Laerda 650

LAERDA 650

CW RIDING IMPRESSION

BACK FROM THE GRAVE, BETTER THAN EVER

ALAN CATHCART

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS BIKE. IT IS

important, the latest in a line of recent machines that makes it possible to argue that the pendulum of motorcycle development is swinging away from Japan and back towards Europe.

Here’s evidence. Ducati's production facilities are lagging so far behind the international demand for its products that dealers have had their presold allocations cut in half; Triumph has staged a very successful return from oblivion; BMW is about to give a new lease on life to its beloved Boxer Twin; Moto Guzzi finally has begun deliveries of its long-overdue Daytona 1000; and Bimota-pushing technological frontiers as ever-is selling the first streetbike of the modern era with alternative chassis and suspension design.

And now we can add one more name to that list. Believe it or not, it seems that Laverda also is back. The company, effectively out of the motorcycle business since 1987, has staged its Lazarus act by building on tradition, constructing a parallel-Twin of the type that made the family-owned Italian company famous two decades ago.

This new bike, called simply the 650, uses a revised, fuel-injected version of Laverda’s last such Twin-the dohc, four-valve-per-cylinder, sixspeed 500-mounted in a beautifully made, state-of-the-art, aluminum twinspar chassis and wrapped in snazzy, up-to-date bodywork.

Introduced at the Milan Show last year (see “Showtime East, Showtime West,” Cycle World, February, 1992), the Laverda 650 has entered production in a temporary factory pressed into service while a whole new plant is being built. The background of this is that Laverda sold its much-too-large traditional Breganze, Italy, headquarters to Diesel Jeans, the Italian clothing company that sponsors World Superbike Racing. This deal, with investment and new management from European and Japanese partners, raised the capital to get production of the new roadster under way.

To start with, let’s dispel the notion that Laverda has only built the 650 because a) it’s all the company can drag out of its technical cellar that anyone would be remotely likely to buy, or that b) it uses up a lot of parts left sitting on the shelf from previous models. The new-generation Laverda has very little in common with its forbears. Only the crankcase and air-cooled cylinders remain from the old engine design. Everything else is new, including the 180-degree crank, which has a balance shaft added to smooth out the

vibes endemic in such a one-up/onedown piston layout. Also new are the rods, pistons (with a surprisingly low 9:1 compression ratio, allowing the 650 to run on regular unleaded fuel), gearbox (still a six-speed, but with quite different internal ratios) and cylinder head. The latter looks just like the old 500’s eight-valve head, but, in fact, it’s completely new, incorporating oil-cooling, larger-diameter, 30.6mm inlet/27.4mm exhaust valves, chain drive up the center of the engine and a 36-degree included valve angle.

This new engine has been under development for the best part of the last half-decade, says Angelo Ferrari, the bike’s creator, and would have been ready for production long ago but for the uncertainty regarding the company’s continued existence and the fact that cash for continuing the engine’s development came in fits and starts. Now Laverda’s future is assured, and that assurance accelerated the development of the 650-actually displacing 688cc through a bore and stroke of 78.5 x 69mm.

As is increasingly a standard feature of high-end Italian sportbikes, the Laverda is fitted with Weber/Marelli electronic fuel injection, using one injector per cylinder, with six sensors reporting back to the on-board computer that controls the system. This has produced some remarkable horsepower figures and enabled the engine to pass all current emission and noise controls. Fitted with street silencers, the 650 motor delivers a claimed 70 horsepower at the rear wheel at 8900 rpm, with maximum torque of 45.6 foot-pounds at 7000 rpm.

Laverda has made a bold styling decision to present the bike with its aluminum chassis anodized in a tasteful shade of black, and to adopt singlecolor paint schemes that use the traditional car-racing colors for the bike’s four largest immediate markets-Italian Red, British Racing Green, German Racing Silver and, for France, Bugatti Blue. For now, there are no plans to bring the 650 to the U.S.

The Laverda’s chassis, based on an original design by Holland’s Nico Bakker that was commissioned in the 1980s for the old 500cc engine, incorporates a 26degree steering-head angle and 4 inches of trail, with a 55-inch wheelbase, all 250-class dimensions.

And that’s exactly what it’s like to ride. It may have a 650cc four-stroke engine, but in terms of handling and response, the Laverda feels like a 250cc two-stroke. But within a splitsecond of thumbing the starter button, you instinctively know what brand of motorcycle you’re riding, thanks to that unique, taut-sounding rasp from the high-revving, 180-degree-crank parallel-Twin. Yet unlike any previous incarnation of this motor, the 650 is devoid of the high-frequency tingles that used to spoil enjoyment of Laverda Twins. The 650 is uncannily smooth, with just a little vibration becoming apparent as the engine zips toward the rev limiter.

Laverda’s latest has been cleverly developed to offer two distinct forms of engine response. It’s quite happy to run along in traffic, burbling happily at around 3000 rpm. But when you want to put some zip into your zoom. Dr. Jekyll becomes Mr. Hyde. You have to use the gearbox, with its wellchosen ratios, to help you do this, but notch down one or two cogs before you crack the throttle open, and the Laverda motor will hit its powerband with the same sort of enthusiasm as a two-stroke GP bike.

That power step is dramatic, but it isn't enough to unsettle the bike’s handling, thanks to the responsive, risingrate rear suspension. This uses a White Power shock, and delivers not only a claimed 4.9 inches of wheel travel, but also a very confident ride on rough roads. Even if you happen to hit the powerband with the bike cranked over, the Laverda’s suspension absorbs the kick, and lets the rear Pirelli radial dig in. The feel from the front end, which uses a 40mm White Power fork, is nearly as good.

The 650’s riding position is excellent, at least for a repli-racer. The slanted screen does a great job of deflecting wind away from visor and body, and the dash-which includes an oil-temp gauge-is very legible, especially the warning lights.

It’s hard to overemphasize the success of this new Laverda in terms of the unexpected sophistication and personality it delivers. The direct response of the fuel injection, the smoothness of the engine, the distinctive Laverda growl, the sweet action of the gearbox, the responsiveness of the rear suspension, the good braking from the 12.6inch Brembo floating front discs-these all are the marks of a bike that you would have expected to be the result of years of careful evolution, rather than what is effectively a brand-new model only just now being launched on the marketplace.

At a price of 14,800,000 lire in Italy-the equivalent of about $ 12,500-the Laverda is well-priced, considering its exotic, esoteric nature. Though the bike’s dry weight is claimed to be 397 pounds, the first hundred 650s built will be fitted with carbon-fiber bodywork and weigh a claimed 390 pounds dry, and will offer some other minor styling cues, at no extra cost, to differentiate them from the standard versions. As a final touch, they also will be individually numbered.

But individually numbered or not, the Laverda 650 is a clear sign that not only has Laverda come roaring back, but that the European motorcycle industry is alive and well, and ready to offer a whole range of alternative motorcycles to those who possess the appreciation, the appetite and the affluence. E2