9/21/2011 Update: This bike was sold via Buy-It-Now for $9000.
From 9/19/2011:
Laverdas have attained a position somewhere north of Moto Guzzi V7 Sports, and just south of the Ducati 750 SS. They’re well-respected in collector circles, and when you find them for sale, they’re typically expensive. So if you want one for less than $10,000, it’s going to have some issues to work out. Such is the case with this 1974 Laverda 750 SF. Find it here on eBay in Sugarland, Texas.
Here’s the good news: this Laverda is in pretty complete, running and riding condition as it stands right now. You could pick it up and ride it for the rest of the season while you were moving money from your 401k to get ready for a full restoration. The bike was purchased by the current owner from the son of the original owner after it had sat for quite a few years. When he first took ownership, the seller had a complete rebuild of the mechanicals and then ended up zinc plating all the nuts and bolts due to some surface rust starting to show.
The bad news is that the color has changed at least twice since the purchase. At one point it was yellow, and now it’s an incorrect silver, which is starting to bubble on the fuel tank. There’s a broken spoke on the rear wheel which you’ll want to have replaced before riding it very far. It’s got a slight oil leak, and the trip meter won’t reset.
So, it’s either a restoration candidate, or a good regular rider, but this is far from a show bike. We like the long list of spares that come along with the bike, though, including a luggage rack and fairings that were never mounted, two sets of Tommaselli clip-ons and headlamp stays, and a whole lot of other parts that would either help in getting this bike back to where it should be, or provide a bit of a rebate off of the purchase price after you’ve sold off the extras.
If you’re up for the inevitable frustration of a full restoration, you could find a lot worse candidates, which won’t be for sale for a lot less money.
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ahh, the great SF. These are dead reliable and solid spares backing (also in canada and us) these won’t cause a lot of surprises. The ride is stiff, heavy but very rewarding. Contrarious to how you find most Laverda 750′s in europe, this one looks highly original.
Very coool. $10k may seem excessive but these bikes have gotten pretty scarce; paint and a rear spoke are easy fixes.
Fix the mechanical bits and ride it or ride it and do a rolling refurbishment in order to return it to close to original specs.
A full blown restoration would turn a nice but expensive rider into a money pit. Buy it and keep the investment in fixing it low and you’ll likely break even when you sell it in a few years, restore it and you’ll be underwater forevah.
I don’t have any objection to full-on restorations; it’s what I do. But irrespective of the financial considerations, restoring this bike just seems unnecessary to me; obsessive even. I really hope this one stays on the road. It’s in the condition I like most of all – very nice but definitely a rider. Fix the spoke, and if the tank issue is an actual leak, fix that as well. Then enjoy a great ride. I even like the silver, the color looks good on that bike.
What’s to restore? A missing spoke and an optional respray on the tank and air box seems like a bit of tinkering… Everything else looks amazing.
These are lovely little riders, and much cheaper/easier to maintain than their 3-cylinder brothers. The only thing that concerns me is the tank appears to have cracked a seam, (these are resistance welded) so without drilling the ends of the crack and re-welding, that’s not going to get any better.
Having just finished a sympatheitc restoration of an RGA, I can confirm that it’s that last 5% is what 1) pushes the bike from rider to trailer queen, and 2) what puts you financially under water. I happen to like the silver, so I’d fix what needs doing, add some rearsets, and ride the heck out of it.
Buy-it-Now is a bit high, but having followed Laverdas for about 20 years, it’s safe to say that you can’t pay too much, but you might buy too soon.
I definitely also see this more as a glass half-full (or more) story. I like the silver on the bike (odd that it’s bubbling unless it was done a long time ago, and even then it really shouldn’t). Other stuff is pretty minor and that way, you’re not too uptight to ride it regularly. Very nice.
There is one thing about the SF. It wasn’t an evil steering, vibrating brute like the 3C. Before all you triple lovers take umbrage, consider a few things;
You weren’t there or,
you expended not a few bucks and hours making one work right, or,
you wouldn’t know a good handling bike if you were run over by one.
Or you might have been like Hailwood and could wrestle virtually any bike into submission.
Both of them were damned fine looking motorbikes though.
I liked my SF. It was a trifle slow, had trifle slow but steady handling, and a good turn of speed on a long straight. My 3C was a very handsome, beautifully noised heap of crap.
I’m guessing at speed, it looks beautiful.
Wow, KGB, I owned both SF and 3C . I guess you could say that the SF handled better, if you didn’t mind dragging the pipes and pegs around bends. The SF was certainly a slug but the Bosch electrics on the 3C were far worse than anything Joe Lucas ever cooked up. I’d still take the 3C over the SF in a heartbeat.
There are 2 on ebay now and while the SF is a cool bike, it is not the model that falls between the Guzzi V7 Sport and the Ducati 750SS. That would be the Laverda SFC which is a different breed altogeather. The SF would fall below the Guzzi V7 Sport in every catagory.
North of the V7 Sport ? Not.
I’ll take the Guzzi without skipping a beat.
- to each his own, which makes the world go round :)
I don’t understand the write up about this bike at all. It has already had a full restoration by a noted Laverda specilaist, probably cost $15,000 or more to get to the stellar condition it is in, then has actually been used as a regular rider as it should be, not hidden away to brought out on a trailer from time to time. So it broke a spoke and has non stock paint, so what, whoever was bright enough to use the Buy it Now to pick it up for the full $9,000 ask got a great deal, the bike was significantly underpriced for a fabulous example!
Paul
I just finished a respectfull resto of a 71 SF 750, great machine and looks great next to my 72 V7 sport. Both are bikes that require a skill set to ride in todays world. Can’t beat the sound, quality, and ride. Both currenlty undervalued for their workmanship.
@KGB: Having owned a couple of triples, I tend to agree with you. My Jarama only resembles a stock bike… nearly everything from the frame to the engine has had to be modified in some form, but the result is a solid, fast beast. My RGA is much more civil and sorted out-of-the-box, but it is also quite a bit softer around the edges.
the bike is going to Australia to its happy new owner, thrilled at how cheap he got the fully restored bike for even after he pays for crating and shipping.
there is a reason there is presently a flood of really nice bikes leaving North America for new homes abroad. The sad economic conditions here mean that a number of really nice bikes are surfacing for sale due to financial pressures, and overseas buyers are snapping them up at bargain prices.
in all seriousness, there had to be over $15,000 into that SF, if not more, the bike was a bargain at $9,000 and it sure didn’t need any restoration.
OMG, are those really Lucas turnsignals as in original Norton/Triumph fitment?
Why, why?
Hopefully I’ll stand corrected by the Laverda authorities but they look like Lucas to me.
Gaack.
Guzzi used the same signals on the V7 Sport.
Well, nice bike, nice price. KGB: regarding triples, My early 180 Jota is a bit of a beast. After I restored it in ’91, I didn’t really like riding it. It went like a scalded cat, and the sound was unreal above 5K , but I couldn’t get it to turn, and above 100mph it seemed a bit unstable. The rear was too stiff, the fork was too soft, and the riding position with those clipons was painful. So I put it away to ride a ’74 R90S. Then I had a windfall, and bought a new Duc Superlite. I took the Pridmore course to learn to ride the thing, and after doing Pridmore twice on the Superlite, and learning to slide it a bit, finally got around to riding the 3C beast again. Huh! It went great. Somehow, in storage, it learned to stop, turn and handle. How about that! It never did learn to stop vibrating , or be comfortable. But it’s a honest to god production racer, meant to put and end to the Ducati reign over in Blighty. Which it did. And there ain’t NOTHING that howls like a Laverda racing triple through open pipes.(which is the way all REAL Jota’s came)
I’ll put my hand up, and yes it is going to live in Sydney, Australia.
I think it is the best one I’ve seen in the last few years and well worth the Buy it Now price. Indicators look like the Lucas ones that were fitted to the SF1, but there are the CEV units fitted to the SF2 included in the parts.
The bike looks to be a credit to both the owner and to Scott Potter and I am very happy to be taking on the upkeep of this bike, as I am sure it will give me many years of pleasure.
It will be ridden, it will not be sitting on the mantle piece like some piece d’art. Laverdas were built to be ridden, not put in a glass case..
@yogi
Congrats! Ride her like she was intended to be ridden and enjoy!
Penncove, I agree whole heartedly. I learned to ride on an R100 BMW. It was a fun bike but I soon became a better rider than the bike could handle. The wheels never seemed to want to go in the same direction at the same time. I also rode Triumph and BSA triples. They were great bikes when they ran, which wasn’t too often. Years ago someone told me that if I liked triples I should get a Laverda. I picked a Jota-ized 3C. What a hoot! It was a handful. I also had a GPZ turbo at the time which was faster, more comfortable and handled better, but the 3C was way more fun. I always felt like I had gone a couple of rounds with Mike Tyson after riding. It would take hours to get the grin off my face. Wish I still had it. I can barely remember my SF. An unremarkable bike.
sounds like a laverda is like having a supermodel girlfriend, you like to be seen with it, but the work involved is a pain in the ass !! still love to have one, maybe someday…..