Cycle News

2015 BENELLI BN302 RIDING IMPRESSION P112 ing country road. The BN302 is agile yet planted, it's no lightweight mini- cycle in the way it handles, thanks to its confident steering coupled with inherent stability, which helps it hold a line well at speed even over bumps. The rear monoshock was quite compliant, and ride quality is pretty good for a small, relatively light bike like this. Only the brakes were a little disappointing, necessitating a hard squeeze on the adjustable lever to get the twin front discs to start doing their job, especially from high speed. However, I'll reserve judg- ment on these until I try them again after being properly bedded in (the bike had just 40 miles on the clock at the start of my day's ride). Anyway, the high idle speed means you can use quite a lot of engine braking without running the risk of chattering the rear wheel on the overrun. The Pirelli tires are a key asset in building confidence, because they warm up quickly and give excellent grip—ku- dos to QJ for fitting them. About the only real criticism I have is that the otherwise quite legible dash with an analogue tach and digital speedo, plus water temp, fuel gauge, clock, mileage and single trip readings, doesn't have a gear selected indica- tor, as every single KTM model made in India does from 125cc upwards. For a bike like this where you'll use the gearbox a lot it's a must-have, especially for novice riders who run an even greater risk of getting lost and not being sure which gear they're in. QJ management's strategy in acquiring Benelli a decade ago was to position their company as a con- tender in the global marketplace by obtaining an existing Western two- wheeled brand, then using its prod- uct development expertise to pro- duce a technically and stylistically more sophisticated range of motor- cycles to be manufactured in China, rather than trying to concoct some- thing in-house that was a big step up in engineering terms from anything they'd done before. So that's the rationale behind the creation of the Benelli BN302, which was designed and initially developed in Italy in col- laboration with QJ engineers, before it was transferred to China for final pre-production development and, ultimately, manufacture. Italian flair coupled with Chinese manufacturing costs and an increasing emphasis on quality equals big trouble for little ol' Japan, even when they offshore production to Thailand or Malaysia. The Benelli BN302 is a very seri- ous contender in the small bore sportbike stakes—but even more to the point, it signals that at long last China's coming to the global market- place with affordable products that are well conceived, well designed and well made. Had to happen sooner or later. CN SPECIFICATIONS 2015 BENELLI BN302 ENGINE: ............. Liquid cooled, 4-stroke, 4-valve, DOHC, inline twin DISPLACEMENT: ............. 300cc BORE X STROKE: ........65mm x 42.5mm HORSEPOWER: .................37 hp TORQUE: ....................19.91 lb.-ft COMPRESSION RATIO: ....... 12:1 FUEL SYSTEM: ........... EFI, twin 38mm throttle bodies TRANSMISSION: .......Six-speed FRAME TYPE: ....... Steel trestle FRONT SUSPENSION: .....41mm inverted forks, non-adjustable REAR SUSPENSION: Cantilever monoshock, preload and rebound damping adjustable FRONT WHEEL TRAVEL: .... 4.5 in. REAR WHEEL TRAVEL: .... 4.7 in. FRONT BRAKE: ...............Benelli twin 260mm disc, two-piston caliper REAR BRAKE: ..... Benelli single 240mm disc, single-piston caliper FRONT TIRE: ......... Pirelli Sport Angel 110/70ZR17 in. REAR TIRE: ........... Pirelli Sport Angel 140/70ZR17 in. WHEELBASE: ................ 55.3 in. RAKE: ................................. N/A TRAIL: ............................... N/A SEAT HEIGHT: ............... 31.2 in. WET WEIGHT, NO FUEL: 408 lbs. FUEL CAPACITY: ...........4.2 gal. Colors: Green, Orange That twin-cylinder engine's got 37hp to throw at the rear Pirelli – not bad for an entry-level bike.

• Cover