Riding a bike no one has ever heard of, Laverda

1200ts

1200ts

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USA - Riverside CA
So we finally had nice weather today where it was not hot. So I take out the RGS for a 150 mile ride. I stopped at the "Lookout" in Lake Elsinore CA which is a very popular motorcycle place. Any motorcycle you can think of, even really rare and very expensive ones eventually show up. As it had rained this morning and was still looking like more was coming, not a lot of bikes but probably still 40 in attendance.

Not one single person there had even seen or even heard of Laverda. Even those on Italian bikes. One guy probably in his 70's on an Aprilia said that the motor in my RGS was made by Yamaha. They would wander over and say what kind of bike is that?

Other than Dave and his Jota out in the Palm Springs area, I have not seen another Laverda on the road in 18 years. One day no one will remember the bikes at all.

The lack of any motorcycle shop that will work on a Laverda in Southern California means unless you do your own work it becomes a bike rusting away at the back of the garage.
 
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Boy things have deteriorated in The Golden State... Steve Carroll used to own an Italian
bike shop in Garden Grove,the late Lance Weill in SoCal and Scuderia West in San Francisco.
I thing there was also a shop in Costa Mesa (no,not Lance). I;m guessing the Rock Store or
Newcombs Ranch,Alices Restaurant would also generate a blank stare showing up on a
Laverda triple or putting around on an SF750 with Honda badging for the ultimate F.U.
I'm guessing Meriden era Triumphs are serviced by internet newbies these days everywhere.
Maybe you need to go to states where people have emigrated to for economic survival to find
a motorcycle mechanic...
 
I bought my SFC1000 from Steve Carroll. He had a book listing all the Laverda's he had sold and the customer information. When he added me to the book he said that 90% of his Laverda customers and their bikes had disappeared. Steve closed his shop about the year 2002 and I have not seen him since.

Lance Weil I knew very well having first met him in about 1976 and I passed close by his shop when I was going to University. He has been dead for probably 10 years.

Other Laverda dealers in California I do not know what happened as I did not buy my first one until about 1992 and they were all gone by then except for Lance and Steve.

No other shops here in California that I know of will touch them due to liability as they have no mechanics who have seen one and have no factory training. If the bike needs crank shaft work, they can't do anything.

I would guess, there are probably over 100 twins and triples sitting here in California that have not been on the road in many years.

Even in the 1970's you might see a Laverda on the road once or twice a year. At the time I was riding a Yamaha RD250.

As for servicing Meriden Triumph's, not a problem, there are a number of shops that will work on them as they were sold here in the thousands. The mechanics are retired guys who were around when the bikes were new. But they don't work cheap!

HOME | Triumph Classic Moto

www.triumphclassicmotorcycles.com www.triumphclassicmotorcycles.com
 
I didn't know Steve very well,he always seemed a bit of an odd duck,at least to me. Last time
I saw Lance was probably 15+ years ago. He showed me a Norton he had built for Keanu Reeves
and proved it by the regi for an address on Mulholland. Lance at that time also had an MV 750
America I think on consignment and priced if memory serves at $35 K. I guess you're right about
finding a Triumph guy (old,experienced and retired). I met Sonny Nutter (#19) at Yoshi Kosaka's
Garage Co. when it was close to LAX. Sonny was working on old Triumphs !!! Growing up, Bud
Ekins was down the road with his shop selling Triumphs but his real love was Matchless. Still have
one of his business cards when he was in N. Hollywood on Weddington. By the way where are you
located? I'm heading down in late October to hang out with my old pals in the SFV.
 
Surprisingly enough there are an age of bikers here in Europe who have never come across a Laverda before - a Ducati owner who offered me shelter during a very heavy shower was one !!!
 
I find its the younger people who have never heard of Laverda's more than us of a certain age!, when i was a teenager the Jota was the fastest production motorcycle available, but that was nearly 50 years ago...i do still occasionally get guys engaging in conversation at petrol stations saying stuff like 'wow ive not seen one of those for years' etc. ...and most seem to think my silver jota should be Orange!
 
I used to get older blokes saying they haven't seen BLA BLA for a long while but even that's slowly stopped. We semi-regularly meet at the Petrol Station before the big Sydney Riders road The Old Pacific Hwy and there is the usual bunch of younger people decked out in Full race suits and riding the latest Missile, BTW complete overkill on that Cop Infested road and they show complete indifference to anything not similar to there bunch. To me, any bike that has been modified to suit its rider is well worth a good look even the latest stuff, bit hard to see a newly fitted injected CHIP though. I just cannot get excited seeing a bunch of exactly the same bike all in a row, it's rare to see 2 Laverdas exactly the same thankfully. Now get off my grass.
 
Laverda motorcycles are fast joining the small club of antique vehicles.
Curiosities with a very small following and 1 or 2 people worldwide capable of working on them and producing spares.
Much like my 1912 Humber only a lot more complicated to maintain.

Paul
 
A good few years ago I was randomly passing a park with what looked like a car show going on. Studibakers, really out there design. People like what they like.
 
Occasionally, I get someone come over and say, "Laverda? I used to have one of those"/or some such variant on the theme. But it's inevitable that no one under the age of 50 has heard of them. Why would they?

Think of all the bike manufacturers you've never heard of. Type 'Defunct Motorcycle Manufacturers' into Wikipedia and you get .. (and this is just the UK)

 
Just scratching the surface there, Craig! But there are a couple of the industrys' big hitters on that list that any petrolhead older than 50 should have heard of. There must be thousands more defunct marques than active. But, many made contributions to what we have today. Even failures teach you something!

Usually quite entertaining listening to people who think they "know" about Laverdas, so much complete and utter bullshit, always good for a laugh. :ROFLMAO:

piet
 
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