Jota

N

neandethal

Junior member
Location
oakham
Having just bought a Montjuic, i think it is time i owned its big brother. Have previously owned a Mirage.
I have a little knowledge, which i opening accept is a very dangerous thing when looking at bikes at the values being asked.
I am based in the East Midlands and would rather not have to travel to lands end r john o groats to view prospective bikes.
Are there any for sale, in no great rush, finding the right bike is more important than haste. Cheers Ian
 
Have seen that , and i know Steve at Solo who is selling one.
Unlike a Monty you cant ask Richard if it left the factory/slaters as a real one.
Could do with a beer with someone who can guide me, any suggestions?
Cheers Ian
 
some valid points but quite a lot of bullshit. What makes this guy an expert on Laverdas? The inner alt cover looks like it's been cut out as I have never seen one like that. The mesh, I've brought several over the years never looked like the one in the photo and as for the factory gluing them in with epoxy, they must have missed mine and the motors I've worked on over the years.
What about all the triples that have covered 100s thousand miles with minimum maintenance and repairs. In Australia they got ridden hard and long distance and the reliability wasn't a problem if serviced properly and regular oil changes.
Wanker comes to mind!!
 
Who knew you needed to pop rivet those mesh screens in, really. And what the hell happened to using those spark plugs? Nobody runs 9s, let alone anything other than B8ES. So 40-year-old bikes need a lot of fixing. Who would have figured that out? Lots of praise for Keith; that's really left a big hole in the Laverda world. He got that right, at least.
 
Vince said:
Mr Sock, have you heard of The Berk and Wills expedition, early Australian explorers? Different spelling, though.
From memory, they took a Piano. Funny but also tragic.
Click to expand...

Funnily enough, Vince, I have.
A drinking buddy filmed Dick Smith's first Bourke to Burketown Bash.
A group of pals and I liked the idea so much, a plan was hatched to join for the '86 Bash, in a '66 Porsche 911.
Sadly, Custom's Duty and several other complications, failure to organise being the most serious. meant it never happened.

 
The Sock said:
Funnily enough, Vince, I have.
A drinking buddy filmed Dick Smith's first Bourke to Burketown Bash.
A group of pals and I liked the idea so much, a plan was hatched to join for the '86 Bash, in a '66 Porsche 911.
Sadly, Custom's Duty and several other complications, failure to organise being the most serious. meant it never happened.
Click to expand...

Count yourself lucky Mr Sock. I've had the misfortune to have spent time with Dick Smith on his Antarctic expedition in 1988 and I was unimpressed by the man.
 
Interesting, he must have had great PR over the years. All I know is what the media reported, and even now, decades after he sold his electronics empire, the media still ask him to comment on aviation incidents. To be honest, I never met anyone who was very successful and wasn't aggressively a bit of a dickhead in real life. I stopped trying to meet my heroes after a couple of disappointments. Feet of clay appear to be the norm. Best kept beyond arm's reach.
 
Apart from my own opinion of Dick Smith (which I'm happy to elaborate on), he also butted heads with my late brother Bob.

Bob was an aeronautical engineer in the air safety and airworthiness division of Australia's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

In 1990, the then Prime Minister Bob Hawke appointed his mate Dick Smith as Chairman of CAA, despite Dick being supremely un-qualified for the job. It was clearly a "jobs for the boys" political appointment rather than one based on merit. His only relevant qualification at the time was that he held a private pilot's licence and had flown a lot as a hobby.

Nevertheless, Dick was supremely confident that he knew better than anyone else about commercial aviation, and went about making sweeping changes to air safety policy. Some of Dick's reforms got through but many fell on their face because they were stupid. Bob and several of his air safety colleagues eventually resigned their positions at CAA because Dick made their jobs untenable. I don't know the details other than Bob telling me that Dick Smith was a dangerous man to be in charge of aviation. And that aviation is as safe as it is in Australia despite Dick Smith's interference, not because of it.

Bob and several of his team ended up in Canada to develop their airworthiness regulations.
 
Vince said:
To be honest, I never met anyone who was very successful and wasn't aggressively a bit of a dickhead in real life. I stopped trying to meet my heroes after a couple of disappointments. Feet of clay appear to be the norm. Best kept beyond arm's reach.
Click to expand...
I watched a film-doco about Dick Van Dyke the other night (cos it was on and I was couch potatoing) - he was an amazingly nice bloke apparently. Certainly bloody talented.
 
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