Laverda 750s

Laverda 750S

The "Ferrari of Motorcycles" returns to America

BRIAN CATTERSON

A ERMACCHI. APRILLA. BENELLI. Bianchi. Bimota. Cagiva. Ducati. Garelli. Gilera. Guzzi. Laverda. Linto. Paton. Malanca. Minarelli.

Mondial. Morbidelli. Morini. MV Agusta. Villa. Phew! There are—and have been—so many Italian motorcycle manufacturers that even the most passionate tifosi aren’t exactly sure which ones are still in business. Just when you’re certain that one is dead and buried, you hear word of its impending resurrection.

Yes, well, when it comes to breathing new life into old marques, the Italians are almost as fanciful (if not as crooked) as

those most unrealistic of all revivalists, the Americans! Hate to be the bearer of bad news, folks, but Indian just might have gone to that great burial ground in the sky for good.

Fortunately, that’s not true of Laverda.

Absent from these shores since the mid1980s, the Italian company never actually went down for the third time, though it did require mouth-to-mouth resuscitation once it was pulled from the water. Salvation came in the form of Francesco Tognon, a well-heeled industrialist who purchased the troubled firm from the Zanini Group six years ago.

Realizing that the Laverda name would be more profitably associated with full-size, fourstroke Twins than the tiny, two-stroke Singles it had been producing for the home market,

Tognon focused on producing the company’s newly developed 650 Sport. And while this was a lovely piece, what with its sensuously sculpted body work, state-of-the-art alloy chassis and race-bred ponentry, it unfortunately was propelled by a fuel-injected variant of the air-cooled, four-valve-percyfinder parallel-Twin that powered the mid-’70s Alpino S, Montjuic and Zeta 500s. A subsequent in displacement to 668cc helped just a little. What IjL Laverda needed was a new engine-a dauntingly expensive proposition for a small-volume manufacturer.

So, rather than start from scratch, Laverda’s engineers redesigned the existing engine so comprehensively that, for all intents and purposes, it can be considered all-new.

Liquid-cooling is the most significant development, though a claimed 26-pound weight reduction (from the engine alone!) also warrants mention.

But while Cycle World has published reports from overseas on Laverda’s latest Twins, we haven’t had a chance to sample one ourselves until now. At the Laguna Seca round of the World Superbike Series we met new importer Mike Rollins (Moto Laverda USA, Inc., 8989 Monroe Houston, TX 77061 ; 713/943-2288), who subsequently arranged for delivery of 750S to Southern California. Fetching the Ferrari-red machine from European Cycle Specialties in nearby Garden Grove, I asked shop owner Steve Carroll for his impressions of the bike based on his break-in miles. Soft-spoken anyway, Carroll fell abnor mally quiet, hesitated, then replied, "It's a pretty nice bike."

And that, friends, is as accurate a description as you’ll get. The 750S is indeed a pretty nice bike, with more positive than negative attributes. Most impressive is the chassis.

With an actual dry weight of 425 pounds, a short, 53.8-inch wheelbase and taut suspension, the 750S handles as well as anything on the bleacher side of the racetrack fence. As suggested by the fork tubes pulled way up in the triple-clamps, steering is quick and light, and it’s neutral, too-mid-corner application of the de rigueur Brembo brakes doesn’t cause the bike to stand up unduly. Yet in spite of its light handling, it’s not at all unstable. The Paioli

inverted fork and single shock are both on the firm side-even at their softest settings-which gives a rough ride on bumpy roads, but the payback is unruffled composure approaching the limit. This thing is a missile on tight, twisty backroads.

Alas, the engine is not the equal of the chassis. While we believe the reports stating that the 750 is a vast improvement over the old 650/668, the new motor nonetheless feels a bit dated. Thumb the starter button and the engine explodes to life, sounding for all the world like a V-Twin Ducati as you rev it. Ease off the bar-mounted choke lever and let the engine settle down to an idle, though, and there’s no doubting you’re astride a parallel-Twin, the exhaust note sounding more EX500 than 748. Indeed, more than one of our testers said that the Laverda reminded them of the little Kawasaki, albeit a strong-running one.

While the addition of liquid cooling may very well have stifled the Laverda’s mechanical noise, it’s still far from quiet, with noticeable gear whine from deep within. Moreover, while the coolant-temperature gauge never entered the red zone, heat exiting the fairing louvers roasts your inner thighs, even when riding in cool mountain air. Like many Ducatis, the Laverda’s clutch exhibits a stiff pull and narrow range of engagement, and its gear box action is best described as deliber ate. Vibration, while not intrusive, is definitely noticeable, particularly while you're trying to decipher the fuzzy images in the minors. The dated feeling extends to the engine's powerband, which has three distinct stages: Below 3000 rpm, there's nobody home; between 3000 and 6000, there's usable power for trolling through town; while above 6000, it's downright fast. Trouble is, the rev-limiter cuts in at an indicated 8750 rpm (strangely 250 rpm shy of redline), which means the effec tive powerband is less than 3000-rpm wide. In order to ride the 750S quick ly, then, you need to keep the engine within its narrow powerband. You do this as you would on a 125cc GP bike, by making quick work of the six-speed gearbox and with liberal, indeed generous, applications of throttle. Ride a YZF-R1 like you would the Laverda and you'd have the life expectancy of Kenny from “South Park.”

When they were designing their new-generation Twin, Laverda’s engineers identified Ducati’s 748 as their performance benchmark. And while the racier, orange-andblack Laverda Formula may in fact prove to be a match for the yellow V-Twin, the base-model 750S unfortunately pales in comparison. It made just 73 horsepower on the CW dyno, covered the quarter-mile in 11.81 seconds at 113.2 mph, and posted a top speed of 135 mph. Compare that to the 748’s 87 bhp, 1 1.46 seconds at 119.3 mph and 150 mph on top, and you’ll see that the 750S comes up short in the performance stakes.

Fortunately, it comes up short while costing considerably less money: $10,795 for the fully faired version (or $9995 with a half-fairing) compared to $ 13,495 for the 748. (The Formula, incidentally, goes for $12,995.) A better comparison can be drawn to Ducati’s 900SS or, perhaps, the 750SS introduced at the recent Munich Show.

In the 1980s, an ad campaign touted Laverda as “The Ferrari of Motorcycles.” Indeed, given the company’s soulstirring, 1200cc Triples-and in the absence of MV Agusta-that might have been true then. But in the interim, while Laverda was missing in action, Ducati has most assuredly assumed that mantle.

Where does that leave Laverda? Tough to say. “The Alfa Romeo of Motorcycles” might not be as flattering, but it’s a lot more accurate. □