TripleCPro
New member
Hi all!
Just wanted to take a second to introduce myself, share my father's RGS 1000 Executive and pick your brains. Some back story first: My father has been collecting vintage Italian bikes for years. It's not that he's wealthy or anything, but he would try and buy one every few years without selling the last. Well, back in the mid 80s he bought an RGS 1000 Executive with 5024 miles from a small shop in the Bay Area. The owner of the shop had bought it from Roger Slater (I believe that was his name, the Laverda importer) and ridden it to Texas and back on a vacation. After the trip he put it up for sale and that was it. The bike was stone stock and immaculate. My dad fell in love with it, bought it...and proceeded to ride it for 100 miles before parking it in the garage until now. So, several decades later we're going to be bringing it back. It still looks as it did back then, save for a Jota exhaust collector, Jota mufflers, a custom crash-bar, a fork brace and a German ignition system (I can't remember the name). He kept all of the stock parts and I'm undecided if I'll leave it as is, or return it back to 100% stock.
But here's where you guys come in! My dad never remembered much about the specifics of the bike other than the owner said it was a factory Executive and a very early production number. After some poking around on the Interwebs (that's how I found you guys) I discovered that the first 15 or so Executives were the only factory examples, the rest were either dealer or owner conversions. It's also my understanding that these 15 factory Executives were silver AND had the "Executive" stamped on the VIN tag and elsewhere. So this is where it gets confusing, my father's Executive appears to be Vin #02, it's stamped with "Executive" on the factory VIN tag and elsewhere...but it's red. So what gives? My father remembers the owner of the shop telling him it was one of the first RGS1000 Executives to come in country and that nothing had been changed on it. Is there a chance one of the 15 legitimate Executives was red? If not, I wonder if the guy swapped the silver bodywork for red? Or the other possibility, that despite the Vin tag etc., that it's a dealer conversion. Either way, I love the bike and can't wait to hear it run! I can take more pics if anyone is curious about other specifics.
I'm still several months out on the restoration process, but once we get rolling on it I'll post updates here on the forums. I've attached an old pic of the bike (circa who knows when) along with a pic of the head-tube tag. Any guidance would be much appreciated.
Thanks all!
Just wanted to take a second to introduce myself, share my father's RGS 1000 Executive and pick your brains. Some back story first: My father has been collecting vintage Italian bikes for years. It's not that he's wealthy or anything, but he would try and buy one every few years without selling the last. Well, back in the mid 80s he bought an RGS 1000 Executive with 5024 miles from a small shop in the Bay Area. The owner of the shop had bought it from Roger Slater (I believe that was his name, the Laverda importer) and ridden it to Texas and back on a vacation. After the trip he put it up for sale and that was it. The bike was stone stock and immaculate. My dad fell in love with it, bought it...and proceeded to ride it for 100 miles before parking it in the garage until now. So, several decades later we're going to be bringing it back. It still looks as it did back then, save for a Jota exhaust collector, Jota mufflers, a custom crash-bar, a fork brace and a German ignition system (I can't remember the name). He kept all of the stock parts and I'm undecided if I'll leave it as is, or return it back to 100% stock.
But here's where you guys come in! My dad never remembered much about the specifics of the bike other than the owner said it was a factory Executive and a very early production number. After some poking around on the Interwebs (that's how I found you guys) I discovered that the first 15 or so Executives were the only factory examples, the rest were either dealer or owner conversions. It's also my understanding that these 15 factory Executives were silver AND had the "Executive" stamped on the VIN tag and elsewhere. So this is where it gets confusing, my father's Executive appears to be Vin #02, it's stamped with "Executive" on the factory VIN tag and elsewhere...but it's red. So what gives? My father remembers the owner of the shop telling him it was one of the first RGS1000 Executives to come in country and that nothing had been changed on it. Is there a chance one of the 15 legitimate Executives was red? If not, I wonder if the guy swapped the silver bodywork for red? Or the other possibility, that despite the Vin tag etc., that it's a dealer conversion. Either way, I love the bike and can't wait to hear it run! I can take more pics if anyone is curious about other specifics.
I'm still several months out on the restoration process, but once we get rolling on it I'll post updates here on the forums. I've attached an old pic of the bike (circa who knows when) along with a pic of the head-tube tag. Any guidance would be much appreciated.
Thanks all!
