Laverda.
www.advrider.com www.advrider.com
 
Thanks guys - I guess the best option here seems to be to knuckle down and stick with Kieth and renew my subscription for patience. to change now would only lose the 18 months wait to this point. Plus his reputation seems to be good. Just hope I live long enough 🥸
 
Keith already has the bike (and has had for 18 months) As an amateur I would probably cause more damage by trying to do the job myself or end up losing irreplaceable bits which is why I am happy to leave it to an expert.
 
I don't know Keith and haven't had any work done by him but from all reports he is a top notch engineer. Maybe stripping the complete bike and sending out various bits for painting/refurbishing, rewiring and tidying up all the other bits and pieces = time consuming for a busy man.
Maybe leave the motor with him and deal with the rest of the refurb yourself or some one who can. It doesn't take a Laverda specialist to strip a frame and send out parts for repainting, An auto sparky can sort the wiring, not hard to replace the bearings in the wheels/steering head.
Swing arm bearings you buy and any small engineering works can do the installing if it's out of your skill base. Not having any idea to what level of resto you want but instruments you send to specialist, seat to an upholster, chrome to the chromers. I'd imagine there are many people out there capable of doing this and reassembling the rolling chassis. The most important part, the motor is done by Keith and as it's only a motor it may be done in quick time as that's his specialty. All that other stuff is probably a pain in the arse for an engineer who probably prefers to work on motors.
Definitely talk to Grant about refurb of the rolling Chassis if your not keen on tackling it yourself. I would imaging there are many restorers in the UK quite capable of doing the rolling chassis that aren't anywhere near as busy as Keith.
If you want to tackle it yourself this forum will lead you in the right direction.
 
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