Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Of the five, the Guzzi came hom e the cle ane st. In fa ct , t he o nly sm irch an ywhere on the bike was a bi t of weepage from the re ar d rive seal. T he instrum ent clu st er has a regu lar Christmas tree of idiot lights, but th ey 're so dim they can't b e see n a t all in daylight. Pick y . pi ck y . . . Laverda '''ota' Frightengly fas t freight train _ riJr Mot001l z z i 850 Mild-mannered Clark Kent enters the phone booth riJr h e Guzzi was the pleasant surprise of the day's run. Even mindful of Mike Baldwin's performances on a red-tan ked "Corsa", no one was quite prepared for th e shock of how good the formerly stodgy V-twin had become. What made the difference? More horsepower, less flywheel we ight, lower overall h eight, spo t-o n handling and outstanding braking are the answers. The biggest flaw. of earlier Guzzis were extremely clunky shifting due to. humongous flywheel effect ; and limited ground clearance. Neither has totally disappeared on the LeMans, but neither do they detract significantly from the bike's performance, as they once did. Instead, the LeMans feels sm ooth and soft as a glove in all its reponses; a very comfortable bike to ride, straigh t-up and slow or hard and fast. Overall, it may have been the slowest of the five, but it just fel t good, regard less. Once in the mountains proper, it gave little speed away to any of th e others; for the handling was quick and nuts-on p erfect. Like the MV and the Duck, the Guzzi capitalizes on its o verall lowness by being extremely quick to flick in and out of change-up corners, yet without sacrificing stability. The slick, square seat allows you to hang off just slightly to either side without half thinking, which helps compensate automatically for whatever the machine may lack in ground clear an ce. All in al1, a real confidence-builder; and the tires seemed perfectly matched to the ch ass is, as well. This last fact may indeed have made the Guzzi look better, vis-a-vis the others. The rear drive unit on the Guzzi is all-new and super-light, a far better-looking unit than even the high-bucks MV . Shaft torque reaction was apparent only at low speeds. What was reall y trick was the brakes. Moto Guzzi has adapted its interconnected braking system to the LeMans, and it works ! The rear brake pedal activat es the singl e rear disc and the ri ght front disc in a car efully- b alanced force-ratio. T he fro nt brake lever works the left front dis c alo ne. T he ove rall effec t of th is system has to be experien ced, as Bob Crossman relates in hi s thumbnail ske tc h o f th e bike: "BRAK ES! R eally fantast ic. T he integrated braking suste rn is probably th e 'trickest' innovation avail ab le in th e marketplace. Brak ing whilst lean ed over far eno ugh to drag t he footpegs requires o n ly that yo u caress the ' rear ' bra ke lever. It became really easy to boogie along at almo st t wi ce t he legal lim it using th e foot brake lever o nly. O nly hard p anic st ops required the u se of all three of t he d isc brakes. " Al1 o f th e MG's that I had rid den b efore see med to fee l a bit 'disconnected' somew here in the chassis at low to medium spe eds. T he 8 50 LeMan s has none of this feel anywhere! I was real ly amazed at how fast the S5 0 hurled ar ound almo st any mountain ben d. Pavement changes, bumps, even fre shly p ainted y ello w lin es o n the p avemen t d id n't affe ct th e sm ooth, precis e handling. " It too k me abo ut five minut es o n t he LeMans t o get used to th e we ight of the motor ' falling' the fir st six or eight inches when the b ik e wa s leaned ov er. A hit dis concerting at first, but no t eve n noticeable after mor e th an five min utes. T he rid ing position allowed me t o playa mild ' Reg Pr idmore' in the seat, and ride th e Guzzi for long p er iods of ti me withou t any discom for t. tt - 1 4 h e J o tais an h onest 150-mph motorcycle. As such, it is terrifyin g to any ordinary morta l trying to hustle it through a set of 65-70 mph corners co n nec ted by short straights. In this regime, it is just possible to get it into third gear ; it spends most of it s ti me in second. I mean, this su cker h as legs! Yo u ' know it just pulling away from a dead st op . It ali an machinery is geared universally tall - it r seems to be a national characteristic. Yet even in the present co mpany , the J ot a was exceptional. Couple th is kind of gear in g to a brute-strong I,OOOcc Triple that will rev freely to 9,500 and you've got a flaming missile! Below five grand, there's to rque, but not very willing torque, punctuated by an annoying off-beat rap in the exhaust due to the uneven firing order imposed by a ISO·degree, two-cylinders-up, one-down crankshaft. But above 5,500, everyt h ing smooths out nicely ; the tach takes a huge leap , and suddenly -sh ee-it l- you're going far too fast fo r comfort between quick-breaking corners. So on the J ota, the brakes got used pretty heavily. This machine, being a 667 5" vintage, had a drum fear brake ; and pressing the rear brake pedal yielded disconcertingly little effect, forcing th e rid er to rely heavily on th e dual fr ont discs. These units, with their heavy rotors, feed quite a bit of Coriolis effect back into th e steering; an effect wh ich is unnerving at first. A s noted earlier, this machine also had an odd mix of tires on it. Consequently, the fro nt end had a tendency to walk when really pushed. This machine probably had th e highest center of gravity of the five (though the other Laverda was second only by fractions), and it felt it. Add all these factors together arid you can see that the Jota had to be ridden carefully and correctly, leading each corner just right . in these mountains - or else . It never let you forget t hat it would be frighteningly easy to run out of road at the speeds of which this machin e is cap ab le. Laverdal,OOO The big red fire engine riJr he " st oc k " Laverda is fa r less intimidating than its breathed-on co usin. It only revs fr eely to 7,500; though m any other engin e parameters remain similar. Th en, too, it had a better-mat ched set of tires mounted o n ca st alloy wheels which en hanced its rideability . With "touring" Euro-bars and a ge nuine tw inseat, the Laverda is probabl y t he m o st be lievable , liveable day-t o-day riding b ike of th e lo t - wi th th e pos sible excep tio n of the Guzzi, which loses poin ts r id in g double. New er , tigh te r th an th e we ll-t hrashed J ota , it ro de smoother and easier o n th e mind in all dep artm ent s. Like t he J ota, it to o is a tall , heavy-fee ling handler . And li ke t he J ota, the rear br a ke doesn't do any th ing exciting with mo derate p edal pressure - even th ough the ' 76 h as a d isc rear bra ke t o go with t he standard cast wheels. So it, too , must be ridden delibera tely, forcef ully, by a ri der who's no t afraid of the bike or the hidden road around th e next ben d. Bob Cros sman writ es ab out th e Lau erad a: "A strange m elt ing po t -conglomer ate of a m o t or cycle. Not as fast as t he J o ta 1000, b ut fa st enough t o ge t you in big tr o uble (exhibi t io n of sp ee d, etc.). Reall y an allro u nd mo t orcy cle. A real dual sea t, lo ts an d lo ts of to rqu e, a giant Bosch H alo gen headlight , sup erb lo o ks, th e same brakes as the Gu zzi (m in us t he interlo ckin g sys tem), lithe and supple ei ther around town or chas ing t hru the mountains. Mu ch mo re real ist ic in t erms o f both price an d availabili ty , no t qu ite as " ex otic" as the Gu zzi and Ducati 'fac to ry' racer replicas. . " Sta ndard issu e Dunlop KSl 's mounted on lightweight cast spo ke wh eels (WM4 o n th e rear an d WM3 in th e fro nt) mak e fo r great swe rvy ro ad traction. The wheels tr ansmit mor e road feel , allowing th e rider t o really feel th e tire s 'w orking' when dr ivin g in o r o u t of a co rner. The o nly irritation I co uld find was th e cal iper mounting position. At low (aro und t own) speeds th e fro n t of the wheel (t he p art in fro n t of th e ax le) wants to fall into a turn , so that yo u are steering th e motorcycle rather than leaning it in t o th e turn. " Bead-to-head or, 'Gentlemen, choose y our weap ons!' JP u t t in g It t ogeth er, trying to co m pare and sp el1 o ut best/least-liked features, reall y told as much about th e personalities o r the riders as it did ab out the motorcycles. It's easier to grasp what these machines hav e in co m mo n . Besides a high price and high gearin g, all Italian motorcycles share o n e outstanding characterist ic - " Ha nd ling " with a capital "H". It is in this arena that they creat e a standard for the rest of the world to m arvel at, and hopefully learn something. They each have the endearing habit of holding any line the rider cho oses to pick until the rider ch o oses to p ick another. For this alone, they are each w el1 worth the cost (t h o ugh to be frank, there's nothing about them that others co uld n ' t copy at less cost). In th is faternity, th ere are no "bad" motorcycles. As Jim Haberlin put it , "Hell, I'd take one of each. " We all understood wel1 th e handicaps of preparation and set-up that plagued th ree o f the five; we all had out own firm ideas ab out what was needed to put each bike onto top form.- The Jota obviously n eeded a better front tire. The MV Agusta needed to be returned to stock tire/chassis co nfigurat io n as a starter. T he Ducati needed a fine-tooth going-over. Yet there were choices to be made, ea ch man with his reasons. Personally, I'd recommend th e Moto Guzzi to anyone who wants to spend hour after hour in the saddle, going as fas t as the laws of Man and Nat ure will let him (But solo, per favore. It has buddy-pegs, but the saddle is at best a "1 1'2"). Running in this mode, only the BMW R90S is in the same league; and th e Guzzi's high-speed handling i. fa r more solid. Still, the Guzzi would have to rat e as the slowest of th e lot. Its red-tanked co us in is still an unknown quantity. The MV impressed everyone, but when ask ed, " Wo u ld you buy one, or would you race one?" four out of five hedged. It felt bitch in '. It was simultaneously fast, smooth and co m fo rtab le enough to be alo ne in its own league. But it was still too h eavy to be truly competitive , too ex pensive to be "practical," and fo ur th-fast est abead of the Guzzi, taking a synthesis of rider opinion. Four ou t of five . Jim Haberlin, defying al1 logic, has bought one, and intends to seriously race it. But then yo u expect a $6500 motorcycle to defy logic. How about th e Du ck ? We loved it , but on practical grounds, hardly a man of us would choose a Desmo over a cooking Sport . With everything wo rking perfectly, it has got to be the all-ar o un d Kin g of spe ed and sp ort; it just fe els so fi ne when it 's right. But t o actually own and enjoy one of "these , it would t ake a single-m inde d perfectionist who 's co m p let ely at home in this co m plex V-twin's innards. It will re war d the avera ge rider with nothing but frustration. T he Laverdas bo t h h ad an intimidating effect on th e aut hor . It's ju st a mat t er of personal prejudice t o pre fer motorcycles with low C.G. and co rn ering responses th at ap p ro xima te a middlew eight 35 0. But p eople who like t o go fast - rea lly fast - t el1 me th er e' s nothing that can t ouch th em. T he stock '7 6 1,000 has go t t o be th e strongest all-ro un d fas t touring motorcycle o n the mar ket. In fac t , if yo u' re b ig-f eelin g, super-st abl e, eye-bugg ing i nto musclebikes, there's almost nothing faster in quantity pro d uc t io n. Except maybe th e J ota. Depends o n how yo u define " quant it y " production. T he Italians don't b uild all that many stocker s, But the "J ot a" o pt io n is ava ilable to anybody, over th e count er , o ut o f th e bo x , o r as a retrofit t o a st andard mo d el. It t ak es ex tre m e brave ry , self-confiden ce, skill , bal1s,whatever t o ride o ne as fa st as it wilJ.go. It left everybo dy, even its o wner Lance Weil, wit h ju st a little touch of fear. Everybody, that is, excep t Jim Vialovos, wh o co uld n' t keep his hands off it , who wo uld gr in and call th e rest of us a bunch of o ld ladies, and wh o ~o.uld promptly d isappear o n it a t h igh velocity , riding single or double. Which spe aks a lot abo ut both Jim and th e J ota. Fo r m e, it wa s eno ugh to h ave sam p led it , almost. I d o regret th ai we n ever found a place with ro om eno ugh to stre tc h it s legs in top gear. • I've nev er been 150 mph o n a motorcycle . . .

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