Newby needing advice

J

JimmyO

New member
Location
N Ireland
Looking at a SF750, and wondering if any members can offer info or advice. Reg is VHJ214L, offered as 72 SF. Engine no is 750 * 11859 - can't find frame number at headstock - painted over? Or is it located somewhere else?. Has Lucas switchgear, Tomaselli throttle , chrome headlight with curious stepped shell, hump seat with storage section and Dellorto carbs. Tank has cracked paintwork at top left - a bit like old filler repair has shrunk. Just under 40K Kms, on Laverda badged speedo.
Been looking at buying one for good while now, they don't come up here very often.
 

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Welcome JimmyO, you find the frame number on the left side of the frame behind the gearbox. Some more pix of the bike would be helpfull to give you an advice! Ciao, Gert
 
Will get some pics and post. Rest of biker looks pretty straight, some at this age, and not being sure of provenance or having experience, it's hard for me to judge how original it is.
Regards
 
Hi Jimmy. Sounds very much like an early SF1 (officially 1973). The chrome CEV headlight shell is a giveaway - unless of course someone has 'updated' it. My SF1 is 13768. Frame number is down on the LHS swingarm pivot plate. If you look at the crankcase under that general area (near the lower left engine mounting bolt) you should see a stamping SF(?) - and SF1 will obviously have SF1 stamped there. 40,000km sounds unlikely for a bike that age but you never know. Be prepared to do some serious fettling to make sure it's all hunky dory.
 
Many of the bikes don't do many kilometres really, so 40.000 is possible (with long time standing untouched; the SF I restored was sitting on first level of a car parts shop for 30 years, partly taken apart after several slight accidents; engine was blocked, but did free up after tons of WD40 into the spark plug holes; was a full restoration though...). That said, speedos are exchanged easily and some even did not replace the speedo cable after it broke for thousands of kilometres, so - who knows.

Regarding the paint: that looks like the wrong combination of filler and paint has been used or/and there might be lots of dents that have been masked with filling compound... Depending on wether you/your neighbour want to keep the bike or not, I would remove the paint and underlaying material completely to the bare metal and go from there. not unlikely that rust-holes are found at the lower edges where it is welded together (unless there is leaded fuel in it, which means the bike stood still since 30 - 40 years). Better to check that when paint etc. is off and then start building a good paint job from scratch.
Just my 2 cents...

For the fuse box, see page numbered 29: https://www.laverda-register.de/Modelle_Technik/1000/Laverda-OwnerManual.pdf
 
Could well be an SF1, made from autumn of 72 to autumn of 73 give or take.
If it has round slide 36mm carbs with the way you describe the headlight and the Lucas switchgear, that would confirm.
Paul
 
What brakes does it have on - the older style with just 2 arms with a cable between them or the later with the enclosed linkage mechanism? That and the big valve head with 36mm carbs is what makes it an SF1 over an SF in my view (although there are people on here with a much better knowledge). Anyway great bike - love mine (SF1).
 
As someone who purchased a 750SF, I suggest that you factor in the cost of various servicing parts (cables,carb rebuild,etc) and look into the available parts suppliers. There is some carry over of older Ducati parts (brakes/carbs,etc). Hopefully yours has all the main components that can be otherwise costly. They are beautiful machines.
 
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TeddyG said:
As someone who purchased a 750SF, I suggest that you factor in the cost of various servicing parts (cables,carb rebuild,etc) and look into the available parts suppliers. There is some carry over of older Ducati parts (brakes/carbs,etc). Hopefully yours has all the main components that can be otherwise costly. They are beautiful machines.
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Restoring old bikes is an expensive hobby.
And you never get your money back if you sell.
Paul
 
I got my money back from the 750 SF restoration. Did not earn money, but also did not spend any extra to the sales price. That said, I bought the bike around 600€... Except for the paint and the engine job, i did everything on my own and replaced all broken parts with either new or re-renewed ones. The engine was a crank-apart-and-everything-new job and was biting off the largest part of my budget. But this is more than 10 years ago, prices have dramatically increased ever since... couldn't do it for living...
 
Laverdalothar said:
I got my money back from the 750 SF restoration. Did not earn money, but also did not spend any extra to the sales price. That said, I bought the bike around 600€... Except for the paint and the engine job, i did everything on my own and replaced all broken parts with either new or re-renewed ones. The engine was a crank-apart-and-everything-new job and was biting off the largest part of my budget. But this is more than 10 years ago, prices have dramatically increased ever since... couldn't do it for living...
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Yes, you bought the bike €600, that's the basis of the matter.
Restoring my burnt 3C will cost between €13 000 and 15 000. Which is what it cost me first time around but with about €7000 in the engine and a purchase price of €3000. All the work done by myself except the centre main bearings of the crank.
That for a bike which won't sell more than €10 000.

As an indication of professional prices, the restoration of my 750 SFC cost €25 000 and that's with me supplying a lot of parts: wheels, fork, brakes, tank, side panels, etc. And of course the frame and engine. I will of course get that back when I sell the machine, if I find a seller.

Prices haven't dramatically increased in 10 years, they've gone down. Laverda Jotas at £20 000 is over. Green frame Ducatis in bits at €120 000 is over. A Vincent Rapide can be bought for half what they were fetching 10 years ago.

Paul
 
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...and not talking about a burned bike but just an aged one.

I always wonder why our engines are so expensive to overhaul. 4 cylinder car engines are a lot cheaper to do (at least some of them, if not Porsche etc. is written on them..). Also spend lots of money on 1000 SFC engine as well as on the Jota (where the head had cracks and wasn't straight anymore). Glad we still have workshops that can perform that and yes, the crank on a car engine normally goes untouched while here it is a royal PITA to do the crank right, including balancing, but still I wonder...
 
Laverdalothar said:
...and not talking about a burned bike but just an aged one.

I always wonder why our engines are so expensive to overhaul. 4 cylinder car engines are a lot cheaper to do (at least some of them, if not Porsche etc. is written on them..). Also spend lots of money on 1000 SFC engine as well as on the Jota (where the head had cracks and wasn't straight anymore). Glad we still have workshops that can perform that and yes, the crank on a car engine normally goes untouched while here it is a royal PITA to do the crank right, including balancing, but still I wonder...
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Cars are one piece cranks, just change the rod shells, liners are wet, just change.
My V12 Ferrari engine cost me €30 000 to overhaul though.
Paul
 
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That's what I wrote basically above, Paul (crank goes untouched). BTW: I paid 7.200€ for a full restoration including new rims, new exhaust, paint job, engine complete overhaul with new pistons, crank overhaul, head re-worked, new ignition etc. etc. etc.. That said, it's just 2 cylinders against 3 on 3C and it was roughly 10 years ago, so... 7.200€ was the selling price btw. after just 2.000km. Did not like the suspension and brakes of the SF(0)...
 
Laverdalothar said:
That's what I wrote basically above, Paul (crank goes untouched). BTW: I paid 7.200€ for a full restoration including new rims, new exhaust, paint job, engine complete overhaul with new pistons, crank overhaul, head re-worked, new ignition etc. etc. etc.. That said, it's just 2 cylinders against 3 on 3C and it was roughly 10 years ago, so... 7.200€ was the selling price btw. after just 2.000km. Did not like the suspension and brakes of the SF(0)...
Click to expand...
That was an expensive overhaul.
:-)
Paul
 
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