Slater Brothers (also referred to as ''Slater Bros.'') was a British, and later American, motorcycle dealer and importer. They are best known as the UK importers of
Laverda
Laverda (''Moto Laverda S.A.S. – Dottore Francesco Laverda e fratelli'') was an Italian manufacturer of high performance motorcycles. The motorcycles in their day gained a reputation for being robust and innovative.
The Laverda brand was abs ...
motorcycles, and for developing high-performance versions of Laverda models, especially the
Jota
Jota may refer to:
__NOTOC__
* Iota (Ι, ι), the name of the 9th letter in the Greek alphabet;
* (figuratively) ''Something very small'', based on the fact that the letter Iota (lat. i) is the smallest character in the alphabet;
* The name of the ...
.
History
In 1969 Roger Slater started building
Vincent Motorcycles
Vincent Motorcycles was a British manufacturer of motorcycles from 1928 to 1955. The business was established by Phil Vincent, Philip Vincent who bought an existing manufacturing name HRD Motorcycles, HRD, initially renaming it as ''Vincent HRD ...
using
Fritz Egli
Fritz W. Egli, (born June 30, 1937, in Zurich) is a Swiss former motorcycle racing, motorcycle racer. He is known as a motorcycle frame specialist, and engine tuner.
History
Egli founded his motorcycle speed shop in 1965. One of his first vehicle ...
designed frames and refurbished Vincent
v-twin
A V-twin engine, also called a V2 engine, is a two-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders are arranged in a V configuration and share a common crankshaft.
The V-twin is widely associated with motorcycles, primarily installed longitudinally ...
engines. In an attempt to get new engines manufactured, he visit Massimo Laverda at the Laverda factory in 1970. Laverda declined but showed him a new 1000 cc engine that was in development. As a result of this meeting Slater, along with his brother Richard, formed Slater Brothers who in addition to the Vincents would import Laverdas to the UK.
By 1972 the Laverda side of the business was the main component. Although Slater had been the official Egli frame importer since 1968, in 1973 Eric Cheney built frames were used. This was the last year of manufacture of the Slater Vincents.
In 1975, Slaters were offering the Laverda 3C with endurance
camshaft
A camshaft is a shaft that contains a row of pointed cams in order to convert rotational motion to reciprocating motion. Camshafts are used in piston engines (to operate the intake and exhaust valves), mechanically controlled ignition syst ...
s, higher
compression ratio
The compression ratio is the ratio between the maximum and minimum volume during the compression stage of the power cycle in a piston or Wankel engine.
A fundamental specification for such engines, it can be measured in two different ways. Th ...
and a less restrictive
exhaust
Exhaust, exhaustive, or exhaustion may refer to:
Law
* Exhaustion of intellectual property rights, limits to intellectual property rights in patent and copyright law
** Exhaustion doctrine, in patent law
** Exhaustion doctrine under U.S. law, i ...
. This was later manufactured by the factory as the Jota. Slaters entered a Jota in production racing and won the UK championship in 1976 and 1978. After the triple was enlarged to in 1977, Slaters increased power output by fitting endurance cams and the Jota exhaust. This was the basis for the factory built Laverda Mirage. Slaters also built a higher performance version of the 1200, the Laverda Formula Mirage. Laverda had introduced the Alpino in 1977 and soon after a racing version, the Formula 500 which won the in 1978. The following year Slaters produced a road-legal version of the Formula 500, the Montjuic.
In February 1977 Slaters started importing
Enfield India
Royal Enfield is an Indian motorcycle manufacturer, headquartered and manufactured in Chennai, India. Royal Enfield is the oldest motorcycle manufacturer in continuous production.350 Bullet and exhibited it at the 1977 Motorcycle Show as a
Royal Enfield
Royal Enfield is an Indian motorcycle manufacturer, headquartered and manufactured in Chennai, India. Royal Enfield (England), Royal Enfield is the oldest motorcycle manufacturer in continuous production.Kenwood, California
Kenwood is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Sonoma County, California, located on Sonoma Highway (State Route 12) between the cities of Santa Rosa and Sonoma. It lies east of Sonoma Creek in the upper part ...
and importing Laverdas.
In 1981 Slater Brothers stopped importing Enfield Indias and Laverdas into the UK. In 1982 ''Three Cross Motorcycles'' became the new Laverda importers. and later Evesham Motorcycles started importing the Enfields.
By 1985 Laverda were struggling in the US and Slater Brothers Inc closed. The following year Slater Brothers was restructured and the name changed to ''Slater Laverda''. It was now run by Richard Slater and Mary Bufton and supplied Laverda spares to the trade and the public. Slater Laverda closed in 2021 when Slater and Bufton retired.