What did you do to or for or with your Laverda today?

chrisk said:
There's the problem.

I left the side stand down one after fueling up evening ::) on my Mach 3, did the first left hander and it speared me and bike onto the wrong side of the road, and we landed in a houses front garden.

So I'm laying there amongst the dafadills, stinging nettles and pansies, trying to push myself out from under the bike, and I look up, and there's a crusty old lady with no teeth standing on her front verandah in her summer nighty, looking down at me asking if I was all right .......... well I was, until I spied her nasty bits up her nighty.
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chrisk said:
There's the problem.

I left the side stand down one after fueling up evening ::) on my Mach 3, did the first left hander and it speared me and bike onto the wrong side of the road, and we landed in a houses front garden.

So I'm laying there amongst the dafadills, stinging nettles and pansies, trying to push myself out from under the bike, and I look up, and there's a crusty old lady with no teeth standing on her front verandah in her summer nighty, looking down at me asking if I was all right .......... well I was, until I spied her nasty bits up her nighty :-[
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That's an image permanently burned into your brain ,isn't it Chris
 
Paul Marx said:
<snip>
More and more decided to investigate the front end shimy I've experienced on that bike for near 30 years. I believe one of the fork tubes is bent. It's always been a right pain getting that in the clamps.

Paul
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That's how I discovered one of the tubes on my Ducrappi was bent, Paul. Couldn't easily get the blessed thing back into both clamps and .. Hey presto! Bloody thing's bent!

Fixing it did wonders for the handling ...
 
Slight twist in triple clamps can be fixed with careful twisting the other way. Bent staunchions should be replaced, although my SF1 ran with (what I later discovered) was a bent staunchion or two) for 15 years of very fast riding and a couple of seasons road racing - no noticeable effect on handling at all! But SFs always were incredibly forgiving in the handling dep't :cool:
 
Many years ago I bought a 500T ex demo bike which had been in a front end shunt - it had done less than 10 miles and was on it’s first customer outing!
Among other things to get it back on the road I had the front forks rolled and rode and probably raced it at some point during my ownership, without mishap or any noticeable ill effects to the handling. As far as I know someone might still be riding the bike now (or alternatively lying dead in a ditch somewhere)..🤫
 
Received the rebored and vapour blasted cylinder block back from the states. New pistons from Wolfgang. lm thinking of tidying up the edges of the fins prior to fitting.
Gaskets on their way. IMG_14022021_192618_(300_x_200_pixel).jpg
 
Ive been setting up the front brake on my GT750 , changing the forty year old fork oil and I’ve noticed that the flattish handle bar is ever so slightly bent back with a slight crimp mark. Then I noticed That the initial bend is not severe enough to clear the for caps and is touching . I’ve got to get a new set of the very low type bars ( not the braced high version , any suggestions? Whilst looking at some other GTs and S/SF it occurred to me that there is very little clearance between the top yoke on full lock and the neck of the fuel tank, most bikes seem to have some scarring in that area. I am about to get the tank painted and am obviously keen to increase the clearance . I’m going to build up the lock stops which will help but it still runs really close. I don’t know wether the tank could go back a gnats - perhaps with different rubbers, job for tomorow.
 
Exmoor beast said:
Ive been setting up the front brake on my GT750 , changing the forty year old fork oil and I’ve noticed that the flattish handle bar is ever so slightly bent back with a slight crimp mark. Then I noticed That the initial bend is not severe enough to clear the for caps and is touching . I’ve got to get a new set of the very low type bars ( not the braced high version , any suggestions? Whilst looking at some other GTs and S/SF it occurred to me that there is very little clearance between the top yoke on full lock and the neck of the fuel tank, most bikes seem to have some scarring in that area. I am about to get the tank painted and am obviously keen to increase the clearance . I’m going to build up the lock stops which will help but it still runs really close. I don’t know wether the tank could go back a gnats - perhaps with different rubbers, job for tomorow.
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I used a spacer under the top yoke on a ‘72 GT I used to own to lift the yoke and get more clearance between yoke and tank. I also made my own lockstop out of heavier gauge steel than the original, I figured a low speed or manoeuvring drop could damage the tank with the original. So far as the handlebars touching the fork caps you could drop the forks a smidgin?
 
Your right about the gauge of the steering stops, I’m going to make a new bracket from something hefty like you .
Hadn’t thought of raising the yoke, I’ll try to lower the forks but I’m pretty sure they are all the way down because the hold down the clock brackets. Just got to find a suitable handlebar, they have the first bend immediately after the clamps , Cheers Norm.
 
Exmoor beast said:
Your right about the gauge of the steering stops, I’m going to make a new bracket from something hefty like you .
Hadn’t thought of raising the yoke, I’ll try to lower the forks but I’m pretty sure they are all the way down because the hold down the clock brackets. Just got to find a suitable handlebar, they have the first bend immediately after the clamps , Cheers Norm.
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I’d forgotten about the clock brackets, I’ve some lowish Commando bars here, I can try them on Ceriani yokes and see how they would work if that would help?
 
I’ve had A look at uk spec commando bars and they are quite abit higher, wouldn’t normally worry me except I’ve just had all new cables made for low bars .I have some bars that Are really close and another set that have the correct gauge for the first bend. Ive got to do some serious measurements - job for tommorow. I’ll try squeaking the forks down and raising the top yoke first. Do you remember when bike shops had a rack with loads of handlebars you could just offer up? Ill let you know how I get on , cheers, Jason.
 
Hi Vince,Norm- found some new Renthals in my new handle bar box and they have the more acute bend ( which is what I was after) but are a trials type bar so I’ve tweaked the old ones and got them to work ( they are original Laverda and they can stay for now but I know exactly what I am looking for ) .Then I spent all morning cutting and grinding and I’ve made a much more substantial steering stop bracket out of 5mm steel, which was a twat to bend even with heat. I decreased the lock to save my thumbs and the tank and it feels so much more positive and not spongey like the original. How Milliard makes a bike from scratch in three months, took me bloody 3 hours to make a manky old bracket! Definite improvement and I am happier to get the tank painted now.
 

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Exmoor beast said:
How Milliard makes a bike from scratch in three months, took me bloody 3 hours to make a manky old bracket! Definite improvement and I am happier to get the tank painted now.
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You're probably able to understand how thousands of hours have disappeared inso my SFQ then!! Every bloody thing that is made or modified takes forever. It feels pretty good to be near the end of wiring, turning on things and see lights - kinda like a droid coming back to life!
 
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