Garson Does Laverda

I think so far the only ones to really bring back their classic look is Triumph with the Bonneville series, It remains to be seen how well Ducati does with their Classic line up, though from the pictures they look pretty good.

When those bikes were new they were the cutting edge of style and performance, as were these Laverdas along with R90S's. Maybe BMW should bring those back too.

Check out this link to a British Laverda website that has an engine all stipped down for review.

http://www.realclassic.co.uk/lav04010700.html

Looks like a 360 crank. Just by virtue of bigger parts, it most likely vibrated just as bad as a CA77, but to a greater extent.

The 270 degree crankshaft in my CL350 shakes the bike like a paint mixer. Can you imagine if Honda had decided to up the whole deal to 650cc? Blurred vision & cracked frames would have abounded, I suppose.

American Eagle sited

Evel Enievel's* American Eagle Looks like a parallel twin.

*Official spelling although both his first name and last name are spelled differently by newspapers.

Yes, I get the "dolt" award today.

Hey that guy looks nothing like me. He needs to spend some time in the gym. When I go to Freddie's in late March early April near my birthday. I'll do a story complete with pictures so you can see me. I'll send to MO with any luck it gets pass the longnazi filter.

KPaul

The Great Motorcycle Prophet

Eureka! I found this passage in a review by Art Friedman on Kawaski and Suziki sharing the same model of cruiser.

"Though selling the same basic vehicle under two brand names has become common in the automotive world, the practice is a comparative rarity in the motorcycle market. A few Royal Enfield vertical twins were sold as Indians in the 1950s. In the late 1960s, Laverda 750 twins and models other from other makers were sold under the American Eagle brand in the U.S. Evel Knievel even rode one for a while." Guess I wasn't "incorrect" after all. VWW

Well, seruzawa used to be a Californian.

You may have something there. I STILL get lots of admiring looks and positive comments on my '84 BMW R100RS, and my wife and I tour comfortably on it to this day.

BTW here's the link http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/roadtests/m16s/ VWW

Well there you go....

I remember American Eagles. How about 6 cyl. Benelli's, remember those?

Or how about 500cc Yankee twins? betcha' don't remember those !

One of the funnest bikes I've owned was a clapped out '79 R100RT with 75k miles on it. That thing was a damn timex, took a lickin' and kept on tickin'

It's one of the few bikes I've had that I wish I'd have hung on too instead of trading up.

Oh yeah, I remember the Bennelli Sei both the 750 and 900 cc versions, and who doesn't remember the oddball 500cc two stroke Yankee? How about the Marushin v twin? The Cotton or Penton scramblers? VWW

You are really asking for trouble by saying changing from a BMW to something else is a "step up". I can hear the dueling sabers being sharpened right now.

I've heard of but never seen a Cotton or Marushin

I remember the Zundap or Sachs engined Pentons well, they were popular when I rode enduros and MX. How about a Rickman Matise?

Re: mysterious laverda hot start problem

Alan Chalk wants to know if anybody experienced the won't start while hot problem he is having with his Laverda SFC. I had the same problem with a Norton Atlas. The problem turned out to be a bit of dirt in the float needle seat.

What happens is, the bike is hot, you park it, shut off the fuel tap (or in newer bikes the auto vacuum pet***** shuts it off), the fuel remaining in the fuel line leaks into the carb(s) flooding them enough that the bike will not start , after 20 minutes the excess fuel has evaporated, and the engine has cooled somewhat anyway (and wants a richer mixture), so the bike starts up.

You can verify this if you have clear fuel lines, run the bike, shut off the bike, shut off the pet*****, note the position of the fuel in the line, and wait and see if the level drops within 20 minutes or a half an hour. If so, check your float needle, seat and float.

Theres at least one Cotton currently racing in AHRMA MX.There are plenty Rickmans still racing ,from Zundapp125's to Triumph 750 twins. The early Pentons were Sachs, but are you sure they ever put Zundaps in Penton's?

Thanks for the memories. Back when I was a smarty pants teen - trying to wheedle enough sheckles to keep my Yamaha DT-1 in perishables - the Yamaha shop I frequented took on "American Eagle". A Laverda was the first exotic I ever saw.



Keep these great articles coming!



Thank goodness many of our brethern keep the flames burning for the cool stuff.

Nope, it ain't just you. The bike mags of the day - Cycle, Cycle Guide, et. al., said exactly the same things.

Been there and done that. Airheads have their little annoyances...just like any other bike. Weak charging systems, troublesome mechanical (!!) ignition advance units (even on last yr '95 models), shaft drive failures on Paralever models, brittle "snowflake" wheels...and on and on and on.



Still there just ain't nothing like an Airhead on the right road in it's performance envelope.



Still you are right...the knives are being sharpened as we type. I still belong to 2 BMW clubs....you have no idea how deep the addiction runs. Beemerphiles are the flip side of Harley fanatics - only better dressed.