The Laverda lineage is that of a
noble late arrival. The brothers Laverda built their first motorcycle, a 7S0
twin, in the 1960s. With success on the racetracks, it won them a reputation
for high performance and good engineering. Then came the 1000cc triple,
typified by the raucous and very rapid Jota. With its 180-degree crankshaft
- two pistons up, one down -the first generation triple was also somewhat
raw-boned. Some vibration, as well as an enigmatic exhaust note, was the
inevitable result.
Laverda eschewed such compromise
engineering as balance shafts, and made sure everything was well made and
well screwed together. When they tackled the vibration in order to tame the
wild thing they had created, they did so with a major re-engineering job.
On the current
'second-generation' triples, not only is the engine mounted in rubber, the
crankshaft is now 120 degrees (with all pistons evenly spaced). It has
smoothed out more than the exhaust note.
The RGS is the result, and the
Corsa is its sporting incarnation; a bike that clothes the punch of three
big pistons in the sleekest of sheaths.
The bike is, as far as possible,
a two-wheeled equivalent of a designer Italian sports car, with a
twin-camshaft rev-hungry engine and RG-Studios original and aerodynamic
bodywork in the classically elegant mode ... a veritable Ferrari on two
wheels. Tell that to a man who is experiencing the high-speed performance of
the one-litre Laverda, and he will scoff at the insulated remoteness of a
car-borne equivalent. One hundred and forty mph really feels like it when
the wind is plucking at your back, and you can hear the distinctive wail of
the robust three-cylinder exhaust note being swallowed up in your wake.
The process of civilization has
given the RGS a quieter engine and a more subdued exhaust, to go with the
new tailored image, not to mention new noise regulations of the 1980s. Not
that that RGS is subdued. With 95 horsepower and a wind-cheating shape, it
can run with the best of them, and top 140mph. The Jota's bad manners and
vibration (as well as some of its urgency) have gone, replaced by a maturity
that has broadened the power band to compensate. The later, smoother Laverda
engine pulls strongly from low to high revs, and is well-mannered all the
way.
Price as well as breeding
separates the Laverda from the Japanese opposition. It is significantly more
expensive, and in some ways rather old-fashioned. It has, for example,
traditional twin rear shock absorbers, where its Oriental rivals have
multi-adjustable rising-rate linkages operating single units.
The performance figures did not
keep pace with the power war. The Italian factory at Breganze is too small
to play that game. However, their market is among connoisseurs, who know
that a bike with a good standing-quarter-mile time and a fearsome top speed
is not necessarily better at traversing long distances at sustained high
average speeds than a well-bred, well-balanced and amply powerful Italian
thoroughbred.
