No it isn't. That's just my opinion.
The big advantage of reading your posts is that I know which roads to avoid next time I'm in the UK on a bike.BTW ....... Just to illustrate the reasoning behind my point of view , I would like to video a typical trip along some sections of the A429 , and the unrestricted stretches of the M4 , and then you could form your own opinions as to whether you would prefer to have either 25 bhp , or ( say ) 75 bhp , available to you ....
.... but the GoPro has gone belly up , and seeing new ones are £400 , and I`m currently going through my own personal cost of living crisis , it will have to wait ...............
Actually , I had just deleted that last post of mine , because I decided it was a bit un necessary ......... I like to avoid high speed , busy roads as well , but sometimes ( especially if you live in or near a big city ) , you have little choice .........The big advantage of reading your posts is that I know which roads to avoid next time I'm in the UK on a bike.
I avoid dual carriageways and motorways anyway.
Paul
..........Some workers and engineers went from Breganze, to Zane, to Noale. I know a few of them. Toni Cavazzin who ran a semi official Laverda TT2 team, one of the bikes of which I unknowingly bought from Phil Todd having outbid Bob Dixon by £50 on ebay, ended up running a semi official Aprilia race team.Actually , I had just deleted that last post of mine , because I decided it was a bit un necessary ......... I like to avoid high speed , busy roads as well , but sometimes ( especially if you live in or near a big city ) , you have little choice .........
Going back to Sir Sid`s original post .... If I were starting from scratch , it`s the Aprilia I would go for .......... Aprilia are the sort of natural successor to Laverda ........ I believe some Zane people moved to Noale ...... and they own the name ........ A bells and whistles version of the Aprilia could even have a Laverda badge stuck on it`s tank , and it would still be more of a Laverda than a modern day Thailand Triumph is a Triumph , or a modern day Chinese Benelli is a Benelli , for example ,,,,,,,,( If you see what I mean .... ) ......
Hi Adam - see the race bike story in the ILOC book. The first 750 S Formulas actually came in at 76bhp. The highest power achieved on the Semi Factory Baines bike was 107bhp.It’s off the brochure , rear wheel hp probably 80 - Pete Whitelegg who raced the Zanes for Alto made the comment below -
“We ran Formula engines with forced induction, Kent high lift cams, custom inlets with 916 throttle bodies with a programmable ECU achieving 96 bhp at the rear wheel and even the ex Baines factory racer only managed 92 I seem to remember. That is a respectable number for a 750 twin with a tractor engine crank! Peak power isn't everything and we beat many 1000 V twins in our time between myself & Phil Read Jnr as riders for Laverda Racing UK / Alto Performance”
that is). Modern bikes aren’t even more economical- the big difference is that they are cleaner (emissions) and quieter. You can decide what matters to you .
This will be the French 750 S Formula which Geoff Baines told me about when I was researching the race bike story for the ILOC book. At the World Sound of Thunder round at the Ducati Weekend at Assen, the French bike was fast and well ridden and was the only other Laverda which could hang with the Baines bike - it only really lost out on the fast straights when the Baines bike stretched its legs. (Ever competitive - Geoff points out that the Baines bikes were under geared for Assen and were running on the limiters - but even so, the carbed bike was impressive). The factory backed endurance race bikes were much slower.
