(Updated - December 2008. Triple prices are climbing, due to rarity. There are occasionally bikes below £3,000, but they're getting rarer. Both types of twins (old & new)remain a bargain, often selling below £2,000 for the later Zane twins. Get a water-cooled 750. It's a lot of bike for peanuts, but the parts situation is patchy.
The Basics
'Old' Laverdas
There are a few factors that affect the price (of the 'older' Laverdas):
- condition - age - mileage - some recent service history
The condition is by far the major contributor, since Laverda parts are fairly expensive (well, in comparison to the cost of the bikes). A no rust bike is up to 50% more expensive, so that's heading towards £5k+ for neat Jotas. Eeek.
Mileage no longer matters - unless its ultra low. The average bike you'll be buying will have tens of thousands on it, but will probably have been restored to the nines :-)
Look for some service history if the bike is cheap. Although the bikes are reliable, they do need regular servicing (like oil changes every 1500 miles). If there's no service history, make sure the current owner has some mechanical sympathy!
I would be wary of buying a non-standard Laverda, but sensible mods are:
- fork braces - different rear shocks. Koni, WP, Fournales
- beefier swinging arms - Jota-ised Mirages, 3CE, Jaramas i.e. bars, rearsets,
tanks, exhausts, etc are all interchangeable.
Dodgy mods are:
- non-standard frames (Harris, Bakker and Motodd/Saxon/Allen excepted)
- non-standard exhausts - lack of air filter (easily fixed) - over-wide
tyres (easily fixed, but still costs you 150 quid) - engine & frame
numbers that don't match (becoming more common as the number
of old Laverdas circulating decreases).
New Watercooled (Zane) Laverdas
The factory has long-since closed. Although by law Aprilia has to keep a supply going
for 10 years, parts are going to be rare, and the value & rarity of Zane bikes doesn't encourage manufacture of pattern parts. All this affects the twins prices - good if you're a buyer.
Mileage is almost never a problem with Zane twins, since most are for recreation, not commuting.
The last, but most important point, from a buyers point of view, is that the bike MUST have a service history and a modifications list. Your local importer would have kept a record of the warranty mods made - however, if the bike has survived this long, its probably had the mods done!
These prices are my personal opinion, so feel free to tell me they're wrong!
'Old' Laverdas
The sections on 750s and Montjuics need expanding, so if anyone can help, please email me.
£6,500 should get you something concours, and you will feel obliged to ride only on summer days.
My guess at a sensible price is around £4,500 for a clean early machine,
maybe £5,000 for a later one.
Some Mirages are being sold for above £4,000. You should expect a perfect bike for that.
Some early Mirages (77-79, green ones, usually!) are actually better than Jotas, since they are bigger capacity AND high compression. Prices are usually a little higher, but you might be lucky. Just add Jota bars... fab!
The tuned version, the RGS Corsa, has 300mm floating Brembos, tuned engine, and usually black paintwork. These go for around £4,000-£5,000.
SFC1000s were made in two batches, one batch in 1986, and one in 1988. The early SFC1000s are red, and have cast three spoke Campagnolo wheels. The later SFC1000s have wire wheels, and come in red or black, with some having clocks with black faces, instead of the standard white-face Veglias. The factory was running out of parts.
Look out for worn floating discs - £500 to replace a pair of discs! They always rattle, and move sideways a fair bit, but it's when the play is in the direction of wheel rotation that the problems start. Its because the little buttons, which do the floating, wear away. Brembo won't sell disc parts, only whole ones.
Bodywork gets tatty a bit quick, since its plain fibreglass, rather than Bayflex (sp.?), and the seat unit is particularly difficult to fit correctly.
'New' Laverdas
Excellent handling bikes, but the engines need a little more oomph. Nice power-band starting at 6,000 revs though!
The Diamante 668 comes with a half fairing, and will cost a little less.
There were a few factory mods (battery draining, throttle, clutch on the first batch only?) but these were all covered by the two year warranty, so you should no longer have problems there. Check with the owner and importers for proof that the work has been done. Also expect some gremlins from the alternator/regulator wiring. Its not expensive to fix, just plain annoying when it burns out.
Even though its a 'tiddler' 750 it has more power than any old Laverda, including SFC1000 and Corsas. Excellent bike.
Chip-ups and removal of exhaust baffles can contribute a few extra horses, same goes for the official factory chip and Termignonis...
The fully faired version is an extra £250 new, so may command an exta £100 secondhand.