Laverda Chott
Can a little 250 two-stroke trailie be mad, mental and thoroughly manageable all in one hit? Maybe this one can, says Steve Cooper.
How times flies! It’s 10 years ago that I got to have my first ride on a Laverda Chott and it still stays fresh in my mind. When you ride classic two-wheelers some seem to fade into the background whilst others leave an indelible mark.
The two-stroke trail-cum-competition 250 falls neatly into the latter category. At the time I referred to the example tested as ‘a perfectly suspended and carb’d Fantic Caballero or Garelli Tiger Cross on anabolic steroids…’ and that’s still pretty much how this singularly unusual offering from the Breganze factory pans out.
The Chott was first revealed to the public at the 1973 Milan Show and released the following year. The Laverda factory was keen to maximise brand appeal and not lose out to Japanese trail bikes, hence the departure from its normal four-stroke road burners. Designed by passionate engineers and draftsmen the machine was conceived from first principles to be an effective weapon both on and off-road.
This was evident in the chassis design that offered a trio of fork angles via an adjustable headstock. The 25-degree setting gave a steep fork angle for use in tight off-road, trials-like, competition locations. The interim 27.5 degree setting was ideal; a generalpurpose arrangement with the kicked out 30-degree angle for high-speed work on soft sand or gravel highways. That Laverda’s design team took the project seriously was evident in the use of magnesium alloys for both the brake drums and engine castings. The vast majority of Chotts sold featured gold-coloured finishing to numerous parts that some mistook for fancy window dressing – the truth is that special paint was used to seal the metal against oxidation and corrosion.
The motor was very much a simple two-stroke with no disc or reed-valve induction, instead relying on proven piston-porting technology. Utilising modern (for the period) technology the Chott ran a high-end, German, Bosch electronic ignition system powering a pair of coils and two spark plugs.
With some relatively forward thinking on cylinder head design and the twin spark arrangement, the 250cc single was quoted as delivering 26 horses at almost 8000rpm making it a relatively pokey machine for the period.
The bike’s chassis was simple yet elegant and typically graced with reassuring manners like most Italian motorcycles; it was based around a full twin cradle frame constructed from narrow diameter, high quality steel tubing. Key to its predictable handling and general good behaviour was a series of carefully considered sheet steel braces or gussets at numerous intersections of any pair of frame tubes with particular care taken around the swing arm spindle mounts and especially so at the headstock.
The use of the narrow chassis tubes and precise triangulation of any potential flexing points via the minimalist reinforcements led to a creditable, all up weight of some 108 kilos, which included oil and fuel. Suspension was taken care of by top name Ceriani front and rear thereby leaving nothing to chance. And if any potential buyers were in any doubt as to the bike’s credentials the Breganze factory had also opted to fit a fully enclosed chain to ease essential maintenance when the bike was being used in the heat of competition. At the end of long day’s enduro riding the last thing a rider spannering for himself needed was the chore of chain cleaning and re-lubricating. And yet if the chain did need attention, a wheel bearing required replacing or a puncture needed fixing, the factory had also considerately fitted in a discrete centre stand as well as the normal side-stand. In reality few enduro/trail/dualpurpose machines had ever been so well equipped; the only obvious omission was the lack of an oil pump for forced lubrication.
Ultimately the Chott’s public reception was a little subdued; buyers’ expectations were subtly at odds with Laverda’s market research. The latter had initially been carried out in 19691970 and probably on the back of Yamaha’s DT-1 250 and Suzuki’s TS250 successes. That the Chott was more competition/off-road focused was immutable and this arguably muted mass-market appeal. The 250 single was unquestionably a competent tool but arguably just a little too dirt focused to be a true trail bike. And with the gift of hindsight the use of premix-cum-omission of an oil pump was a major shortfall given that oriental strokers had been graced with such systems for a decade.
So why might you want a Laverda Chott now? Quite simply because the supposedly flawed facets that diminished its appeal when it was new are USPS today. That chassis handles like little else of the period, the simple motor punches well above its weight, the quality of the engineering is almost peerless, and the bike’s honed and focused nature is the total antithesis of period Japanese trail irons – which, in our book, is reason enough.