Friday bike

This week's bike is one I'd forgotten about until I saw a lot of them at Spa - the Laverda 750 twin.

Built from 1968 onwards, the design was rumoured to have been based on the best selling Honda CB77 of the time. Although this has never been officially admitted, the evidence is there for all to see!

The Laverda became a very successful endurance racer, and although fairly rare in the UK, a highly regarded road bike. Rather than just regurgitate other articles, I'll give a link to a couple of pieces from the RealClassic website: Part 1, Part 2
At Spa I saw numerous examples, both in the pits:

And out on the track:

I even saw one parked in a sidestreet in Bruges:

One of the most stylish and exotic of 70s European superbikes, and one that I have a very slight connection to.
Back in 1987, just as I was about to buy a Honda CBR600, I saw for sale a Laverda 750 for a similar price (£3500). I did think about it for a while, but as I needed a reliable bike with a good spares supply as I had to ride it to work, didn't have a garage, and probably didn't have the mechanical ability, I bought the Honda instead. If a Laverda 750 wasn't exotic enough, this one had an Egli frame!

Not only a rare engine, but in an even rarer frame. That particular one was the only example I've ever seen.
Although very few Laverda 750 were sold new in Britain, plenty have since been imported, and today on Ebay there are 5 for sale ranging from £5900 to £7995, so they've held their value well. Just how much an Egli-Laverda would be worth now, I'd hate to think!