Massimo Laverda

Like most here we all know the basics of both marques, but the comparison between them was never really done. Why one continued successfully and the other did not.
 
Paul Marx said:
It's always other people's money unless you print the stuff.

Paul
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State aid is other peoples money i.e. mine and yours, financing a family business without recourse to free money is a lot harder. Ducati was a basket case company for many a long year just like the British marques were.
 
pf1 said:
State aid is other peoples money i.e. mine and yours, financing a family business without recourse to free money is a lot harder. Ducati was a basket case company for many a long year just like the British marques were.
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The money that comes into your hand always comes from somebody else's hand. How it gets there is either the result of politics or dishonesty.
I doubt that the family business refuses money that a person or company got from a state hand out or the dole. That's economy, everything is interdependent. Money circulates a lot more than Covid. And as the French say " it has no smell".

Our hospitals and pensions are other peoples money.

In the case of Laverda, I suspect that if there was state money, it went to the combine harvesters which is a good thing, it would have been wasted on the V6 or the 4 x 4. (the caravans didn't squander money). At least Ducati stuck to motorcycles, and nice ones at that.

The only free money is the one you print.

Paul
 
pf1 said:
They should stop teaching philosophy in French schools Paul, it makes you overthink everything.
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To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers. It is, however, a project altogether unfit for a nation of shopkeepers; but extremely fit for a nation whose government is influenced by shopkeepers.

— Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
 
Paul Marx said:
To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers. It is, however, a project altogether unfit for a nation of shopkeepers; but extremely fit for a nation whose government is influenced by shopkeepers.

— Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
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No wonder you sound so bloody miserable Paul. No one can change the past so why worry about it? It's a short life and then that's it finito, enjoy it while you can.
 
Johluy said:
When I was in Breganze in 1981 to equip my SF3 with a SFC fairing I had some time to discuss with Cico and to meet Massimo in the factory. Cico told me, that due to his opinion the three cylinder engines are far too heavy and too bulky to compete with the new japanese engines. He was very worried about the future of Laverda. When I met Massimo in the factory he seemed to be primarily interested in the V6 at the same time mentioning, that this project will not be commercially succesful. The overall impression I got was not very professional ...
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This ties in with reports at this time that the two Laverda brothers had differing views as to how the company could keep it`s head above water in the face of Japanese competition.Massimo`s view that the V6 could eventually spawn V4s and an inline triple based on it`s layout was doomed to be stillborn due (I guess) to lack of funds ,while Piero saw the future in terms of diverging into hopefully more profitable projects such as the 4x4,caravans and industrial pumps and so on.
There was also 350 Lesmo of course , and the four cylinder 750,which Piero said at the time would very likely not go into production (even if that was possible) "take a look at the Yamaha FZ750,it is very similar,when you aim for the same target you use the same path,so we would not only be making a copy of the Yamaha,it would also be an inferior copy".
This probably gives a good insight of how he viewed the future of Laverda motorcycle production in the earlv to mid-eighties.
There was also a build it yourself (!) aeroplane if I remember correctly,at least marketed under the Laverda name in the USA,and also another offshoot of the Laverda family,Lionello Laverda who manufactured off -shore power boats,so I believe.
Another sad postscript to all this was in the dying days of final batch SFC 1000 and Lesmo 125 production was that a large part of the factory was leased out to Diesel Jeans.
 
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Hi mates,
you did me a nice surprise

due I'm the author of the article on Sportmemory website "Massimo Laverda- L'uomo che inventò la maximoto".

Many thanks for your warm appreciation :)

I remain at your disposal to share everything you like to know about this of other articles I've written about motorcycles.

Ciao
 
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