This is an article I wrote for the January 2006 issue of CityBike, a local motorcycle magazine published out of San Francisco.
Benelli Tre - three cylinders, four years wait - an Italian love affair
I bought my first Italian motorcycle, a 1998 Ducati 748, on my birthday in August of 1999. This started what has become a borderline obsession with exotic Italian machines. Since then I have had (in order) a 2000 Aprilia RSV Mille-R, a 1999 Bimota DB4 (powered by a Ducati 900SS air-cooled 2-valve engine), a 1997 Bimota 500 V-Due (the infamous fuel-injected 2-stroke that drove Bimota into bankruptcy), a 2004 MV Agusta F4 Brutale 750, and finally the 2005 Benelli Tornado 900 Tre.
Benelli Tre - three cylinders, four years wait - an Italian love affair
I bought my first Italian motorcycle, a 1998 Ducati 748, on my birthday in August of 1999. This started what has become a borderline obsession with exotic Italian machines. Since then I have had (in order) a 2000 Aprilia RSV Mille-R, a 1999 Bimota DB4 (powered by a Ducati 900SS air-cooled 2-valve engine), a 1997 Bimota 500 V-Due (the infamous fuel-injected 2-stroke that drove Bimota into bankruptcy), a 2004 MV Agusta F4 Brutale 750, and finally the 2005 Benelli Tornado 900 Tre.
I suppose the obsession part is valid, as all of these bikes are still sitting in my garage, and all of them get ridden, and ridden hard. I'm not one of those people who buy a nice bike and then ride only in nice weather on Sundays on smooth, clean roads just because it happens to be a piece of art on two wheels. No, with the exception of the V-Due (and only because I can't get it registered) each of these bikes has seen its share of hard, pushing-it-to-the-limit riding, on roads like Mines and Del Puerto Canyon - bumpy, sometimes gravelly, and always unpredictable.
For me, buying a bike is not usually a practical decision; it's more of an emotional one. When I first saw the photos of the Benelli back in late 2000, I instantly thought "I must have one of these."
In June 2001, I put a deposit down, thinking I might have one by the end of the year. Well, in November of 2002, I did get to test ride one, which only served to make it more frustrating that I couldn't get one. Needless to say, the test ride left an impression on me. All this time, there was much nastiness going on between Benelli and the original US importer. Both parties brought forth lawsuits, and it seemed that there would never be an importer for the US. I put the idea of owning a Tornado on the back burner.
Earlier this year I heard some good news about the Benelli. I was told that a new Benelli importer had finally been chosen. It was MotoPoint, who also were the Bimota importer for the US. I began to get excited about the prospect of actually getting the bike soon. WRONG, once again things didn't pan out. I began to give up on the idea of ever actually owning one of these beauties.
Then in September of this year, I found out that a friend, Elias Corey of GP Star in Hollywood was bringing in the 2005 Benelli Tornado and that the bikes were US models with full EPA credentials. I jumped on the opportunity to own one and it was personally delivered the next week by my friend Shawn Herrera who brought it up from LA in an enclosed trailer. Unfortunately I had surgery right about that time, and I was unable to ride the new machine. That was a special torture.
To fill up that time I joined an online Benelli forum, populated for the most part by Australians, Kiwis, and Brits. I gathered a lot of interesting feedback about Benelli, its quirks and its qualities. For the most part, all these riders absolutely love their machines.
The very first day the doctor cleared me to ride I was out there on the Tre, as other Benelli owners have come to call the bike. It was heaven. I had forgotten how much my test ride three years earlier had impressed me. This is one of those bikes that just feel right the moment you get on. Lots of people look at the rear of that fuel tank and immediately think it would be uncomfortable. But this is not the case and the bike fits me perfectly. The seat is very firm, which for me is a good thing. I'd rather have a seat that starts out feeling the same way it's going to feel after an hour on the road that one that starts out plush and feels progressively harder as the day goes on.
I did much of the Benelli's break-in mileage on Mines and Del Puerto Canyon roads. Both are perfect for breaking in a new engine, with lots of shifting, lots of acceleration and deceleration, lots of hills and about a thousand turns. The first three hundred miles were tough, as the limit for revs was only 5,000 rpm and there is a flat spot between 4,000 rpm and 5,000 rpm that is quite annoying.
After the initial limits I was then able to rev to 7,500 rpm, eventually passing the 1,500 mile mark and then it was all the way up to the 11,500 rpm redline. Interestingly the factory specs claim the maximum horsepower is produced at redline, making me believe that the bike is de-tuned a little. It was, after all, developed as a race bike to compete in World Superbike.
What I noticed about the engine is that the power delivery is very smooth and linear once you are past 5,000 rpm. It's a little deceptive, as I often look down at the speedo and go "Oh shit!" having no idea I had accelerated so quickly. Being a three cylinder, it doesn't have the huge torquey bang that my big twins have. The Benelli is a totally different feel, nearly as smooth as an inline four. The throttle response is quite crisp. There is no hesitation at all and the sound, well, it just howls above 7,000 rpm.
When we watched Peter Goddard race the bike down at Laguna Seca in 2001, the best description of the sound as it went by us was from a friend of mine who said it sounded like a P51 Mustang WWII fighter plane.
Perhaps the most unique feature of the bike is the cooling system. The radiator is positioned below the seat, with large air ducts from the front of the bike directing air through it. Behind the radiator are two cooling fans which are encased in the tail section and visible through the large screened openings in the rear. I have had people ask me "Is that thing supercharged?" to which I say with a wry smile "Yeah, and it's got a hemi too." Some folks think that there might be a lot of heat coming from the under-seat radiator, but when the bike is moving there is a pretty strong airflow through the ducts and out the back. And when sitting still the cooling fans seem to do a good job of pulling the heat out the back and away from the rider.
As for the Benelli's handling: The bike feels very settled and stable and inspires confidence. I let a friend and fellow racer ride it and that was his first comment. Turn-in is effortless and I have yet to get any wobble in the steering even under heavy acceleration. The forks are Marzocchi three-way adjustable and the shock is an ExtremeTech three-way adjustable as well. Even without any adjustment on the suspension the bike handled great and I weigh more than the bike was probably set up for at the factory. The bike was perfectly at home on tight twisties of Mines Road, effortlessly taking hairpins, sweepers, and decreasing radius turns. It is saying something when I an take a bike out for the first time and come home with no "chicken strips" on the tires.
The brakes are excellent, all Brembo, with the gold series split-pad calipers in front coupled with the heavy duty rotors. This makes for very responsive two-finger braking which I find easy to modulate.
Like most Italian bikes the Tornado is not without its little quirks. The clock and trip meter frequently reset while starting the engine. Apparently this is due to a sensor in the instrument cluster electronics that trips when the voltage supplied to it drops below a certain level. One of the guys on the Benelli forum is experimenting with a jumper that puts voltage directly from the battery to the instrument cluster to eliminate the problem. We'll see how that turns out. The nice thing is that even without the trip meter, it's still easy to know how much fuel you have left because there is a bar graph fuel gauge with eight bars.
The other quirk is that it is really difficult to get the machine into neutral if you come to a complete stop while still in gear. Lots of people on the forum have complained about this. But have found that with a little practice it can be done successfully. This brings up the only modification I have on my bike - the hydraulic clutch. The Tornado came euipped with a cable-actuated clutch with a really stiff pull. I had an Evolucione hydraulic clutch slave installed along with a Brembo clutch master cylinder. Even with the hydraulic upgrade the clutch pull is still quite stiff. Get used to it!
Overall I would have to say that the Benelli Tornado is a phenomenal motorcycle. It is unique-looking, has great power, fantastic handling and is comfortable. What more could one ask for?
What I noticed about the engine is that the power delivery is very smooth and linear once you are past 5,000 rpm. It's a little deceptive, as I often look down at the speedo and go "Oh shit!" having no idea I had accelerated so quickly. Being a three cylinder, it doesn't have the huge torquey bang that my big twins have. The Benelli is a totally different feel, nearly as smooth as an inline four. The throttle response is quite crisp. There is no hesitation at all and the sound, well, it just howls above 7,000 rpm.
When we watched Peter Goddard race the bike down at Laguna Seca in 2001, the best description of the sound as it went by us was from a friend of mine who said it sounded like a P51 Mustang WWII fighter plane.
Perhaps the most unique feature of the bike is the cooling system. The radiator is positioned below the seat, with large air ducts from the front of the bike directing air through it. Behind the radiator are two cooling fans which are encased in the tail section and visible through the large screened openings in the rear. I have had people ask me "Is that thing supercharged?" to which I say with a wry smile "Yeah, and it's got a hemi too." Some folks think that there might be a lot of heat coming from the under-seat radiator, but when the bike is moving there is a pretty strong airflow through the ducts and out the back. And when sitting still the cooling fans seem to do a good job of pulling the heat out the back and away from the rider.
As for the Benelli's handling: The bike feels very settled and stable and inspires confidence. I let a friend and fellow racer ride it and that was his first comment. Turn-in is effortless and I have yet to get any wobble in the steering even under heavy acceleration. The forks are Marzocchi three-way adjustable and the shock is an ExtremeTech three-way adjustable as well. Even without any adjustment on the suspension the bike handled great and I weigh more than the bike was probably set up for at the factory. The bike was perfectly at home on tight twisties of Mines Road, effortlessly taking hairpins, sweepers, and decreasing radius turns. It is saying something when I an take a bike out for the first time and come home with no "chicken strips" on the tires.
The brakes are excellent, all Brembo, with the gold series split-pad calipers in front coupled with the heavy duty rotors. This makes for very responsive two-finger braking which I find easy to modulate.
Like most Italian bikes the Tornado is not without its little quirks. The clock and trip meter frequently reset while starting the engine. Apparently this is due to a sensor in the instrument cluster electronics that trips when the voltage supplied to it drops below a certain level. One of the guys on the Benelli forum is experimenting with a jumper that puts voltage directly from the battery to the instrument cluster to eliminate the problem. We'll see how that turns out. The nice thing is that even without the trip meter, it's still easy to know how much fuel you have left because there is a bar graph fuel gauge with eight bars.
The other quirk is that it is really difficult to get the machine into neutral if you come to a complete stop while still in gear. Lots of people on the forum have complained about this. But have found that with a little practice it can be done successfully. This brings up the only modification I have on my bike - the hydraulic clutch. The Tornado came euipped with a cable-actuated clutch with a really stiff pull. I had an Evolucione hydraulic clutch slave installed along with a Brembo clutch master cylinder. Even with the hydraulic upgrade the clutch pull is still quite stiff. Get used to it!
Overall I would have to say that the Benelli Tornado is a phenomenal motorcycle. It is unique-looking, has great power, fantastic handling and is comfortable. What more could one ask for?
