It sure is, fabulous patina and been in the family most of it's life. His dad, now in his eighties, was given it for his 17th birthday (mate's grandfather ran a chain of bike shops). A few weeks ago my mate rode it to Montlhéry, France's equivalent of Brooklands, built south of Paris in 1924, three years before the Panther. At 100 years old it's due for demolition later this year to make way for development . So this was a meet to celebrate the former and mourn the latter. He did a few laps and rode home. The trip wasn't without incident; a leaky float meant frequent stops and attempted repairs. Plus the control tower at the circuit was struck by lightening whilst the event was in progress. His dad has various other marvels in his garage. A complete vintage car/bike addict and petrol head. He and my mate are the primary reason/influence to my 2 wheeled passion. We spent our teenage years fixing, doing up and riding old 'too worn out and hard to sell or move on' trade-ins from his grandfather around the local gravel pits.
My dad went to the montlhery thing the other week too. Went with a friend in an old open top Jag. They were over taken on the autoroute by the Beast of Turin spitting flames out the pipes , quite a sight and sound by all accounts
Nice afternoon ride around Rutland on my Jota earlier, just splashed out on a respray in the original shade of aluminium Silver, and very pleased with it ...smashing. View attachment 323336
Fabulous bike, would I be correct in thinking the gear change is in the right? I know nothing of Laverda other than their stunning beauty
Thanks, and yes the gearchange is on the right, i'm used to it now but when i first got the bike i made a few crunching clutch-less down shifts when trying to use it as the rear brake...ouch
