Update 2.4.2020: This bike has SOLD at Bonhams Las Vegas for $18,400! Congratulations to all parties! -dc Update 12.23.2019: Joe’s bikes have been newly photographed by Bonhams in preparation for their upcoming auction at Bonhams 2020 Las Vegas Auction, and the photos are now in this listing and gallery. The auction is scheduled to take…
The Laverda 750S Formula was a massive gamble to revive a long a storied (but sinking) brand. This excerpt from an earlier post on a similar bike is being utilized by the seller of today’s find in the advert – but only partially. In the spirit of completeness (and to be lazy), I reprint it…
Update 9.16.2019: We first saw this Ghost Strike back in May of last year. It failed to sell then but is back on eBay and reserve is already met with a first bid of $2,750. Links updated to current auction. Thanks Donn, -dc Though Laverda’s fortunes were largely in the 90’s rear-view mirror, the company…
While an Italian cafe racer from the mid-1970s is somewhat outside of the usual focus of RSBFS, one look at this surviving hot rod told us that it belongs here. And after diving in a bit deeper, we are sure our readers will too. This is an awesome timepiece of a rare model that is…
Known here mostly for bigger GT’s, Laverda tried to tap the European mid-size market in the 1970’s with a 350 and 500cc twin. A single marque race series was developed to drum up interest, pre-dating the IROC and BMW Boxer Cup. Surprisingly, the four year series generated only 200 or so racers, making it a…
This is an unusual opportunity to buy a rough-and-tumble, forged-in-fire vintage racing Laverda. If you’re searching for a display piece to adorn your Manhattan loft, you should probably look elsewhere. This SFC-spec SF2 was made to run, and run hard. It’s all killer and no filler, built to race. Period. The original SFC is one…
Largely forgotten now, especially by modern sportbike enthusiasts, Laverda was once a serious player in the Italian sportbike scene of the 1970s. In terms of reputation, anyway, if not in actual production numbers. Their big-bore parallel-twin was supposedly heavily “inspired” by Honda’s parallel twin design of the period, and Laverda’s grown-up engine was heavily overbuilt…
I’m a huge Laverda fan, so it’s disappointing their attempted resurrection in the 1990s didn’t work out. It wasn’t that bikes like this Ghost Strike weren’t any good: the beam frames were designed by the famed Nico Bakker and handling was generally considered excellent, even superior to Ducatis competing in the same segments. The standard…