RealClassic

Thinking of buying a 750 Laverda twin? Dave Minton rings the changes between the models and offers shoppers well-proven advice… In the first installment, Laverda introduced their 750 twin parallel twin and – against the odds – it proved to be one of the best. They could hardly keep up with customer demand it first, but by 1972 the competition…

In the 1970s Dave Minton first greeted the idea of a high-speed, high-mileage 750cc parallel twin with suspicion, but he was fast won over. Here’s how, and why… As a working motorcycle journalist, by 1971 I had become accustomed to abandoning test BSAs, Triumphs and Nortons by the roadside. The build quality of these final products of the British industry…

Dave Minton has been riding Laverda triples for over 30 years. Meet his favourite and be surprised: it’s no Jota (but it does make all the right sounds)… At between 2500 and 4000 revs in the higher gears, 180-degree Breganze triples make wonderful noises — a sort of basso profundo gargle, not unlike a narrow angle V-twin. Just as it…

This Laverda triple, says Dave Minton, was a memorial to an heroic age, when mighty power made uncompromising demands and the consequences were thunderous. Boom! In the early 1960s Fritz Egli campaigned the European Hill Climb Championship on a Vincent Black Shadow tuned to full race Lightning trim. Dissatisfied with its roadholding up the excruciating long and convoluted Alpine tracks,…

Ken Sprayson’s expertise in the design, fabrication and repair of motorcycle frames is the stuff of legend. This autobiography captures an era of the British motorcycle industry when personal skill, enthusiasm and hard work were highly valued… At last. Ken Sprayson has been around the British motorcycle industry for so long that everyone knew he had a lot of tales…

Who can catch a Kawasaki? Message board regular Kevin sets the bait for a Z900 but reels in a pristine KZ650B2… I always loved the look of the Kawasaki Z900 from the day I saw an old friend turn up at the local pub on his new one, in fact that was part of the reason I bought my KZ650.…