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

I think they were originally known as Beston grips in UK. They appeared as original fitment on Norton and Triumph parallel twins in the 60's to provide some vibration isolation. My old '66 (unit construction) Bonneville wasn't too bad for vibration, but I rode a mate's earlier pre-unit Thunderbird and it was awful. It turned into a jackhammer at 55 mph. No kind of soft handgrips would have helped. I dunno whether it was the unit construction that helped damp out the vibes with more engine mass, or if his bike was built with the wrong balance factor.

Also known as Titty grips in some parts of USA.

View attachment 82220
Early Triumph pre unit cranks were 3 piece, two journals and the out weight.. all bolted together.
later and all the unit engines, one forging for the journals with the out weights.
At the swap over from pre-unit to unit cases, there was a bout of main bearing failures due to extra crank case rigidity, so all units had to be fitted with 3 Dot bearings.
Once had a bike with a 3 piece crank! yeah that vibrated!!!
 
You could make it a heads-up display the correct way up if you wanted to by fitting a mirror over the voltmeter as shown in the first sketch below. You'd have to play around with the angles of the voltmeter display and the mirror so you don't also get the direct reflection of the upside-down image that you're getting now. Might be fun if you could organise the entire instrument cluster like that. Dunno how visible it would be in daylight though.

Perhaps a more practical idea would be to put a little barrier in front of the voltmeter or tilt the display screen back (or both - sketch 2) so you don't get the pesky upside-down image in the fairing bubble.

(sketches not to scale)

Heads up display.JPG Heads up display eliminator.JPG
 
Finally after umpteen years of ownership and never any charging issues
That's an excellent idea. I'm hearing of more and more reg/rect failures which ain't surprising given the age of OE stuff. Fired up my RGS for it's annual MoT test only to find no charge. Quickly fixed by swapping over to the spare Shindengen FH020 I'd fitted a couple of years ago. Paranoid or what?!
 
Thats a lovely collection of photos Paul M, so many recognisable faces to me, and Georgio Stredhler as well!! tell Vincent that he needs to get some Grecian 2000, Ficklings footwear went out in the 1950's, Marylene and Armel look frozen, Patrick ever the knowledgable, and Andreas looks bored.
what a great looking venue I SERIOUSLY wished that I hadnt missed it, as most people know I have been unwell for a couple of months, but am now over it, On the Wednesday before the event in the AM I was going, and planning to call Arwed in the evening, in the PM, something changed and a business meeting that I had been trying to get organised for two weeks suddenly happened for Friday PM, serious financial comsequences were at risk, so I could not dictate, just had to accept the timing, not being 100% I was not going to ride all night Friday as I have done in the past when I attended both the closing of Cor dees museum (NL) and the Amicale 750 (F) rassemblement in the same weekend, some 800 kilometres apart.

I did at one time (usually) have the only triple showing up at what is essentially a club for 750's, years ago the exception was Marcel (NL) but sadly he passed a long while ago, and the aformentioned Swiss, Andreas, plus Patrick Fugelister, also Swiss, OK then not the only triple after all! and if it was overnight then the Pan would have been the tool anyway, the headlights can compete with a 747 Boeing landing lights!

very well done to Arwed and his team, it looks good enough and the right trip length for me to want to suggest, same place, same time, next year? but again I wont be able to attend, because of a clash with my Bi-anual trip to the IOM TT, I depart on May 19th and return on June 21st 2024, booked the tickets yesterday.
CLEM
 
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Thats a lovely collection of photos Paul M, so many recognisable faces to me, and Georgio Stredhler as well!! tell Vincent that he needs to get some Grecian 2000, Ficklings footwear went out in the 1950's, Marylene and Armel look frozen, Patrick ever the knowledgable, and Andreas looks bored.
what a great looking venue I SERIOUSLY wished that I hadnt missed it, as most people know I have been unwell for a couple of months, but am now over it, On the Wednesday before the event in the AM I was going, and planning to call Arwed in the evening, in the PM, something changed and a business meeting that I had been trying to get organised for two weeks suddenly happened for Friday PM, serious financial comsequences were at risk, so I could not dictate, just had to accept the timing, not being 100% I was not going to ride all night Friday as I have done in the past when I attended both the closing of Cor dees museum (NL) and the Amicale 750 (F) rassemblement in the same weekend, some 800 kilometres apart.

I did at one time (usually) have the only triple showing up at what is essentially a club for 750's, years ago the exception was Marcel (NL) but sadly he passed a long while ago, and the aformentioned Swiss, Andreas, plus Patrick Fugelister, also Swiss, OK then not the only triple after all! and if it was overnight then the Pan would have been the tool anyway, the headlights can compete with a 747 Boeing landing lights!

very well done to Arwed and his team, it looks good enough and the right trip length for me to want to suggest, same place, same time, next year? but again I wont be able to attend, because of a clash with my Bi-anual trip to the IOM TT, I depart on May 19th and return on June 21st 2023, booked the tickets yesterday.
CLEM
Do you know what day of the week it is Clem let alone year? According to your post you should already be here. 🤣
 
Thats a lovely collection of photos Paul M, so many recognisable faces to me, and Georgio Stredhler as well!! tell Vincent that he needs to get some Grecian 2000, Ficklings footwear went out in the 1950's, Marylene and Armel look frozen, Patrick ever the knowledgable, and Andreas looks bored.
what a great looking venue I SERIOUSLY wished that I hadnt missed it, as most people know I have been unwell for a couple of months, but am now over it, On the Wednesday before the event in the AM I was going, and planning to call Arwed in the evening, in the PM, something changed and a business meeting that I had been trying to get organised for two weeks suddenly happened for Friday PM, serious financial comsequences were at risk, so I could not dictate, just had to accept the timing, not being 100% I was not going to ride all night Friday as I have done in the past when I attended both the closing of Cor dees museum (NL) and the Amicale 750 (F) rassemblement in the same weekend, some 800 kilometres apart.

I did at one time (usually) have the only triple showing up at what is essentially a club for 750's, years ago the exception was Marcel (NL) but sadly he passed a long while ago, and the aformentioned Swiss, Andreas, plus Patrick Fugelister, also Swiss, OK then not the only triple after all! and if it was overnight then the Pan would have been the tool anyway, the headlights can compete with a 747 Boeing landing lights!

very well done to Arwed and his team, it looks good enough and the right trip length for me to want to suggest, same place, same time, next year? but again I wont be able to attend, because of a clash with my Bi-anual trip to the IOM TT, I depart on May 19th and return on June 21st 2024, booked the tickets yesterday.
CLEM
It'll be the same time as it is since 1989 Clem, but not the same place.
Someone else will organise otherwise we'll become entrenched like the ILOC in a remote hotel.
Another place, another country. I have a few leads, waiting for people to confirm their option.

Paul
 
Two bikes for MOT yesterday - both brake tested - the previous tester never did it - he was tall enough to do the Corsa but I took over for the Jota 😀 the Jota is historic but for £29 I think it’s worth it IMG_8646.jpegIMG_8647.jpeg
 
The brakes on the front of my Pan are so bad that I sometimes wonder if it will pass, it always does, which to me says a hell of a lot about the MOT, some 4 piston calipers are planned (ex Blackbird or SP1, not sure yet) but the mod is not easy as the left fork leg has an anti dive hydraulc valve mechanism, which as far as I can see doesnt work at all well, so its looking like change of fork legs, but I dont want to modify the "bodywork" around the handlbars and top yolk, we will see.
CLEM
 
Just buttoned up my 750 GT motor bottom end, fitted the missing rear dowel (?) from factory possibly.
Interestingly I changed a gearbox bearing because it was the tiniest bit notchy when I cleaned it out but I think the problem was the original 54 year old seal had gone hard/ shrunk and actually let crap into the bearing as opposed to leaking massively. If you look at the picture the inner part of the seal is covered in chain lube/ road grime, most odd and something I’ve not seen before. All the seals had become hard and were failing so a lesson not to expect an old bike to be “fine“ after standing for years. Bottom cam chain roller is a Phil Todd special, nicely made and not expensive.
Im still waiting for exhaust valves ( don’t ask) so it’ll be a while before next bit, never know I might get to ride it this year..
 

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