Barcelona 500

Laverda values continue to rise and more and more of them , especially the competition bikes, are being cosseted away in private collections. Finding an ex- works bike is now an impossible dream for all but the wealthiest of enthusiasts, which is why the Barcelona Kit is such an attractive proposition.

The kit has been developed by Laverda Corse , primarily to enable the team to enter a works-type middleweight twin in the 500cc Historic Endurance class. Building ‘replicas’ of original bikes is becoming commonplace in classic racing circles for a couple of reasons; firstly racing a thirty year old war horse creates various safety and reliability issues and secondly, nobody wants to risk an irreplaceable piece of history in full-on competition.

The Laverda 500cc twin, as raced at Barcelona in the 500cc class, is an excellent machine to re-create. The racers used a large amount of standard parts , particularly in critical areas such as the engine casings, frame, swing arm etc . This means that converting an Alpino or a Montjuic is a very straightforward exercise and a high degree of visual and mechanical authenticity can be achieved.

With some careful engine preparation a replica can be made to go almost as well as an original factory machine, especially if it’s got a 600cc conversion. Looking back at the competition record of the 500 Laverda twin it soon becomes apparent that, despite its production- bike origins, a suitably modified 500 twin had giant killing capabilities. A win at Daytona, class wins 2 years in succession at Barcelona, the manufacturer’s prize at the 1980 TT, a 105mph lap of the Island, numerous F2 and hillclimb victories in Italian domestic and International competition. All this and more has been written into the history of the bike which started out life as a relatively staid sports tourer.

History

The competition life of the 500 twin actually started with the Barcelona entry, and amazing debut for a newly launched machine. Laverdas’s racing success had been very firmly established in long distance endurance events. Events which favoured machines which not only had to be fast, they had to be easy to ride and very reliable.; attributes which Laverdas could always be relied upon to provide. As a relatively young company Laverda had no Grand Prix history to draw upon, they had never raced prototypes in 500 Grand Prix or been at the cutting edge of race engine technology-at least not until the V6 was revealed. Laverdas stock-in- trade was beautifully engineered sports bikes ; fast, sometimes heavy, but always well built and reliable. These types of machines made an ideal foundation for creating a dynasty of endurance racers which dominated European long distance events for almost a decade.

Through the efforts of Piero Laverda and Laverda Corse the possibility of owning a machine which captures the spirit of the original factory bikes has now become a reality. For the past couple of seasons Laverda Corse have been racing a replica version of the machine which carried Pete Davies and Augusto Brettoni to victory in the 500cc class of the Barcelona 24hour race in 1979.

The Barcelona 500 is offered as a kit of all the special chassis parts to convert an Alpino or Montjuic into a works style endurance machine. Aesthetically the kit is an exact replica of the Barcelona ’79 entry, the engine can be left standard or tuned to works specification with the special tuning parts offered as optional extras.

The kits make an ideal basis from which to create a competitive classic race machine for use in short circuit or endurance events. A Barcelona machine is also the perfect bike for having fun in non competitive track events such as The Bikers Classic at Spa, The Festival 1000 Bikes at Mallory or the Coupes–Moto-Legend at Dijon. Or it can be an exclusive, high performance thoroughbred for the road.

Converting an Alpino ‘S’ engine to Montjuic or Formula 500 specification is a fairly straightforward project and will provide excellent levels of performance , alternatively it’s possible to build a Formula 2 spec engine of up to 580c which will provide a power to weight ratio greater than a Jota. The team have a lot of experience in the preparation of these engines and will be pleased to advise and help source the special parts for your Barcelona project.

The kits are available through myself for UK purchasers or directly from the team for other countries. Please note the building one of these kits will require a reasonable degree of workshop expertise. The donor bike has to be stripped completely and brackets have to be accurately welded in place which means it’s probably an unsuitable project for an absolute beginner. For UK customers I will be pleased to carry out this work on your behalf so contact me if you want to discuss possibilities and potential costs.

See the shop section for a list of parts included with the Barcelona kit and of course the price!

 

My Barcelona Project

 My own Barcelona machine is currently being developed as race bike for classic events. It started out life as a £50 Alpino frame and logbook purchased on eBay and I was also lucky enough to find an Atlas motor which had been removed from a written off machine. The Atlas head has now been gas-flowed and fitted with S1 Montjuic camshafts. The barrels have been bored out to accept 78mm high compression pistons and the gearbox has been converted to F500 close ratio specification.

The frame has been de-lugged with all extraneous brackets removed to save weight. The front forks are standard Marzocchi 35mm with a Maxton adjustable compression and rebound facility and at the rear are Maxton’s own dampers.

The front brakes have been increased to 280mm and I`ve fitted the earlier thin web type wheels in order to help keep the unsprung weight down. I will update this page as work continues…