Four New Benellis Coming This Year!

One of the most interesting pavilions today at the Auto Expo happened to be DSK Benelli’s. The company unveiled four new motorcycles and said that we may expect them all to be launched in the coming months! Unlike many others, there were no concepts (which anyway never get to see the light of the day), no year-2050 promises, no drama, just an honest display of bikes getting launched this year, along with the company’s current lineup.

We had informed our readers about the company’s plans in anexclusive earlier, and staying true to its word, DSK Benelli did bring its adventure tourer, the TRK 502, to the expo.

Here are the quick facts:

• 815 mm saddle height
• 500 cc liquid-cooled parallel-twin with four-valve heads and double overhead camshafts
• 47 bhp at 8,500 rpm, and 45 Nm at 4,500 rpm
• Six-speed gearbox
• 50 mm USD forks
• 210 kg unladen weight
• 20-litre fuel tank
• 120/70-ZR17 ( Optional 110/80 – R19 ) front tyre
• 160/60 – ZR17 ( Optional 150/70 – R17 ) rear tyre

As we all know that the saddle height of adventure bikes, nine out of ten times, is never quite inviting for shorter riders. Only two manufacturers, Triumph and RE, have been considerate in that direction, and now this Benelli, thankfully, joins the minority club. The TRK-502 will also fill the gap that exists now between the RE Himalayan and the Kawasaki Versys. In fact, going by how DSK Benelli has priced its 600s, I won’t be surprised to see the TRK-502 pulling a lot of customers out of Kawasaki showrooms…

The second upcoming bike happens to be a Ninja 300 / YZF-R3 rival. It’s called the Tornado 302, and is basically the faired version of the naked 300 by Benelli, the TNT 300. However, the Tornado will come with ABS (still unclear whether optional or standard) making it the only faired twin in the segment to get it. However, DSK Benelli will have to really undercut the Japs’ pricing by a fair margin if it intends to make any dent in this segment.

Two more bikes, the BX 250 Motard and Naked T-135, were also displayed. While the former carries an 890 mm high saddle, the latter is a 125 cc motorcycle with 12-inch wheels. I’ll just lay down their specs below and you may let us know in the comments section how you feel about these two.

BX 250 Motard

• 250 cc single cylinder liquid-cooled 4-valve engine with double overhead camshafts
• 21.5 Nm at 7,500 rpm
• 24.8 bhp at 9,000 rpm
• Six-speed gearbox
• 890 mm seat height
• 10-litre fuel tank
• 100/80-ZR17 front tyre
• 130/70-ZR17 rear tyre
• 50 mm USD forks
• 135 kg unladen weight

TNT Naked T-135

• 125 cc single cylinder air-cooled 4-valve engine with a single overhead camshaft
• 10 Nm at 7000 rpm
• 12.5 bhp at 9,000 rpm
• 5-speed gearbox
• 121 kg unladen weight
• seat height – 780 mm
• 120/70 ZR-12 front tyre
• 130/70 ZR-12 rear tyre

The company also showcased the soon-to-be introduced ABS variants of its TNT 600i and TNT 600 GT.

Source: Bikeadvice