Laverda Parts & Service Future?

ksoholm

ksoholm

Senior member
Location
Bellingham, WA, USA
Lads,
Red and others recently mentioned that the near-future of Laverda parts & service could take some heavy hits, with one recently having already happened - the loss of Mr. Slater's emporium and expertise. Wolfgang is slowing down, Red says he's thinking about it in the next couple of years. Scott Potter doesn't operate anymore, meaning that in the US (pop. 330 mill.), there is exactly no Laverda expert, which has been the case for some time.

This means we're losing a vast trove of very hard-won and specialized Laverda knowledge. The idea is to preserve the know-how as best we can.

Does anyone know of any youngsters (in the Laverda world, that's under 45) who is taking up the mantles in either parts supply or engine/service work? North Carolina's 2Topia Cycles has been rebuilding a Jota for the last while, and generally specialize in Euro stuff. Anyone else?

Best,
 
Hello all, I've logged on and suddenly feel very out of touch. I am in the process of recommissioning my SFC100 Black with wires that I put away with 3000 miles 30 years ago and I purchased new. It's in good shape and just got new Avons. New battery coming and I'm going through it.
I have just realised that spare parts may be an issue in future. I still have a few.
Does anybody still specialise and sell them in the UK?
 

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There are still plenty of parts around; the sky hasn't fallen yet. In the UK, Slater's spares were recently bought by https://thorneengineers.co.uk/?page...EzYV7G89KfMDUf5eXu7KZ8p9KQJyU7AOUuHuEhwVI91ZU.

OCT and Laverda Paradies in Germany, Wolfgang Haerter (Columbia Car & Cycle) in BC Canada.

Plenty of service available in the UK, too - Keith Nairn in Scotland, GCS Motorcycle Services, Malcolm Cox, and these guys may have spares too.
 
ksoholm said:
This means we're losing a vast trove of very hard-won and specialized Laverda knowledge. The idea is to preserve the know-how as best we can.
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Not necessarily-that's why this forum exists. With regards to not having a Laverda expert in the US I'll ask you this: What service can't you do?
 
ksoholm said:
Lads,
Red and others recently mentioned that the near-future of Laverda parts & service could take some heavy hits, with one recently having already happened - the loss of Mr. Slater's emporium and expertise. Wolfgang is slowing down, Red says he's thinking about it in the next couple of years. Scott Potter doesn't operate anymore, meaning that in the US (pop. 330 mill.), there is exactly no Laverda expert, which has been the case for some time.

This means we're losing a vast trove of very hard-won and specialized Laverda knowledge.

Best,
Click to expand...
 
IAG said:
Not necessarily-that's why this forum exists. With regards to not having a Laverda expert in the US I'll ask you this: What service can't you do?
Click to expand...

Not asking for me - but for the impact that this lack of expertise has on prospective ownership for folks who aren't handy wrenches.
 
ksoholm said:
Not asking for me - but for the impact that this lack of expertise has on prospective ownership for folks who aren't handy wrenches.
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A lot of bikes will be broken in the future.
Parts for those who ride them and who are handy with wrenches.

As a rule, I think that people who aren't good with wrenches shouldn't be near old bikes..

Paul
 
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ksoholm said:
Not asking for me - but for the impact that this lack of expertise has on prospective ownership for folks who aren't handy wrenches.
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That's the answer I anticipated as your RGS looks fantastic. Typically ownership traits are inversely proportional between skill & wallet thickness. Having a community certainly helps flatten the curve-
 
martymoose said:
Paul, I enjoy your one eyed view of the world, but you are 100% wrong on that point. Grab a spanner and have a go! How else are we going to get new mechanics.
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Done that. Did a couple of bikes for others.
Wouldn't do it again, the customers are a right pain.
We'll always have mechanics, unfortunately our Laverdas are desperately complicated compared to somewhat more archaic contraptions where you can do everything at home.

Customers are much better on an operating table, with a tracheal tube and a respirator, full of curare. They often even say "thank you".

Paul
 
Legs said:
Laverdas complicated? I reckon they one of the simplest bikes to work on that you could possibly get.
All they need is a bit of common sense, patience and and some decent tools.
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The 750 twins are extreme in their simplicity - but for the crank the average owner should be able to do all jobs needed to keep them alive, the owners manual shows how, pre-green-book that's all we had - designed by people with a background in ensuring that farmers could maintain their equipment!
 
Legs said:
'But for the crank' applies to all engines I suspect.
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Certainly not, that's where the problem lies. Any reasonably competent person can do a prewar or a British crank.
Refer to the broken con rod threads to grasp the problem and find the finance to get Carillo or Arrow to produce several hundred rods to keep a few dozen riders happy. And finance the more and more difficult to find cams.
Not to mention the warped heads, shrinking alloy blocks, collapsing cam pillars.
You'll find a big pushrod single an interesting proposition.

Let's hope that there's plenty of hamfisted owners out there to keep the spares situation going.

Paul
 
I don't even believe the cranks are that complicated, if a re-builder is prepared for a little extra tooling and patience. They show many similarities to almost any two stroke crank, one main difference being the oil slingers, which can be difficult to clean (I have seen it done with a sharpened car windscreen wiper arm) and the crank not dismantled because it didn't need it, I also have in my possession a slinger that was "cleaned" by Applebee in Thundersly, Essex (a professional!) and later removed by KN in Jockland which showed he had made an attempt, punched a hole, welded it up, and then polished out the weld, leaving 270 degrees of shit. There is a local bloke that rebuilds Yamaha racing motors in preparation for sidecar racing (TZ350.700.750) and I have spoken to him in the past about setting up for Laverda cranks, he was not all daunted by it, but he has aged, he is now 80 and it (of course) is not going to happen, but it could happen in a territory such as USA where there is no longer a KN. All the time he can do this for us, we are lucky.
CLEM
 
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