If you’re looking for the best street bike Italy had to offer in the 70s, there’s a good chance that you’re on the prowl for a Ducati 750SS or a Laverda 750 SFC. Both are legends in motorcycling history with racing pedigree – the SFC shone in endurance racing, which helped Laverda build a reputation of creating tough, fast motorcycles. The factory race bikes were adorned in a distinctive orange hue that has since become a defining feature of the marque. SFC stood for Super Freni Competizione, or “Super Brakes Competition.”
The brakes weren’t the only thing that were super – the engine got bigger valves and 36mm Amal carbs to boost power up to 75 horsepower, which yielded a top speed of about 135 miles per hour. As this is a ’74, it’s a MK2 bike which got disc brakes and several improvements from the ’73 race bikes. Each engine was dyno tested to ensure at least 70 horsepower was produced,a nd the frames were strengthened compared to the SF model. Want to know more about why this bike has become such a legend? Check out this article from Motorcycle Classics. Nowadays the Laverda name has all but evaporated, sitting dormantly under the umbrella of the Piaggio group.
This example (VIN: 17084) has 3,306 miles and it was recently restored by Gregg Rammel. The original owner repainted the bike at some point in the past, but this motorcycle is said to have 90% of its original components. In the seller’s words, “this example is thus the very-next-best-thing to an original, unrestored machine. It needs nothing. And like its contemporary head-on competitor, the Ducati 750 SS, it’s street legal, achingly rare, gloriously noisy with its factory 2-into-1 megaphone exhaust, and arguably as statuesque and classically beautiful. What it has over the 750 SS is that it has an electric starter!”
Find this SFC for sale in Golden, Colorado with bidding up to $30,100 and the reserve not yet met