One time, I was riding my Laverda and...

I would probably have never met Dory, my companion/wife for over 30 years if it wasn't for my 3C. I was invited to a birthday party and rode over, some girl asked another "What sort of idiot would paint a Laverda yellow??" Other girl dragged her over to me and introduced us... never looked back!

Would never had happened were I on a Honda, she doesn't like them much.

piet
 
Shajota said:
Laverda specific hey!!??
My Series 2 came to our wedding in 1990, even got in the photos (after the photographer had to dismantle a door for access.)
Not Lav specific enough??
Well I didn't invite the f****ng Honda:LOL::LOL:
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Rusty discs!! You should have ridden it there with the future mrs on the back!
 
My first ride of The Old Rd on my 3c Laverda was a real shock, back then it was approx 50ks of bliss. A 100kph limit and not much Police action considering there were some maniacs riding up there. What I rode before the 3c was a couple of Bonnies, and on them, I could put it anywhere in a bend. Very easy to change lines mid-corner and super easy to flick about. So I tried that in the first tight bit and was completely shocked at how hard it was to change lines. I had ridden a mates Ducati Bevel and found that similar. It took a while to come to grips with picking a line really early and having to stick to it. Nice in high-speed sweepers but not what I liked in the tight stuff, it was like the bike was telling me where to go instead of me telling it. So I have tried to change that over the years, jacking the rear and dropping the front. It's way better now but still stable in high-speed sweepers. Plus I have made the suspension much more compliant to suit where we end up riding, rough back roads. I have also tried to tailor the ergonomics to suit my size and shape and make it as comfy as I can. I cannot see me doing all that on any other bike than MY Laverda. It's been a pleasure to get it just how I like it.
 
piranha-bro2 said:
Rusty discs!! You should have ridden it there with the future mrs on the back!
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??Huh. Bike was my daily commuter and was ridden there, no other way to get it there! (Was day before I think, maybe 2)
Mrs was a regular pillion, even took her up the Gillies on it to try and get things moving when 1st bub was about 2 weeks overdue - much to mother in laws horror:LOL:
This was Cairns in the wet season. Surface rust appeared almost immediately, (but I think the photo makes it looks worse)
 
Shajota said:
??Huh. Bike was my daily commuter and was ridden there, no other way to get it there! (Was day before I think, maybe 2)
Mrs was a regular pillion, even took her up the Gillies on it to try and get things moving when 1st bub was about 2 weeks overdue - much to mother in laws horror:LOL:
This was Cairns in the wet season. Surface rust appeared almost immediately, (but I think the photo makes it looks worse)
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Apologies! I know the Gillies and I know the wet season.
 
1. When studying Automotive engineering in the Netherlands, I once drove my first Laverda back from the University to my parents. While on the highway around Amersfoort, a police car drove up next to me, stayed there for a while and then turned on their "Follow Me" sign until the next parking lot. I didn't speed or other, so was fairly surprised. I was even more surprised when they told me just to wait for their colleagues from the motor brigade. They showed up a little later and we had a 10 minutes Laverda talk... When they left, all people on the parking lot asked me: what did you do wrong to be pulled over by 4 officers ?

2. On my way to Francorchamps begin 90's, I drove her through Eindhoven, the Netherlands (the City of Philips) when traffic-lights turned red. While waiting for the lights to turn green, the noise of the open cans of the Jota was drowned out by a thundering sound and before I realized what was going on the barrel of a tank showed up next to me.. It is fairly common that tanks pass there and I think the driver just wanted to remind me of who is actually the Boss...

And yes, I still ride her!
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That has to be the cleanest Laverda I've ever seen!! Stunning. Great tale too.

I was pulled over late one night in Perth by a highway patrol copper and I asked what I'd done wrong - he said 'nothing' but noticed the MCRCWA (road racing club) sticker on my fairing screen and was interested to talk about racing my bike!!

Another episode, a guy on a Commando and me on the SF1 on the main street of Perth, missing all the traffic lights. He kept screaming off redlining the thing hoping to have a little drag race. Each time I just tootled away - happened at about three sets of lights. Last one, I caned the SF and left him in dust - cop pulled ME over and said I'd baited HIM, accusing me of knowing full well that the mighty Lav would hose him. My complaints come to nothing - a speeding ticket for my trouble! That really pissed me off.
 
Like Piet, a Laverda plays a tenuous part in my introduction to my missus. I was entered in the 1984 Manx Grand Prix newcomers on my ‘Superbike’ (magazine) Monty and decided to go to my elder sister’s for a weekend stay prior to the event. By chance a friend of her’s decided to have a house party that weekend and invited my sister, who then asked if I could go with her. The host and I hit it off pretty well for a first time meeting. The second ‘date’ didn’t go quite so well, a wet and cold race meeting at Silverstone, where I was also racing the Laverda, and the relationship almost ended at that point. However, I am pleased to say another house party a few weeks later, this time at my sister’s, saved the day. She has now been married to me and my Laverdas for 35 years.
 
I have rebuilt my GT bit by slow bit having acquired it after it had been a victim of arson. One of the most notable effects of the fire was the saddle was about 2 inches thick and only just a little better than sitting saddle-less on a naked frame.
While doing my first ride to a monthly Moto Guzzi (closest thing there is to a Laverda group around me) breakfast meet I was approaching a four-way stop intersection out in the country. Well I guess the Stop signs at this intersection are ignored, so the road department ground several groups of Rumble Strips into the pavement in advance of the Stop signs. Rumble strips are like corrugations in the road. Well I had been riding for about 30 miles before this intersection with these Rumble Strips and when I drove over the first set of strips I realized that I couldn't feel anything different in the ride of this bike. The bike felt just the same on the "smooth" pavement as it did going over the Rumble Strips. I laughed for 10 more miles thinking about this.
 
Eurocycleguy said:
I have rebuilt my GT bit by slow bit having acquired it after it had been a victim of arson. One of the most notable effects of the fire was the saddle was about 2 inches thick and only just a little better than sitting saddle-less on a naked frame.
While doing my first ride to a monthly Moto Guzzi (closest thing there is to a Laverda group around me) breakfast meet I was approaching a four-way stop intersection out in the country. Well I guess the Stop signs at this intersection are ignored, so the road department ground several groups of Rumble Strips into the pavement in advance of the Stop signs. Rumble strips are like corrugations in the road. Well I had been riding for about 30 miles before this intersection with these Rumble Strips and when I drove over the first set of strips I realized that I couldn't feel anything different in the ride of this bike. The bike felt just the same on the "smooth" pavement as it did going over the Rumble Strips. I laughed for 10 more miles thinking about this.
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Similar happens in snow country USA .. enough corrigations from heavy vehicles and such to leave the front end almost in a harmonic
 
1200 JOTA said:
Similar happens in snow country USA .. enough corrigations from heavy vehicles and such to leave the front end almost in a harmonic
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Whoop de Doos!
The Rumble strips I am talking about are deliberately ground into the pavement as warnings to wake up drivers. The corrugations are about 4-6 inches apart and when you drive over them they vibrate the vehicle and the tires make a f@r++ing noise.
 
And I hold a Piston on a 70 SF0 Twin ;o(

Thought I could do another 20Km to get home on one cylinder but to NO avail - A friend happened to drive buy and trailered me home ;o)

His 2 wheeler was a Honda Gold Wing - A motorcyclist is a Motorcyclist - Go Figure !
 
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Here's another couple gems from the early days of my RGA Jota. (Which is still for sale, BTW!)

Before I left Portland Maine to ride across the USA to San Francisco I decided to take a short ride around town without my helmet. (!) Maine has no helmet law, or it didn't in 1994 anyway, and I had never ridden without a helmet. Gotta check that off the list, I guess. (Not a fan. Can't remember riding without a helmet ever since.)

I caught up to another bike at a red light and looked over to say hi to the other rider, when I looked down at his tank and saw "MV Agusta". Seriously? How often does a random Laverda rider in Portland, Maine, or anywhere else in North America just happen to roll up next to an MV Agusta?!? (We weren't even in Augusta, Maine!)

A week later I set out on my odyssey to California and was just over the Vermont state line on Highway 9, about to take a short southbound hop on Interstate 91 to rejoin the Vermont section of 9 down by Brattleboro. Waiting for the light to change, what rolls past me going north but a 1200 Mirage. At this point in my Laverda career, I had never seen another Laverda moving under its own power, and never seen another triple at all. I saw the guy take the northbound ramp and decided to detour my cross country trip (Day 1, first side trip!) and chase him down. (Now if only this damned light will turn green before he gets to Canada!)

As I caught up to him what do I see but a California plate. Well, I'd been anxious about taking a bike from a small European country on a 3000 mile trip, but this seemed to prove the point. I made some spastic hand signals that I guess conveyed my desire to talk and we pulled off the freeway fro a chat. It was his third trip across the continent and best of all he gave me Lance Weil's contact information (1-800-LAVERDA, duh) so I could have a source of parts out there in the West.

On the other end (21 days later) I rode in to San Francisco and had arranged to meet a friend at a bar called Zeitgeist that was conveniently both a motorcycle bar and right at the bottom of the off ramp. It was kind of a scuzzy neighborhood, and as I stood there looking at my luggage, and the Zeitgeist, and back at the luggage wondering if I should carry it all in with me a nice man from the motorcycle shop next door (Don from Scuderia West) came over and said, "Hey, is that a Laverda?"
"Yes, I just rode it here from Portland, Maine."
"I'm from Keene, New Hampshire; I have six of those here in my motorcycle shop! Come on in!"
"Can I bring my luggage?"
"Sure!"
"Can I use your phone?"
"Yep!"

So, having never seen more than 2 Laverdas in the same place, having only put my feet on San Francisco soil for 3 minutes in my whole life, I found myself in a shop full of Laverdas, talking to THE Laverda Guy in Northern California.

They say you meet the nicest people on a Honda, but if they're any nicer than the people I meet on my Laverda I think I'd be tempted to punch them in the face.
 
Great tale. Had a similar meeting experience at traffic lights when i arrived in Perth in 1975. I had Vic plates. Guy pulled up on an SF2 and we ended up having a cuppa at his place. I met many many of my friends in Perth via that incontro. A couple of them are here on this forum!
 
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Not always when riding but it can be quite surprising how many people have a slight knowledge or have heard of Laverda (or a few years back anyway).
Parked the Mirage up at Eype Mouth on the south coast once,only bike there,just car owners present,and walking away just heard someone say "special cams and exhaust" to his companion.
Rather more amusing was parking next to a car with a youngish guy behind the wheel and what looked like his parents in the back seat.The drivers window was open and (again) walking away I heard him say to mum and dad "That`s a Jota " (close but no cigar), "That can corner faster than any other motorcycle"......... which of course is perfectly true , isn`t it fellow Laverda people....:).......
Would now and again get nods of acknowledgement from police patrol riders coming the other way which never really happens when riding other bikes.
There`s a long slightly uphill dual carriageway lefthander close to where I live with a speed limit of 50 mph and if you get a clear run in the outside lane you can stick the 180 in top gear at 2000 rpm so the motor booms away like a big single as you accelerate past,one exhaust thud for every car you pass,with each drivers head swivellng round as you go past-slightly childish behavior but there you go...
 
This was not a single-day event with the Laverdas but it did happen every day when we were riding thru Mexico. Way back in the summer of 82, August myself and my mate Rob, MotoddRob on this forum, headed south to Mexico from California, There were three of us, myself on my 74 3C and Rob and his girlfriend on his SF2, we were young, brave, fearless but mostly under the influence of Mexico..

Every time we pulled up at PetroMex station, Policia checkpoint, or Cantina the locals would surround us and start firing questions and praises at us for riding "Muy bonito Mexicana Motos grandes"(translation very beautiful big Mexican motorcycles). The Mexican people would spot the Laverda tank badge colors of green white and red the same colors as the Mexican flag and immediately think these were Mexican motos. The first couple of times this happened we would explain that no they are Italian bikes but this explanation only brought about more questions and when we were finally able to convey that the bikes were Italian it brought about very visible disappointment among the locals. So for the remainder of the trip down Baja across on the ferry to the mainland and onto Mexico City and Northern Yucatan, we rode Mexican (flagged)Motos the locals were so happy to see their colors on the tank how could we disappoint.
 

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78jotadave said:
This was not a single-day event with the Laverdas but it did happen every day when we were riding thru Mexico. Way back in the summer of 82, August myself and my mate Rob, MotoddRob on this forum, headed south to Mexico from California, There were three of us, myself on my 74 3C and Rob and his girlfriend on his SF2, we were young, brave, fearless but mostly under the influence of Mexico..
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Nice story,and I see what you mean about being under the influence ( photo 3 )-that must have been some night out!
 
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