Laverda Jota

[Horse]

The Mirage is a 1200, the Jota a 1000,

Wasn't there a Jarama too?

[demographic]

I remember lusting after one when I was a kid, didn't have that bloody ugly baboons arse tail unit on the one I wanted mind.

[ZRX61]

Lusted after one & managed to get a '79 that could be the twin of the one in Skub's post. I had some kind of mental aberration & set off to tour Europe on it. I was planning to go all over on it. On day 4 I was in Spain & apparently regained control of my mental faculties. Decided to head home. 1000 miles in a hair under 24 hours. Three days later when I had learned how to walk again I put it up for sale.
With hindsight & the memory of owing it being a bit foggy, it's now top of my "Should never have bloody sold it" list.
I have a feeling that riding one for 10 minutes would have it stricken from the list for eternity.

[weeksy]

I'm not adding this comment to be negative, just to keep the conversation flowing really, but I think you need to be of a certain age to like this shape of bike, I'm too young and these 70's style bikes leave me cold.

E.g. my younger friends don't like my 350LC but loved my TZR v-twin, based only on the shape.

Not sure i agree, i don't think it's down to shape as such. For example the LC/RD era as you know, completely passed me by, doesn't even exist in my mind, same with the ZRX and CB750 etc... But that Laverda is 'right' in so many ways. Put that next to a Guzzi Le Mans and i'd walk past the Guzzi without even a glance, but the Laverda is lovely to look at for me.

[derek badger]

I remember a Spondon framed one I had in a Crossbow calendar (remember them!)





Note the swingarm pivot inline with the output shaft to stop chain slack/stretch.

[weeksy]

Oh i don't like that even a tiny bit.

[Taipan]

Modernised one on bike exif. Hate the exhaust and oil pipes and a few other bits, but overall a nice job.. Hadn't realised restomod was an actual term for this kind of thing.

https://www.bikeexif.com/laverda-jota-restomod

[KungFooBob]

I bet it's a fucker to change the front sprocket on that Spondon framed one.

I think the 70's Laverda's look a fuck-ton better than the jap stuff from the 70's and early 80's.

The shape of the engines cases and the overall design of the engine make it look like something that was built today. I'd go as far as saying the Jota looks more modern than the Elsie.

[Scotsrich]

A mate had a Jota back in the day.

I seem to remember it as an unreliable lump no quicker than a Japanese bike. I’m sure a washing machine belt made it’s appearance on it at one point.

On one memorable occasion he was bump starting it (not an unusual occurrence) and he jumped on it side saddle and promptly toppled off the other side. Oh how we laughed.

[Hairybiker84]

Had 2 Jotas and a Mirage, all 180 cranks, vibrated so much you couldn't see anything out of the (bar end) mirror, very heavy clutch, RH gearchange, very tall bikes, handling was good but far from nimble, once you were committed to a high speed line there wasn't much changing it (although the same could be said of most bikes of that era). I remember test riding a Yoshimura GS1000S at about the same time, it was better in just about every way apart from brakes. The Laverdas got more attention though.

[Rockburner]

I remember a Spondon framed one I had in a Crossbow calendar (remember them!)





Note the swingarm pivot inline with the output shaft to stop chain slack/stretch.

I like those ones (the bottom one more than the top), nice shaped bikes with a proper 1980's shaped woman as well.

err - it's the same bike.

[ZRX61]

Yes, I like the bottom one more, I'm not a fan of white frames.

Unless it's a '71 A65 Thunderbolt

[harum-scarum]

1980, Leicester Poly, I'd been to a Fall gig as pillion on my mates Suzuki 550 triple. After the gig we were hanging around the parked bikes ogling a Jota - they wern't exactly common - and this little blond lass wandered up, helmet on her arm. She dawdled about for the perfect length of time to convince us all she was waiting for her boyfriend to take her away, and then hopped on board, did a feet up 180 in a pot-holed car park and disappeared in a cloud of dust, leaving seven or eight of us to try and recover some semblance of dignity. One of my peak biking memories