Bernhard Zoier was infected with the LAVERDA-virus already in his early youth but he had to wait patiently for many years before he was able to buy his first LAVERDA.

"In the early 70's I worshipped the "real guys" who rode their heavy bikes to the pool wearing nothing but swimmers and a helmet. The bikes were standing outside the café, the girls lined up at the bar with a sparkle in their eyes. The roaring 750 one of those guys was riding became my obsession.

At the age of 18 I unearthed my fist motorbike from the barn of a mountain farmer. What followed were weeks on end of cleaning, derusting and spraypainiting. But my Easy-Rider-dream came to a sudden end in a mega-crash. Enthusiasm as well as all my pocket money were gone.

Then came a job and a family, bicycle sports and flying. For my journeys to Southern Europe, North Africa, the Balkans and Russia I had to get another bike. First a single, later a twin. I went on bike-holidays with my wife and rides with friends to Friuli and Slovenia. It was these friends who revived my love for classic motorcycles. I had to have a 750 LAVERDA, just like the one that used to stand in front of the pool in 1974!

In 2009 I finally got lucky on the LAVERDA-Freunde website. Wolfgang Velikogne had advertised a LAVERDA 750 SF. When he removed the dust-covered blanket and the bike jumped to life when he first hit the starter button I was hooked. Now I frequently thunder over the Ploecken-Pass southwards with my classic-bike mates and am always amazed to realise that the closer she gets to Breganze, the better the LAVERDA runs.

Through the LAVERDA-Friends I got in touch with Hannes Micheler. I always marvel at his collection of classic bikes. Moreover the first owner of his 750 SF was the guy at the pool whom I admired so much way back when....!!!

As any real LAVERDA-friend is rarely content with just one LAVERDA, in November 2009 Bernhard bought a gorgeous completely original 1000 3CL. In 2010 he took her to the Ace Cafe in London. During the Rupert Hollaus Memorial Race at the Red Bull Circuit and while accompanying his biker-mate Gattl to the "Grab the Flag" in Rijeka, Bernhard for the first time got a whiff of race-air. After a disappointing dyno-run in 2012 Robert "Hirschi" Hirschegger gave the triple engine a performance upgrade. The original bodywork went into storage and was replaced with fibreglass parts from Boba.

"My LAVERDA-Friends were of the opinion that it was my duty to go racing in 2013. Given I now own a bike that is suitable for the track it was difficult to argue. With no oncoming traffic and no guardrails I can ride as fast as I want to and provide entertainment to my mates when they can watch how I once again brake for a corner and then plough through the gravel traps. It is the child in the man that makes me want to race. I don't think I'll ever become a great racer but I don't really want to properly grow up either!"

Kontakt:
tourmagadan@yahoo.de