Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

two-degre e range, from 22 .5 to 24.5 degre es v ia eccentrics, w hile the swingarm p ivot is a ls o adjus ta b le for height. Ohlins suspension a n d Brembo bra ke s compl e te the lis t of top- level hardware. With Merloni's resou rces guara n teeing th e Tornad o' s a p peara nce to be in showrooms a nd ra ce tracks a round th e wo rld in li t tl e over a yea r's ti me (though a lm os t certai n ly a t fi rs t in a limited -edition hand -buil t version, like t h e MV) , it's a p pa re n t tha t an oth er fa mo us na m e fro m the p a st h as beer> reb orn. A nd it looks set to enjoy a successful fu ture. In crea ti ng th e n ew Benelli Superbike, A nd rea Merloni has also achieved a personal m ileston e, as he publicly said o n stage a t its la vish lau n ch in fro n t of the m overs im d shakers of Italian industry. "E veryon e has a dream they lon g to m ake come true," he sa id, "b u t o n ly a fe w are for tun a t e e no ug h t o s ee it ach ieve re a lity . I' m o ne s u ch p ers on, w ho dreamed of bringing Benelli back to reality , with a bike incorporating dis- ti nctive des ign and le ading-ed g e enginee ri n g . Thanks to Rosa a n d hi s tea m, th e d rea m is coming true. Now ou r next step is to sha re it with o u r customers, and go after su p erb ike succes s." Fine words from a ha rdened bik e fan fo r w hat on paper p rom ises to be a fine bi ke. CI/I (Above) Bene lli 's launch was attended by a selection of Italian high society, several government ministers, as well as former Benelli Grand Prix stars including Phil Read, Dorino Serafini, Roberto Gallina and Benelll's 1969 250Cc World Champion Kel Carruthers (pictured right). However, after an unsuccessful attemp t at making a desmo version of the sing le, Benelli ~gain demonstrated their capacity for radical though t in 1960, by developing the world 's first four-eylinder 250cc GP bike actually to go racing. Though the s mall Italian team was no match on a season Renzo long basisfor, the Honda/Yamaha/ Suzuki steamro ller, riders Tarqui nio Provini Pasolini frequen tly tasted GP success thr oughou t the 1960s. :rlien, in 1969, A ruthers finally won Benelli their second World Championship ~ just in time, bikes withIDore.than two cylinders wer.ebann ed from tbe 2.. ;o class, leadin g r cc of do mination by two-stroke twins . '/ ... .· . . . enelii,~ place in Ita ;i~ll m;,~orcyde cul~~ alm~t e""~ti~C ~ara~lels that of the equally hisAfter a family d isagreement that had seen eldes t bro ther Giuseppe break away to found the toric Maserati marque on four wheels. A family of brothers founded each, and each won rival Motobi marque in 1950 (the quarrel-was patched up and the two brands reunited-In 1961), • Grand Prix races and World Cha mpions hips . But both also played second fiddl e. in the c two-stroke parall el twin , the 2C, Benelli expanded their rartge through the 1 9~ to include . public eye and on the race track to the more illustrious pr odu cts of single-minded autocrats - MV and the 6SOcc Torna doparallel-twin pushrod four-stro the Italian idea of what a British gus ta and Ferrari. Bot h Berielli and Mase raf also tasted success ill the marketpl ace, before twin should have bec9111e, but never did, complete stroke engi.ne and gear prim ary . rey to.commer cial ha rdship an . onic, ending up in the hand s of the verY",' me . . . !lowed them to attack the growefforts to ial entrepre neur.Alessand ro de T ingAmerica n market , with importer Costheir prestige only succeed ed in de mg their appeal mopolitan Motors at one time retailing the t now after twl? decades of decline, both brands are back model thro ugh the Montgomery Ward chain in the hands of peop le wit h the financial musde and the of stores, which brieflX badged the Tornado market awareness to m ake them grea t again. Maserati as their own. ' ::l!';: :# joined Ferrari in the Fiat empire, and Benelli is now ow In racing, moving upto the 350 and 500cc by Andrea Merloni, GP classes with a revised version of the fourWhat goes arou, n~/Comes arou nd . cY linde r racer allowed Pasolini and guest ridFor a compallY that wquld go on to set several.landmarks ers like.Mike Hailwooda nd jarno Saarinen to in the evolution of motorcycle des ign - the first prod llC~ioll briefly cha llenge the ' mig ht of MvAgusra roadster with gear-camshaft drive, first Italian road bike witn and Yamaha, but no t for long. Walter Villa's swinging arm I'~ar suspension, first four-cylinder 250cc GP 1973 GP season was Benelli's last, an d the racer, first six-cylinder street bike, first four-cyli nder 250cc company had been purchased in 1971 by De street bike - the Benelli finn had humble beginnings. Tomaso; who had other plans for it. The family cO pany was founded in Pesaro in 1911 by rn Sadly though, Benelli was a lways d esmother Teresa, wh o wanted a steady occupation for her six tined to play second fiddle even within the ns. then ranging in age from 22 t s old. She set motorcycle sector of the De Tomaso Empire, em up in bus iness running a m repair workshop, where its companion Mota Guzzi received ing on bikes and cars unt il a hquake de stroyed the .most attention. But alongside the mopetheir busin ess in 1916. Undaunted, the br others rebuilt it ds. scooters and small-Capacity two-strokes from scra tch and bran ched out into engine manu facturing, Bonelli focused on throughout the 1970s and designing and building their ow n 75cc two-st roke ellgine for '80s wa s a 'complimentary range of multiuse as a clip-on motor for bicycles. cylinder four-strokes, headed by the imposInevitably, this led 10 productiol; of their own c ing Sei - the world's first six-cylinder producmotorcy cl we -speed two-stroke w hi tion bike. It was introduced initially in 1972 appeared i ma ing today's' reborrrBenelli c ny as a 750, then upsized to 900cc in the '80s. A gbike manufacturer, narrowly ahead of Italy's 01 modular four-cylinder 500 Q ua ttro spi noff M oto Guzzi. (From left to right) Sty led by British designer Adrian Morton, funded by Andrea (like the Sci, heavily dependent internally on Equally ' inevitabl e, the Bertelli brothers' interests turned Merlon l, and created by technical directo r Riccardo Rosa , the Benelli Torn ado Honda multi-cylinder engineering) was also toward r"ei ng, as a mean s of publicizing their products. 900 is set to bring the hope for a new future for Italy 's oldest existin g launched, but undoubtedly more noteworthy Thanks tothe remarkable riding talents of th e youllgest was the jewel-like 250ccQua ttro - the world 's brother, Tonino, Bertelli won many Italian races in the 175cc motorcycle marque. class throughout the 1920s, ~j th a development from their " .. . first four-cy linder lig htweight s t~eet bike. basic two-stroke design . Sadly, the banana-like styling inflicted on it by luminary car designer Giugiaro blunted the bike's In W27, this was su pplanted by the first Bertelli four -stroke - a. 175cc single using ~he then impact. avant-garde solu tion of gear drive to the Single ov erhead cam shaft, which-in stree t forrn un de rTWj) decade s later, Bonelli's Pesaro neighbor, Morbid elli, would make a similar mistake by pinned the boom in Benelli bike manufacturing. III racing guise, this brough t Tonino Bertelli and asking another car design house, Pininfarina , to style his V-clghr motorcycle - with similar unforteammate Dorine Serafini many Grand Prix victories . Scaling up the design ill roadster form to tunate results for another world-first design . 25Occ .and 500cc in the 1930s allowed Benelli to become one of the Big Five of pre-World War,ll . De Tomaso's lack of a d ear indu strial policy, and his failiire to understand the needs of the Italian motorcycles - alongside Guzzi, Gilera, q ardli and Bianchi . Mean while, their OOHC 250(c' motorcycle market led Benelli into what seemed a termin al decline, even after the opening of a GP single debuted in 1933 with a fast turn of speed and many avant-g ard e features, including brand -new factory ·in Pesaro, built larg ely with regional aid, in' 1981. But by then Benelli was swinging-arm rear sus pensio n, w hic h soon found its '\o'ay onto the street range. build ing far more Moto Guzzis than anything with the brothers' name on the tank, and by the By the end of the)930s, the Benelli 250 had been refined into a race-winning GP racer, defeat- time De Tomaso sold the company in 1989 to local woodworking machinery magnate Ciancarlo ing the more power ful su percharged DKW and Mo to Guzzi teams to blitz the first three places in Sclei - who ironically began his workin g Jif e sweeping-up the floor .in the Benelli factory ! - the the Italian GP at Monza, in 1938. And, in the hands of Englishman Ted Mellors, the Benelli won brand had effectively ceased to exist. • the 1939 Isle of M.1'l Lightweight IT. Benelli's plans to leapfrog their rivals technically with a The last Benelli motorcycle, the jamol25 two-strok e launched in 1987, was only produced in supercharged four-cylind er 250 were abort ed by the outbreak of war. very small quantities before Benelli's decline was made absolute. Sclci, whos e main in terest in The ory was bombed to destruction during World War n; but the enthusiasm and buying Benelli had been to acquire the. modern plant.to promote expansion of his machine-tool passion brothers ensured it was rebuilt . Production began again in 1947 with the 125cc empire, had no plans to revive it. The Handful of 50ccbikes bu ilt in a corner of the factory under Leonci oke. single, Benelli's mosHamo\!!, a ived model - one thatstayed in his ownership served only two purposes: for tax reasons, and to keep the Bertelli name alive for a production or t e next 12 years . Later. bikes like the stroke-Leonessa twin and a 175cc takeover. single also appeared -with sales fueled by Dario Ambrosini World Championship victory in When And rea Merloni and his pa rtners acquire d t he Benelli name in 19?7,it brought hope for lass aboard an upda ted rewar Benelli sing le. But, tragically, Ambrosini a new future to enthusiasts of italY's oldes t existing motorcycle marque. It's a future that. after duri ng practice.Ior the Ilowing year, and Benelli's racing effort folded. two years of su I scooter prod uction, now see~ .the Benelli name oncejagain ado rn a new streetbike production contin motorcyd e mod ado 900. '; . .> 14

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