Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128323
nobody else makes a bike quite like this not even Triumph with its equally Idiosyncrat ic-looking Speed Triple streetrod , which at 9S5cc is a comparative str ipling to the brawny Benelli, delivering "just" 120 bhp and 100 Nm [73.8 ft.-Ibs.] of torque, compared to the loony latin's 135 bhp/l 17 Nm [86.3 ft -lbs.] output. Yes, that TNT tag is well earned , for the new Benelli's also totally torquey, seriously strapping, helluva husky. Must eat Shredded Wheat for breakfast.... Throwing a leg over the TNT is much easier than its Tomado Tre sportbike sister - not so much of a tiptoe job thanks to the 50mm lower and correspondingly narrower seat, owing to the shifting forward on the TNT of the Tre's rear-mounted radiator and the removal of the sexy but sizable twin extraction fans in the tail. That left space for the 3-into-1 exhaust's stylized round silencer can to be parked beneath the beautiful three-piece cast aluminum rear subframe, which supports the seat and the detachable pillion pad, while still permitting that two -inch-Iower riding position, which allows an average-sized rider to put both feet nat on the ground at traffic lights; that makes the TNT a viable option for those of shorter stature, especially women. Lara Croft would go for this bike - big-time . Once aboard , you're confronted with an upright, close-coupled stance that's more MV Brutale than Ducatl Monster, thanks to the wide, one-piece, taperedsection Ergal aircraft-alloy handlebar with pulled-back grips (but with only an adjustable brake lever, though, not one for the cable-operated clutch), which could have come straight from the MV Agusta parts catalog . Considering that Adrian Morton did a lot of the design work on the That resemblance vanishes, however, as soon as you thumb the Benelli'sstarter and that glorious-sounding engine lights up, with the unique trademark gruff-sounding grunt of a torquey triple immediately to the fore . That beautiful music is underpinned at higher revs out on the highway by the invigorating exhaust howl that makes a three-cylinder bike so spec ial. But that 's not what shakes off the MV mantle - it' s the waves of torque that gush ride - whether hard and fast, or smooth and slow. There's more grunt than you know what to do with anywhere in the revband. Case in point: It'll pull literally off the 1500 rpm engine idle, will take full throttle in top gear from just 2000 rpm with zero transmission snatch, and yet at just 3000 rpm is already delivering more torque at less than a third of the way to redline than the Brutale's maximum output at 10,500 rpm ! Okay - unfair to puny- Brutale dur ing his days as a Tamburini tyro at CRC in San Marino, just a long stone's throw from Benelli's Pesaro base, perhaps that' s not so surprising. The similarity between the two bikes' riding stances is really noticeable. from the TNT's meaty moto r, permitting you to practically peel up the tarmac from almost any revs and providing as great a contrast as you could wish for in realworld riding terms with the Brutale's much-less-gutsy 750 four, which needs to be revved hard to go anywhere fast. By contras t, the Benelli is effortlessly easy to e ngined fours, is it? Well, the desmoq uattro -engined Ducati Monster doesn't rea lly cut it against the Benelli, eithe r, even when you consider the Monster 's slightly lower 193kg [425 lbs.] claimed dry weight, against the TNT scaling in at 199kg [438 lbs.], And, even more to the point, the TN T's longstroke version of the Benelli www.cyclenews.com CYCLE NEWS • MAY 12, 2004 71