Riding a bike no one has ever heard of, Laverda

Legs said:
Had a discussion the other day at my Firefighting headquarters that is being computerised. I pointed out that some members are more adept at getting their heads around all the new gizmos than others (me included). I made the point that it's not a matter of intelligence but more a matter of preference. Some like all the electronics that has invaded our world, such as display screens in modern cars or the TFT displays and other electronic fruit on modern bikes where others are quite content with only a speedo and tacho. For me, that's all I need or want.
Click to expand...
During our recent flooding event the internet was down for a week. Cash only and no money machines as well as no cellphone service. Civil Defence had plenty of people for volunteers but no way to communicate with them. It is concerning how reliant we are on the internet in so many areas. KISS (Keep It Simply Stupid) especially in emergency environments.
 
Try adding Electricity to that, we are 1 step away from cavemen without it. Power goes out and its thumb twiding time till it comes back.
 
Legs said:
Had a discussion the other day at my Firefighting headquarters that is being computerised. I pointed out that some members are more adept at getting their heads around all the new gizmos than others (me included). I made the point that it's not a matter of intelligence but more a matter of preference. Some like all the electronics that has invaded our world, such as display screens in modern cars or the TFT displays and other electronic fruit on modern bikes where others are quite content with only a speedo and tacho. For me, that's all I need or want.
Click to expand...

Two grandsons visited last night. They had their head around the TV remote I’ve threatened to bin, within minutes. Even while I was saying what crap it was 😡

Then when I asked how they drove it they showed me so fast I had no idea what they were doing 😡😡
 
Had a "What make is that bike" today at lunchtime, arriving at my local pub. Younger guys riding bikes in their 30's admired the 750 but had not heard of laverda. They showed genuine interest and were asking about the laverda history. Obviously they rode modern bikes, but had a certain passion for bikes in general.
Very refreshing and a pleasure to talk to them.
 
Last edited:
Of modern communications ( my field ) being a radio amateur we were obliged to be secondary comms for any disasters, and it did happen. The original cell phones with SMS ( short message service ) was annunciated alert as morse code, dit dit dit ( space ) dah dah ( space ) dit dit dit, first time i heard it i knew what it spelt. ( am ) Rusty as a Laverda in the rain, though can still send 10 words a minute and receive 5-10 words ( standard "word" is paris ). When the reticulated power ceases, all ceases.... friend of mine can use semaphore flags, and morse by shuttered lamps at sea or land. Ramble mode while the power is on.... j
 
iis_iis said:
Of modern communications ( my field ) being a radio amateur we were obliged to be secondary comms for any disasters, and it did happen. The original cell phones with SMS ( short message service ) was annunciated alert as morse code, dit dit dit ( space ) dah dah ( space ) dit dit dit, first time i heard it i knew what it spelt. ( am ) Rusty as a Laverda in the rain, though can still send 10 words a minute and receive 5-10 words ( standard "word" is paris ). When the reticulated power ceases, all ceases.... friend of mine can use semaphore flags, and morse by shuttered lamps at sea or land. Ramble mode while the power is on.... j
Click to expand...

Old school messaging lives on: In traffic I can give ‘the bird’ everyone around me knows what I am saying
 
1200ts said:
My first job in 1977 I made $2.65 per hour ($5,500 a year before taxes) so could never even dream of owing a Laverda and I really wanted one.
Click to expand...
Yes many of us were struggling trade apprentices back in the 1970s and As Michael Palin would say, "Ooooh I used to dream of making $2.65 an hour, luxury".
When I completed High School in December 1970 and started looking for work, the 'dole' was $4.25 a week payable fortnightly, not an option. Went to Paraburdoo banging nails into 4 x 2's and screwing up Hardie siding, building houses for the town that didn't yet exist, big money for a 16-year-old, funded my first PV purchase
 
$21.50 a week, telephone exchange and equipment apprentice, one day off at College 36 days a year, split over 2 TAFE semesters. Tax $1.50, was racing pushbikes while apprenticed, a tyre cost $5 to replace. Pre apprentice, paper boy earning $5 a week.

Must have managed as did survive, in Australia only just dodged the draft for Vietnam, lovely, paid low wages for 3 years then into the poxy army to be shot at... Bless Gough and Lance as two person government, the redneck tories out here would have killed us all young'uns in desire to be aligned with the clueless other governments on the planet. The tories underestimated giving 18 year olds the vote... one sea cadet i know was paid $20 a month! in 1970... yikes...

Oh of the Laverda et al worth, no manufacturer stays in business if you buy their product once every 40 years, j.
 
Paul Marx said:
Like mariage.
That's why desire was invented by the ad man.
It's still good but you need a newer one, throw that one out.
Paul
Click to expand...

“An article that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business”.

Planned obsolescence owes much to Alfred P. Sloan at General Motors and to its then major shareholder, DuPont.

(DuPont was founded by a certain Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours, I see, Paul. Quite a name ...)
 
Ventodue said:
“An article that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business”.

Planned obsolescence owes much to Alfred P. Sloan at General Motors and to its then major shareholder, DuPont.

(DuPont was founded by a certain Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours, I see, Paul. Quite a name ...)
Click to expand...
The buying public has learnt the lesson well.
Du Pont de Nemours, nobility again. :)
Paul
 
"Off with their heads ..."

And un nouveau en plus. Son 'de' a commencé avec son père. All the fault of those Rebels across the water ...:rolleyes:

"Il (Pierre Samuel Dupont)est l'un des rédacteurs du Traité de Versailles de 1783, qui met fin à la guerre d'indépendance des États-Unis. En remerciement de son action, Louis XVI lui accorde une patente de noblesse, chose exceptionnelle pour un protestant, et l'autorise à ajouter de Nemours à son nom d'origine, qu'il écrit désormais du Pont."
 
Ventodue said:
"Off with their heads ..."

And un nouveau en plus. Son 'de' a commencé avec son père. All the fault of those Rebels across the water ...:rolleyes:

"Il (Pierre Samuel Dupont)est l'un des rédacteurs du Traité de Versailles de 1783, qui met fin à la guerre d'indépendance des États-Unis. En remerciement de son action, Louis XVI lui accorde une patente de noblesse, chose exceptionnelle pour un protestant, et l'autorise à ajouter de Nemours à son nom d'origine, qu'il écrit désormais du Pont."
Click to expand...
Les anglo-saxons qui foutent le bordel encore une fois.
:)
Paul
 
Ventodue said:
“An article that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business”.

Planned obsolescence owes much to Alfred P. Sloan at General Motors and to its then major shareholder, DuPont.

(DuPont was founded by a certain Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours, I see, Paul. Quite a name ...)
Click to expand...
I grew up in Delaware where he founded his company and the story is that the first thing he did when he got off the boat in Philadelphia was steal clothes off a washing line and then a wallet. May or not be true, but the fact that it is so widely repeated by the people that have known the family the longest says something.

Behind every great fortune is a crime.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top