Nico's Stories. "My" seven motorbikes at the Laverda Museum in Breganze
Here are the Laverdas that impressed me as a child and I enjoyed as an adult, chosen from among the hundred pieces in the museum created two years ago by Werner Ricciolini. From the first, exquisite 75 to the incredible V6 1000. And an encounter with three very special visitors...
I had only heard of the first bike: the small 75, designed by Francesco Laverda and Luciano Zen, was offered in the 1950s, was very innovative and also won the Milan-Taranto race. I remembered with nostalgia the twin-cylinder 200 of 1961 with its beautiful sound. And I had tried the 250 Chot of 1973, which was the first Italian two-stroke off-roader and blew everyone away.
Then there was the wonderful 125 LZ, a collaboration between Laverda and Zundapp, which drove 16-year-olds crazy in the late 1970s. And the mighty twin-cylinder 650 that a decade earlier had launched Moto Laverda into the new sector of maxi-bikes.
From that project was born in 1971 ‘my’ 750 SFC, protagonist of the 24 Hours and the 500 km. And Laverda took a liking to it. From there came the three-cylinder 1000 Space Frame that in 1975 I raced at Spa, Montjuich, Mugello and Le Mans. And finally the last one, the legendary six-cylinder 1000 that was the swan song of the Veneto brand.
It's a museum that you absolutely must get to know: Ricciolini tells us how it was set up, Giovanni Laverda, the founder's grandson, confides in us the effect it has on him to be here and finally, the Tuscan Augusto Brettoni tries to explain how Laverda became the legend on the European tracks.
