Italia Connections' Laverda Alpino & Montjuic page

Alpino

The bore was 72mm and the stroke was 61mm, giving it a capacity of 497cc. Other specs were a wet sump and twin Dell Orto PHF 32 AD carbs. A sixth gear had been added to the gearbox, primary drive was by gears and a chain for the final drive.

It's frame was a welded steel single loop which split into a duplex cradle around the engine. Front forks were Marzocchi, as were the 5 way adjustable rear shocks.

Wheels were Laverda's own, die cast 5 spoke aluminium, fitted with 3.25 x 18" Pirelli Mandrake tyres. Brakes as usual were catered for by Brembo. Twin discs up front and a single in the rear.

Bosch electronics and alternator supplying a 12 volt system which had a powerful 6" quartz halogen headlamp. Nippon Denso supplied the instruments and switchgear (a'la Suzuki GT's).
Deeply(!) chromed Lanfranconi silencers, a lockable seat and an impressive toolkit. Footrests, brake & gear levers were all adjustable.

All of this added up to a dry weight of some 374lbs (170kg).
Original colours were pale blue with a black frame. later models sported red, green and orange paintworks.

What Was It Like?
Being seen as a scaled down 750, that was what it was compared against.
Praise came for its sweet gearbox. The engine felt a bit 'unsweet' between 3000 and 5000 rpm. Suspension and handling were considered good, somewhat better than the 750's. Brakes as with ALL Laverda's were quite simply the BEST, rusty discs and all ;-)

In 1978 the Alpino S appeared with it's black with gold pinstripe paintwork. It boasted a number of refinements and improved performance. This was due to high compression pistons, and a rotating counter-balancer to smooth out the twin's vibes. The engine was reported to give out 44bhp at 9,500 rpm. All this gave the 'S' a top speed of about 100mph.

In the UK, the bikes price tag of £1,645 was to prove prohibitive to many would be buyers. Double that of similar sized Japanese machines, even more than Yamaha's XS750 shaftie!

In 1978/79 Laverda brought out the 350cc version of the Alpino. A pretty little thing, but with a sleeved down version of the 500 pushing the same package of cycle parts it was never going to be quick. It's top speed was given as 96 mph.
In the market place it was pitted against the Morini 350 and the Guzzi V35. In terms of performance it sat in between these two - Morini 100mph & Guzzi 89mph. It was 30% cheaper than the others, but despite this it never really sold and only 683 were built over 5 years.

Montjuic

Meanwhile back in the UK. Slater Brothers who at the time were heavily involved in production racing, obtained a Formula 500 and soon spotted the basis for a great sportster.
The result was one of the all time classic Italian motorcycles, the Montjuic, named after the Barcelona race circuit.

Montjuic Mk1. Courtesy of Tim Parker

The Montjuic was a refined version of the Formula 500, as such it was very distinctive both visually with it's bright orange paintwork and by it's 'sound'. A real racer for the street. In fact, it's 'sound' is what most people recall - Fast and very loud :-) A small headlamp fairing, single seat (who'd go pillion on a howling Monty ;-), Jota bars and rear sets.

A seat height of 29", and a dry weight of 360lbs (163kg) gave it the feel of a 250cc. Wide section (for the day) tyres of 4.10 x 18", and the usual high quality tackle from Brembo gave the bike marvellous braking. Top speed for the Monty was given as 106mph.

OK. So it was a rough diamond, in that it had numerous shortcomings. However it must be said that they were relatively minor things when compared to the package as a whole.
The Mk.1's headlamp fairing was handlebar mounted and was attributed to causing a weave at 100mph+. The Mk.2 sported a larger frame mounted fairing which cured this.
The seat was another source of complaints - it wasn't designed for comfort! It's lack of padding combined with the harsh rear suspension guaranteed a hard ride.
Another complaint was the way the bell mouthed carbs spat fuel onto the side panels, discolouring them.

Riding the Monty was the good and the bad of it. The power came in at 80mph, and if ridden in traffic it was a complete bitch. Constant blipping of the throttle at tickover was essential to keep it going. This allied to its exhaust bellow made it an anti-social beast. Neighbours, what neighbours ;-)
However find an open road and the Monty was in it's element. It loves long sweepers and high speed (race tracks??:-).

Production of the Montjuic ended in 1982. This was brought on by the joint effect of EEC noise regs, and the fact that the factory was now losing £750 on each bike sold!
Sales of the Alpino continued for another year, to clear out existing stock.

• Maurice Ogier's Montjuic
  

  Maurice Ogier poses with the unique Ogier-Laverda in front of the Daytona bankings, after Alan Cathcart had scored a flag-to-flag victory on it in the Lightweight BoTT race in Cycle Week 1984.
  

  
  

  The smallest capacity bike ever to win a Daytona BoTT race, the little Laverda was able to punch well above it's weight, thanks to Ogier's careful development of the 500cc DOHC, 8 valve 180-degree Montjuic engine.
  

  So successful was it, that the AMA insisted on him stripping it after the Daytona victory, because they couldn't believe a bike with a street based engine that small could go so fast - no less than 148mph through the Daytona traps from just 579cc!!
  Ogier had bored the engine to 77.8 x 61mm using special Mahle pistons, in which form it delivered 74bhp at the rear wheel, at 9800rpm, running on twin 38mm Dell'Ortos. Modified valve timing using stock Montjuic cam profiles narrowed the power some, making the standard 6-speed gearbox an advantage. The low dry weight of 290lb (132kg) was obtained with the stock Montjuic roadster chassis, but with the fuel tank moved under the seat and fuel supplied by an exhaust driven vacuum pump. This speeded up the handling in slow turns without sacrificing stability on the banking - enabling Cathcart to become the first British rider ever to win a Cycle Week race of any kind, as well as register the first overseas victory in a Daytona BoTT race!
  

Dealers

• List of dealers and suppliers of parts & accessories for early Laverda's

• - Italia Connection's Laverda Index Page

• - Italia Connections' Early Laverdas Page 1. - pages about the bikes of the 1980's and before.
  

• - Italia Connection's ILOC Page - details of the International Laverda Owners Club including an events diary page.
  
  • Italia Connection's Home Page