Ken Bruce sent us this tail of a rebuild - Laverda 1200 (1982).
They built just 225 more bikes after this one. The story goes like this.... As i drove off from John's 'Made in Italy Motorcycles' with "Ken, Ken, Ken - just pop a battery on it and sure it'll run..." ringing in my ears - it has taken several months to recover another sows ear to become a silk purse! Pondering over the bike I'd just bought, I saw the 1977 Laverda 1200 on page 104 of the Falloon Laverda Bible. That was the look I wanted. I decided to re-create that 'classic' look and not to restore this 1982 sports tourer with all its plastic coverings. In my mind it's a case of getting the latest '82 engine which is as good as it gets reliability wise, with all the modifications Laverda installed in the last few bikes, with the look of what I liked when i was a kid in the 70's. The 'project' bike had a lots of parts missing, the accumulated muck of standing for years and years and it had been the victim of a DIY electrician. That's probably why it ended up being parked up and forgotten about. But I hope you'll agree it's a fine looking piece of kit now? It'll be trotting about the Cambridgeshire countryside this summer.........Now onto the next project bike to bring back to life..... Thx. Ken.