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Laverda

Laverda is an Italian manufacturer of Combine harvesters and at one time a maker of high performance motorcycles. The agricultural equipment brand is famous for quality, simplicity, and efficiency; while the motorcycles in their day gained notoriety for being robust and innovative. more...

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Moto Laverda

History

The Motorcycle company was founded almost on a whim by Pietro Laverda junior (son of the founder of Laverda Macchine Agricole), his brothers Francesco, Giovanni and Giorgio, and Luciano Zen, a young technician/draughtsman. In 1948-9, in between running the family business they designed and built the first prototype motorcycle, a simple four stroke 75cc bike with girder forks and a fully enclosed drive chain. One account says that some engine parts were cast in kitchen of Francesco, confirming that at least initially, the project was not regarded as a serious business proposition.

However, the little bike showed promise and so in October 1949, Moto Laverda was officially incorporated. Over the next several years, Laverda became well known for building small capacity machines of high quality, durability and relative innovation for the time. To prove this, they began modifying and racing them in distance and endurance events like the Milan-Trento road race, Giro d'Italia and the Cavalcata delle Dolomiti, eventually winning for the first time in 1952, and becoming a firm favorite among racing clubmen due to their record for reliable performance.

Over the next two decades, Laverda would go on to produce new models of ever increasing capacity and capability, in different sectors of the market. Off-road, trial and motocross machines were developed in conjunction with other manufacturers Zundapp, BMW and Husqvarna, and were successfully raced. But the real development came in street models, which began to earn a good reputation as classy, low maintenance and quiet motorcycles. From that first 75cc single, they eventually went on to produce different bikes ranging from scooters, the Laverdino commuter and eventually to the 200cc twin.

The big twins

By the late 1960's, Pietro and brothers began sketching out a new breed of large motorcycles that would be built around an all new 650cc parallel twin engine. The brand was now sufficiently strong and well known, and Francesco's son Massimo had just returned from the USA where it was clear that sales were dominated by large capacity British and American hardware. Above all this, was a desire to produce a prestigious and powerful machine that could conceivable take on the best and finest from Moto-Guzzi, BMW and the rapidly emerging Japanese.

In 1968 Laverda debuted the result of this thinking. While not an extreme sport bike in any sense, it exhibited all the virtues that Laverda had become synonymous with. The bike carried the finest components available at the time, from British Smiths instruments, Pankl con-rods, Ceriani suspension Mondial pistons, to Bosch and (unthinkable at the time) Japanese Nippon-Denso electrical parts, thus eliminating the one problem plaguing nearly all contemporary British and Italian motorcycles had at the time: electrical unreliability. The 650 was a pedestrian ride, but offered superior comfort and stability and handling at least equivalent to the competition. Of course, it also carried a high price.