Technical Rundown

This page is a basic "how do I....." help page and will be added to as we have time or come across subjects which need explaining.

Servicing
Professional or self servicing
My bike vibrates
Rear Suspension
Front Suspension
Suspension set up
Water seal leaks
Filling with oil

Servicing

Service your bike to the book or more regularly if you do track days (you are effectively racing the bike). Dirty oil is expensive and will damage your engine, if you can afford it, changing your oil regularly will prolong the engines life. Use a Good quality semi synthetic oil (we use Rock oil TRM). DO NOT USE fully synthetic oil, the wet plate clutch normally suffers slippage once this has been used.

We have everything you need, cam chains, valve shims, gaskets, plugs etc... you do not need to skimp and it is a false economy. A cam chain is cheaper than a head full of valves and a rebuild !

Professional or self servicing

Both are possible, but if you are not a confident mechanic, you may cause more problems than you fix, call us for dealers we recommend to service Laverdas.

If you feel confident that you can do the job yourself we can supply both parts and service books off the shelf for all models.

My bike vibrates

This is a comment we hear a lot. Don't Panic the cure is normally VERY cheap.

The engine has a good balance factor and vibration is normally caused by wear on the keys on the crankshaft gears which drive the balancer shaft. We change these keys as part of a service and is very quick and easy (approx 20 - 30 mins) and makes a big difference if the key has worn which is common.

Remove the alternator cover.
Rock the balancer shaft left and right, if you have movement the key has worn and needs replacing. (This is not a final assessment only a guide as the key may have stepped and moved the timing which still gives bad vibration damping but can not be seen until removed).
Rock the alternator rotor, again if you have movement the key has worn and needs replacing.
Remove the alternator rotor (left hand nut)
Remove the alternator rotor and inspect inside to see if the rotor key way is worn. This will also cause vibration and we have exchange items with new keys cut.
Remove the sprag starter clutch assembly.
Remove the balancer shaft gear and key. Inspection of the key may show a step which moves the balancer timing and causes vibes.

Reassembly.

Assemble new key and balancer drive gear (very important - remember to align the timing marks on the gear and it's mating gear on the balancer shaft)
Re assemble starter sprag clutch mechanism and spacers.
Using a new key re assemble the alternator rotor.
Use a NEW alternator crank nut, old ones come undone even with loctite, they are cheap so no excuses.
Replace the alternator cover and gasket to finish.

Rear Suspension

Go to the back of the bike and get a friend to hold the front. Fully screw in the adjusting screw top and bottom (bottom is a ring as standard) and bounce the back down.

if the bike returns slowly (fully damped) you only need to set it up (see set up).
if the bike returns quickly.......your damping is dead. A laverda with poor damping is a waste of its talent. What is the point of the bike without an engine, none, so why ride your bike with no suspension.

We can both rebuild or supply new dampers for the rear, as well as up rated performance items
Penski, Ohlins, etc.....

Front Suspension

The Paoli front suspension is actually not that bad and for a medium to light rider is ok for normal road riding. If you are heavier (or plain big boned like me) then the front end can get a bit choppy as it is too soft. If your intention is to do track days or racing or fast road work, I would suggest the forks be re-valved and re-springed to suit your needs.

To check the working of your forks, sit astride the bike normally, hold the front brake and compress the forks. With all the screws fully in this should be both difficult and slow. If this is not the case and the forks compress relatively easily and rebound quickly, they probably need a service at least.

Wind out both the bottom and top screw 1 1/2 - 2 turns and repeat, again the forks should be easier to compress but should still not "bounce" back. Bouncy forks are not good and will patter over bumps and unsettle the bike.
Soft or under sized fork springs will seriously affect your braking ability as the bike will tend to dive.

If all is well go to set up for our recommendations.

Suspension set up

Rear suspension should be set to give approx 15mm sag for track use this is fairly stiff and a road bike may feel better to start around 20-25mm. This is the amount the bike sits down after you (or someone strong roped in to the job) Lifts the rear until the spring is at its top most measurement.

We raise the rear about 3mm as well on the ride height to give a better feel to the front and to give quicker steering. The down side to this is that more weight is put on your wrists, so for road riding this may not be desirable.

The compression and rebound will depend on your weight and riding style and I would suggest you set them as per the manual and then adjust to suit your needs / style. The compression should not be too stiff or it will not soak up the bumps and like wise a soft rear end will wallow and leave the rear feeling vague. If the bike punches you out of the seat down your typical road....it is probably too stiff.

Rebound damping, too stiff and the bike will not return ready for the next bump ("loading up") to soft and the rear will return with a snap, again throwing you out of the saddle is an extreme but demonstrates the type of feeling you are looking for.
A poorly setup rear with upset even a great front end and visa versa. Don't be afraid to experiment down your favourite bit of road / track, but remember to record your settings and at least you can come back to them if you get totally lost.

Front suspension. Most of the time we run with 3 rings showing above the fork yoke and 22mm of sag but this is VERY front heavy and reflects our use ie track. 10 laps and practice is not the same a 5 hours in the saddle and I would recommend 2 marks be your starting guide for road use (mine are set like this).

On standard forks the damping is all or nothing due to the angle of the valves used, so 3 clicks out on rebound and about 5 out on compression is fairly good for most cases.

If you have had the forks re-valved these settings will be too hard and I would suggest that a softer setup is used, moving harder as you go to find your best setup.

Spring compression is only variable on the Formula model and this is normally set around 3 rings showing. 2 rings if you ride hard or like the front end to be "planted" or 3- 4 rings if you prefer a softer ride.
Oil weight should be 5w.

The oil in the forks and rear shock wear and die just like engine oil so just because the parts do not leak does not mean they need a service, keep on top of these jobs and you will be rewarded with the best ride.

We can rebuild and service your forks etc... call us if you need information.

Water seal leaks

Your water level keeps dropping and the front left hand side of the engine is wet......your seals have died.

This is not expensive or difficult;

Remove the fairings.
Remove the rotor cover and rotor.
Drain the cooling system and remove the water pump housing.
Drain the engine oil.
Undo the bolt holding the gear lever and remove.
Undo the screws in the clutch casing (see manual for correct procedure) and remove.
Replace the seals inner and outer and I would suggest the bearings as they have been running in water .... not good.
Reassemble in reverse order taking care to line up the drive for the water pump.

Filling with oil

The oil level is with the bike vertical and the cap / dipstick resting on the top of the threads. Overfilling will cause leaks and crank case pressure. Under filling will have the oil overheat and and worse !
The 3 ½ litres is when the bike is fully dry.....you will not (unless you unscrew it) drain the oil cooler so you won't get 3 ½ litres in normally so check your levels.