Report From Italy
REPORT FROM ITALY
CARLO PERELLI
LAVERDA PRODUCTION BIKE
Laverda, an enthusiastic family business that has become Italy’s most active big bike builder, has started delivery on the 750 SF-C production racer. It’s geared for about 130 mph at 7800 rpm, and has already made a brilliant debut in Holland where it won a 24-hour marathon. During the race, it was calculated that it endured 22,353 gear changes and 3274 brake applications!
The SF-C’s main features: bigger valves (inlet 41.5mm, exhaust 35.5mm), 40-mm rather than 35-mm exhaust pipes, 36-mm carburetors (stock is 30mm), more radical cam timing, polished connecting rod/crankshaft assembly, 6-gal. light alloy fuel tank.
The frame is unaltered except for sturdier struts on the swinging arm pivot, which is carried on plain metal bushings instead of rubber block bushings.
Weight is 20 lb. less than the stock version. Much attention has been paid to detail and ease of maintenance. Compression ratio and ignition advance have been left unchanged in the interest of reliability.
TWO MODDED 350s
Two improved 350s have been made available for both the home and export markets recently. They are the Ducati Desmo and the MV Sport.
Ducati’s famous Single has gotten the metal-flake fiberglass styling treatment.
The front end is fitted with a competition Marsocchi fork and four-shoe brake. The engine sports new cam timing, and differently spaced gear ratios to better exploit the claimed rear wheel output of 29 bhp.
The five gear ratios are closer together, which makes fifth much more useful. Before it hardly gave you more
speed than fourth! The powerband is flexible, with some poop down as low as 2500 rpm and the real thrills starting at 5500 rpm or above. The desmodromic system will control valve float even at 10,000 rpm, although this engine speed is not recommended. It shakes somewhat above 6000 rpm.
The new Duck handles well and brakes well. I also like the perfect riding position, well-placed controls, and smooth shifting gearbox.
LAVERDA 1000
Pre-production testing is nearly done on the 1000-cc Laverda Three and the new superbike should appear in Italian showrooms this winter.
The engine produces 80 bhp, which is claimed to push this great street beastie to 125 mph. It boasts such technically advanced goodies as rubber belt drive for its double overhead cam, electronic ignition, electric starter and five-speed gearbox.
Crankshaft layout is not the seemingly “natural” 120 degrees, which seems to create vibration from axial loadings. Instead the outer throws are opposed 180 degrees from the inner throw; the outer throws fire 360 degrees apart.
The engine is slung in a full double cradle frame; saddle height is comfortably low at 30.5 in. The central exhaust pipe collector runs under the oil sump and divides into two silencers.
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MONZA PRODUCTION RACE
It was a hot time at the Monza 500 KMS production roadster race, and not just because Italians dig stockers.
The Italian Federation, it seems, makes production racing rules so strict that it is “easy” to infringe on them. Of the first 20 bikes that went through tech inspection at Monza, no less than 18 were excluded for one or more irregularities. “Hmmm,” said the bigwigs, “If this keeps up, we’ll have nobody on the starting line for one of our most important races.”
So they ordered the scrutineers to be a little more slapdash, and, accordingly, almost all those entries protesting and demanding another run through the tech line because the other guys, naturally, were more crooked than they, got through and the show went on.
The winners were Blegi & Galtrucco on a nicely prepared five-speed Triumph Trident. They led the whole way, at a record average of slightly over 102 mph.
A Honda 750 Four and a 750cc Moto Guzzi V7 Sports took 2nd and 3rd spots. In the 500 class, a Suzuki 'Twin led, only to crash and leave 1st to a Kawasaki Mach 111. The only win for the Italian industry came in the 350 class, taken by an MV.
The MV concern, intrigued by the increasing public interest in these production races, is preparing a 750 Four with chain drive to roll in the fall. Along similar lines, the organizers at Imola are trying to get together a Daytona-style
big bore race, featuring all the best American and English.
THE MV SPORT
MV’s 350 is completely different, a pushrod Twin developing 28 rear wheel bhp at 8400 rpm. It has a close-ratio five-speed gearbox, but is slower-probably because it weighs more. It seems to be quite reliable, judging by its class win at the Monza 500 KMS.
It handles stably, but grounds on the center stand. Braking and damping are not quite as impressive as the Ducati’s.
MOTO GUZZI V7 SPORT
This much-awaited biggie hasn’t been officially introduced, but its appearance in the 500 KMS allows us to give you some details.
The engine of the V7 Sport has the same basic layout, but a five-speed gearbox supplants the current four-speed; current is supplied by a front-mounted alternator, and the carburetors are 32-mm concentrics. A sturdier crankshaft and bigger oil sump go in hand with a power increase to 68 bhp at 7500 rpm. The forks appear new, and sturdy, and a beefier four-shoe brake hauls the machine down from 123 mph.
The bike looks much neater and more compact than the present model, and road holding has been called quite good by a group of famous riders who met secretly at Monza to road test the machine. Planned production for 1971 is modest-only 100 units. [Q]
