Laverda SFC replica experts...

Fast Eddie

Fast Eddie

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Any of you knowledgable chaps know owt about Laverda 750 twins? Particularly the the SFCs and more particularly the do's / don'ts ... Good / bad... Etc regarding the building of a good SFC replica.

Also any specialists or fonts of knowledge on the topic in the UK?
 
Several years ago, I had a conversation with Jim Eade in Sydney who owned the 750SFC with which Vic Vasella trounced all the Z900s at Phillip Island in about 1973. Jim claimed the bike was straight out of the crate, just jetted for methanol. However a knowledgeable friend of mine insists it was very much worked over.

Try this mob, we made a chrome-moly frame for an SFC750 for one of their friends.

http://www.ozlaverda.com/portal.php
 
acotrel said:
Several years ago, I had a conversation with Jim Eade in Sydney who owned the 750SFC with which Vic Vasella trounced all the Z900s at Phillip Island in about 1973. Jim claimed the bike was straight out of the crate, just jetted for methanol. However a knowledgeable friend of mine insists it was very much worked over.

Try this mob, we made a chrome-moly frame for an SFC750 for one of their friends.

http://www.ozlaverda.com/portal.php
Click to expand...

Thanks, some interesting stuff on that site. I was kinda looking for UK based expertise though.
 
I suggest that wherever you can find somebody who has extensively raced Laverdas, you find a lead to the source of parts - a problem with Laverdas, I think. However the bikes themselves are great.
I've tried a few times to get hold of a 750 SF - no such luck. My Seeley was originally fitted with a 750SF motor which had an SFC cam. When I bought the bike, I couldn't get the motor at a reasonable price.
The beauty of it would be that even an SFC would not be on the limit as supplied to the public.
 
Did you investigate what happened to the Slater Bros ?
They were the driving force behind Laverda in the UK,
so seeing where that expertise went would be the 1st step. ?
 
The only thing I know is I wish I would have bought two or 3 SFC's a few years back when I had the chance.

Mark
 
20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing !

Along with a garage full of e-types, and manx nortons when they were 10 quid each....
 
Manx Nortons were never 10 quid each. A piston was never cheaper than 30 pounds or a valve cheaper than 15 pounds. I recently owned a nice Yamaha TZ350G. I didn't race it because in the 70s, if you raced one - everything cost $1000. And these days it is worse.
A Laverda 750 SFC would be nice to own, but how would you live with it ? You'd probably race it once, then spend a motza finding spares and rebuilding it.
With a Commando-based bike, it might not be the fastest, but you can easily buy almost anything you need to keep it going.
The other thing is the Commando-based bike would probably be much lighter. My Seeley originally had a 750SF motor fitted to it. It was a nice bike but it is now much faster with the 850 Commando motor.
 
acotrel said:
Manx Nortons were never 10 quid each.
Click to expand...

I know someone who GAVE AWAY an early 7R, back then, once it was no longer competitive.
He recently bought it back, through several owners, and it cost him a motza.
In less than pristine condition too....

We diverge from SFC's a tad...
 
I was offered a very nice 7R in about 1965 for about 400 pounds. They brought good money until the two strokes came along. Just before I stopped racing regularly in about 1973, I was offered an ex Ginger Molloy 1962 500cc Manx for $1300. One of our local millionaires bought it and restored it and it went to NZ for about $50,000. The trouble with those things is that you cannot use them and stay sane. Even 70s racing two strokes are not worth playing with.
The only sensible way to go historic racing in Australia is Period 3 - with a replica featherbed frame, Jawa two valve speedway motor, Triumph 5 speed gearbox. And even then you have a $5000 front brake to buy.
The Seeley Commando is good, but there is really no class for it where there are equivalent bikes - always the mixed grid with stuff you don't want to know about. A lot of expense for little return.
 
A real expert on the Laverda SFC is my old friend in Montreal, Dino Kalimidis. Knows the bikes and probably can source parts if needed.

Haven't seen or heard from Dino in a while, but I'm going to see if I can contact him.

A great guy and an expert on Italian bikes. Helped me some.
 
I went to the Barcelona 24 hour race in 1973. We found ourselves camping more or less next to the Slater Bros racing team, including two of their riders, whose names I'm afraid I have forgotten. They were an impressive team, with impressive bikes, two of us thought long and hard about getting SFs as a result, (maybe) sadly we didn't. Again sadly, we had something of a party after the race as a result of which most of the weekend is a bit hazy............
I vaguely remember that one of us was put off by the Laverdas use of a belt drive generator, reminded him too much of his Velocette!!
cheers
wakeup
 

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