Grade Inflation
Is Laverda the Italian equivalent of HRD-Vincent? OK, it’s deliberately provocative to compare a long out-of-production Italian motorcycle to the paragon of British big bike design. But hopefully I’ll make this case through my experiences with two examples from this fine Latin manufacturer.
Moped-riding novices in the mid-1970s were treated to a continual flow of new and exotic machinery to fire their dreams of getting a big bike. Triumph Tridents, Honda CB750s and Kawasaki 2- and 4-strokes vied for our attention and piggy-banks. The more adventurous could also lust after Italian exotica and I count myself among them. My morning walk to the train station took me past a motorcycle shop filled with the latest from Moto Guzzi and Morini. I scoured the bike press for stories about these gorgeous machines and became aware of another Italian brand, Laverda.
At that time, Laverdas existed in some off-world exotic motorcycling nirvana. Impossibly rare and expensive, even just seeing one was enough to make one swoon. And as for the sound... I kept my expectations low and sated my lust by poring over the purple prose about the Guzzi Le Mans in the press. But it was impossible to ignore the impact of Laverdas on the UK motorcycling scene, driven by the endurance racing success of the 3C 1000 triple.
Slater Brothers of Bromyard went one step beyond officially importing the bikes, they fashioned a legend in the form of the Jota. They took the standard 3C and added a racing profile camshaft, high compression pistons and a free-flowing exhaust. The resulting bike with the dramatic, loping triple beat sound (which gave it its name, after a Spanish dance in triple time), swept the board in the Avon Production racing series with outright wins in 1976, ’78, ’79 and ’80. This cemented the machine firmly in the pantheon of great bikes.
My early biking career came to a close before I experienced life with a Laverda, but in 2016 I was back on two wheels. I felt like a novice again. Perhaps the mighty triple might be just a
