Long term Laverda owner - Practical Sportsbike mag feature

For what it`s worth I owned a Green 1200 Mirage (frame/engine 1637) from March 1980 till November 2019 . Had 13000 miles on the clock when i bought it and 226,000 miles (364,000 kilometers) on it when sold . Complete engine rebuild at 115,000 miles in 1991 by Slater Laverda , top end refresh (basically first oversize pistons and new guides) at 160,000 miles by myself with help from Piston Broke Engineering in Bristol (new guide fitting and measure and match new pistons to barrels). Also got through two standard fitment Bosch CDI ignition systems before fitting replacement Witt DMC unit.
No pictures though (only old Kodak stuff).
 
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CLEMTOG said:
"(Length of ownership means very little)"
you are not wrong there, I inherited my 1935 Sunbeam when I was 13 years old, the year was 1965, at that time, it had done about 19,700 mles from new, I rode it 5 miles in 1980, 100 miles in 2000, then about 40 miles a year until 2015 and not since, mileage is now 20,130 ish it was last taxed in 1949 and has never had an MOT in its life, and now it doesnt need one, or a tax disc. So long term ownership means nothing, Bought new by my uncle, who lived with his brother (my dad) and the family until his death in 1965, was laid up for the years 1939 until 1945 (uncle was one of the soldiers who didnt get home after Dunkirk and was POW'd for five years and survived, because he could mend clocks, one of my proudest posetions is the Veglia clock that he repoaired during WW11 and the owner didnt survive to se it returned
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Hi Clem. I think in a case like that long term ownership does have meaning, certainly in family history terms:)
(My comment was more referring to how a bike fares long term used regularly and in line with OP's scope for the article.)
 
Just received PS with the latest Mirage exhumation article . Interesting reading , and one or two things cross my mind , Chris , if you are reading this.
Don`t lose that little rubber top hat that sits in the fuel tank filler neck...It will stop petrol gushing out first time you brake with a full tank.
The bars seem to be the GTL type fitted to the standard 1200 , Mirages came with the slightly flatter bars from the 500 twin , just depends how fussy you want to be.
Your dad`s neighbours Mirage was , by the sound of it , one of twenty five commissioned by Slater Bros from Steve Finch with the desert paint scheme.Wonder how many of those are still around....
Tony.
 
Never thought one (or maybe more) would have made it to Australia - first time I`ve seen a decent photo of one , it looks great , only other photo of one I`ve seen was in black and white which appeared in a copy of the BMF`s Motorcycle Rider magazine back in `78 and taken at a Motorcycle show in London.
I think Richard Slater had one of the tanks on top of the shop counter at Collington , as well as the 3C extended capacity tank for the TT , I think .
Maybe the PS Mirage should be finished in a replica of that scheme....
 
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AndyW can fill you in on the details. Pretty sure his had a replica tank but he was able to dig up an original painted tank- may have been from Slater’s 🤔
 
rocketonarail said:
Just received PS with the latest Mirage exhumation article . Interesting reading , and one or two things cross my mind , Chris , if you are reading this.
Don`t lose that little rubber top hat that sits in the fuel tank filler neck...It will stop petrol gushing out first time you brake with a full tank.
The bars seem to be the GTL type fitted to the standard 1200 , Mirages came with the slightly flatter bars from the 500 twin , just depends how fussy you want to be.
Your dad`s neighbours Mirage was , by the sound of it , one of twenty five commissioned by Slater Bros from Steve Finch with the desert paint scheme.Wonder how many of those are still around....
Tony.
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Thanks for the info - the bike certainly isn't 100% original, with the later hydraulic clutch kit for a start. I've since been sent an image of the bike when it was on the road, and it had Jota-type bars/rearsets then, so those currently fitted could be from anything. The plastic mirrors weren't anything you'd associate with Laverda, either. At least, I think so The chap had owned all sorts before the Mirage, so they may be leftover from something else, or aftermarket. I'll likely return it to lower-rise bars close to, if not standard Slater 'bars. I'll be interested to see if the motor is standard inside, Eric was the sort of bloke who may well have invested in high-comp pistons and the like. It doesn't matter either way to me, I'll be happy to rebuild it to Slater-spec, but piecing together these fragments is an interesting side project to actually building it.

Ref the paint - that's interesting to know. I can't imagine many survived, it isn't a slice of 1970s style that has aged well! You'd have to be devoted to the period feel to love that, but equally I'd like to think at least a few have been preserved.

I think a chat with Richard Slater is in order to learn a bit more of the history, for myself as well as the project updates. And possibly tracking down a good example for a closer look, and maybe a spin - I've only ridden a 1200 Anniversary, in less than good health, in the depths of winter. It'd be handy to know what it should look like, and how it should ride when it's done.
 
I've had my 1978 Honda CBXz1000 27 years. It started off as a California bike (but with Euro style low handlebars), was imported into the UK where I bought it with 5,000 miles on the clock. I imported it to Switzerland when I moved there, then when I moved to Brazil imported it into Italy as that's where we spent our holidays so it's on its 4th national registration! Trouble is my Italian wife then decided against our plan to retire to Italy and move back to the UK whilst the kids are at university (...why...?). So for the 38th time I'm in the wrong country to be with the bike. One day we'll move to Italy for good, probably when I'm too old to ride the blinkin' thing. The bike now has 9,500 miles on the clock and is immaculate. I am in much worse shape.
 
Tony,
Some pics from the day I picked the bike up. I do regret selling it on, just too many bikes and not enough time.





 
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