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Messages - Laverda Dave
1
« on: October 11, 2026, 07:26:41 PM »
All the mods I've stated are purely for the owner to decide. The bikes are perfectly fine as they are straight out of the crate. I chose to personalise my bike to suit me. The only mods I would urge anyone to make us to ditch the seat and spend the £80 on a new RE touring seat, fit the Fuel-X to drastically improve the low end grunt and to allow the motor to run cooler and to dump the snorkel and paper air filter and replace with a K&N that lasts a lifetime and ultimately saves on renewing the paper filter.
2
« on: October 10, 2026, 11:28:30 PM »
I've read good things about the new BSA 650 Goldstar, a member in the SD site runs one.
Iirc cost about £5k new in 2025, lots of low mileage used ones about.
You need to be careful of the early BSA's Ted. They suffered with a well known issue of the main wiring loom fraying very badly around the headstock resulting in electrical problems. Used prices for early models went through the floor.
3
« on: October 10, 2026, 07:08:58 PM »
Go for it, great bikes.
First the bad points:
1. They are heavy, something like 210Kg fueled up. This makes them a bit of a lump to move around in the garage. The weight disappears when on the move.
2. They run bloody hot. This is because RE had to run them lean at the rev band where the emissions tests are taken.
3. The OE seat is worse than a 400/4 plank.
4. They are built to a price and some parts of the bike show it BUT not in finish, only in choice of materials used.
5. The suspension front and back is basic but if you are used to a 70’s Honda you won't notice. Everything is available (for a price) to have better suspension.
The fixes needed to make a great bike even better:
1. Ditch the entire exhaust system, not just the silencers that weigh 7kg each and both contain cats but also the very restrictive header pipes. Replace with S/S TEC 42mm big bore headers and a pair of S/S Cannon silencers. The result will be instant, a lovely sound and better breathing.
2. Throw the OE seat in the bin and replace with the RE touring seat, your piles will thank you for it.
3. Remove the air box snorkel and the paper filter and replace with a free breathing K&N, don't replace the snorkel.
4. Fit a Fuel-X unit but not the all singing and dancing programmable unit which is IMHO a waste of money. The standard Fuel-X is plug and play. It looks the Fi system into thinking it is running lean at low revs (where the emissions tests are taken) to make it pump more fuel in. This results in a cooler running engine, better pickup and free breathing.
5. The OE footrests, gear levers and brake levers are cheap and nasty painted steel. Fit TEC alloy units that are adjustable, look so much better and don't catch your trouser bottoms!
6. The above also applies to the brake and clutch levers, fit a pair of TEC adjustable units to give you hands a decent span.
7. OE mirrors are pig ugly and don't do a very good job either. A pair of stainless bar end mirrors from Stadium are great and are available from Hitchcocks who also sell the special bar ends you need to fit the stadium mirrors. Very, Very cool😎.
8. Fit a fly screen, the RE is the best as it fits without modification to the headlight brackets. They do work and protect the clocks from bugs but it does a good job of deflecting the wind off the rider.
9. The grill over the oil cooler is laughable, replace with a TEC unit.
The journalists at the time slagged off the OE tires, they are 100% fine, it's a touring bike not a GP replica!
10. Change the oil at the recommended service intervals DONT miss them. Use an ester based oil and change the filter every time. The oil (I use Silkolene) is something like £55 for 4 litres on-line, not cheap but worth it as I've heard of cheaper oils not giving very good fuel economy (?) and needing topping up.
They are easy to customise to your personal taste.
They really are great bikes, cheap, well made and a lot of bang for your buck👍
4
« on: October 09, 2026, 08:18:47 AM »
Kitty looks to be purring along nicely Julie and the colour certainly suits the sunshine:).
5
« on: October 08, 2026, 02:46:45 PM »
In all honesty Rob I would expect a full nut & bolt restoration of that bike to cost north of £8k and that's assuming you strip the bike including the engine and reassemble it yourself (and do a lot of the other work such as polishing, cleaning and running around getting parts). It would be 100% worth trying to save the original tinware even if badly pitted, any pits can be filled with brass before re-plating.
6
« on: October 08, 2026, 02:38:58 PM »
I tried to make a conscious decision not to undertake any further restorations at the moment due to the spiralling costs of my hobby. Following my early retirement in 2017 I have restored 7 bikes (well, a bloke has to do something in his spare time  ). I have seen how prices have escalated and everything also takes longer. The price of chrome has gone up significantly as have tires, they have nearly doubled! Painting and powder coating have gone up because of the energy costs to heat the ovens and operate the blasting equipment. As you say, the cost of spares especially genuine or NOS continues to go up and up. Buying anything from CMSNL incurs not only the inflated cost (supply and demand) but significant tax and postage on top. I don’t restore bikes to make money, I never have done, I restore bikes I could never afford to buy at the time and at least restoring them over a period of time spreads the cost but every bike I have restored has cost me far more than they are worth but as I don’t smoke or really drink I chose to spend my disposable money on my hobby. Saying all the above I still have my Jota engine to rebuild, It was with the late, great Keith Nairn of Laverda Scotia in Glasgow to rebuild but following his passing in July myself and a good few others are now waiting for a space to come up with one of the other two Laverda specialists who can rebuild these engines that require an awful lot of special tools and knowledge. I have already been told by one of these specialists it will be well into next year before I can even drop the engine off to him for inspection and it is going to cost a small fortune to rebuild. The ironic thing is Keith was the only person in the country who had the equipment to rebuild a Laverda crankshaft properly, even the other specialist sent their cranks to him to rebuild! I also have my old Rickman CR750 to rebuild, that needs the frame and all the ancillaries re-nickel plating and I will likely try to find another 750K6 engine to put in it as the one that came with it is now in bits up in Glasgow. I need to take a reality check as once finished will I still want to ride the CR with its laid out riding position with clip-ons and rear sets and considering it was built as a genuine race bike for the Avon Production Championship (now BSB). You can't take the money with you (although I have designed an asbestos lined cash box so I might try  ) so enjoy your hobby, if you like drinking buy the best scotch or smoking, buy the some Cuban cigars. It's all personal choice at the end of the day and prices are only going the same way as taxes.
7
« on: October 07, 2026, 04:43:08 PM »
I think that one is for the brave to take on. It's going to be expensive.
8
« on: October 07, 2026, 12:46:30 PM »
Wow James, is that the real mileage! It's very, very clean. I always thought they were tanks until I sat on one, my feet were firmly on the ground and the seat was narrow at the front making them easy to handle. Great bikes 
9
« on: October 07, 2026, 11:48:23 AM »
And they need to be small in size as below:
Allowed file types: bmp, gif, jpg, jpeg, mpg, pdf, png, txt, zip, doc, docx, xls, xlsx
Restrictions: 5 per post, maximum individual size 5000KB
10
« on: October 07, 2026, 11:47:13 AM »
Hi Rob.
You need five posts before you can post photos and I see you now have 5 posts so should now be able to upload what you need to.
Good luck.
11
« on: October 05, 2026, 08:45:41 PM »
Well, being an animal lover (no matter what shape and size) I personally would take the tacho off the bike, remove the instrument lights and place it on edge in a large plastic food bag and keep an eye on it. If the ladybird comes out you'll see it in the plastic bag. It appears the ladybird found it's way onto the dial face by crawling through the gap between the tacho face and the side case so it should crawl back out the same way...... eventually!
12
« on: October 05, 2026, 07:09:51 PM »
The luggage is £699 if ordering with bike, so no brainer, considering you could pay that for one box under another badge! I haven’t looked at second hand value as I hope this will be a keeper, and as it’s a new model there was nothing to compare unless other Zontes models. I very nearly ordered a CFmoto 450 adventure bike, they were and are getting rave reviews but just wanted a little more oomph. Never had a triple before and this one appealed. The photo taken yesterday is my actual bike Ian so yes full luggage pack. Steve I was thinking exactly that! If nothing else it might keep or even take down the prices of the big brands. I will keep posted anything good or bad. I did ask if they could deliver to Albufeira! (Now that would be nice) I guess that would have been a long drive home 😂 But just now must go and pack my soap bag.😜
Triples are really cool
Genuinely different from a four or twin, and usually with a mellow but charismatic torque delivery, offer one of the best engine feel out there.
No idea of performance of this one, no experience of riding the product currently coming to market from China, but conspicuous in many running around here locally. Interesting to hear how you find it Johnny.
Been out on my Triumph triple (early Hinckley Speed triple) with quite a bit of time this last month. Diesel like torque on this one makes it fun to ride without breaking speed limits. They're similar in grunt to Dave's Jota, riding stance too, along with being in Orange colour  makes a really good fun bike to spend time on.
That Zontes sounds quite potent for it's capacity, should go all right.
The first model Speed Triples were indeed great bikes Nigel, they even had their own race series. Of course it was a bike I wanted at the time but obviously didn't have the money to buy (in black of course). Triumph even paid homage to Laverda by painting some of them orange 🙂. Is yours a 5 or 6 speed Nigel?
13
« on: October 05, 2026, 07:05:21 PM »
Welcome Rob.
It sounds like the F model with the pillion footrests mounted directly onto the swing arm.
Does it have a plain yellow fuel tank with black side panels?
14
« on: October 04, 2026, 10:05:21 PM »
Chinese bikes are coming so ignore them at your peril! I think they have learnt their lessons from 5-10 years ago when Chinese bikes were absolute rubbish with no spares back up and mechanics who wouldn't touch them. Resale values at the time were nigh on zero but all that has changed, quality is up as is fit and finish (apart from the recent incident with the chocolate cams of the KTM twin that ended up nearly finishing the brand off for good). As Skoti states, it's the resale value that will be the telling factor and that won't be known for a few years yet. Considering most of the world motorcycle makers opt for tie-ins with the Chinese AND Indian manufacturers these days I guess they have now proved themselves as capable of building stylish, quality and reliable motorcycles just as Japan did in the late 60's and beyond. My own Royal Enfield Interceptor likely has a relatively poor resale vale because they were so cheap to buy in the first place. I bought the bike for £3200 with 1900 miles on it at 3 years old, I'm laughing and don't care how much it is worth now as it makes me grin every time I ride it and I have no intention of ever selling it. Go for it Johnny, fantastic bike and as you say, It's a keeper It has to be better than a Laverda with all that tech on it
15
« on: September 27, 2026, 06:08:11 PM »
Thanks all for the kind comments.
As this is the 6th bike I have restored in nine years I've taken a decision not to restore any more for a couple of years at least in order to enjoy the ones I've got and yet hardly ridden because I'm always restoring them! There's also no more room left in the garage, its become too expensive, I need to get the Jota engine rebuilt (something I don't have the special tools or skill set to do) and will have to farm out to a specialist and due to a hopefully impending house move out of London.
Ted & Tim,
I rode a NC30 back in 1992 at my first ever track day. It was a Honda race school held at Cadwell Park. It was the first modern bike I had ever ridden as I had only ever had a 400/4 as a 'big bike'. I was put into the beginner group at the back so as not to get in anyone's way. When I got the first corner I braked as I would do on the 400/4 i.e. a long, long way from the corner! Within another 3 corners I had lost sight of the group not only due to the very early braking but also I didn't wring the engines neck! I was now on my own getting a bit of speed up when someone walked straight out in front of me as I came over the mountain. I don't know who was more shocked, them or me! When I got back round to the start area I was flagged in. It transpired the mountain section hadn't been included as part of the track for the race school and I should have turned right well before but being so far behind the group I didn't see them turn left! You'd think they would have used bollards to indicate the track ahead was closed!
Anyway, once I got over that I went back out and was much quicker and stayed with the group. In other words I can't wait to ride the NC30 knowing what a vastly different 400 it is to the 400/4!
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