Benelli TNT300s

[dave_boo]

Benelli BN600R – First Ride Benelli may be owned by the Chinese, but the BN600R is a pretty good bike.

http://www.cycleworld.com/2014/07/15/benelli-bn600r-first-ride-naked-bike-review-photo-gallery/

Doesn't that use the uprated suspension not offered in Thailand?

[casualbiker]

Benelli BN600R – First Ride Benelli may be owned by the Chinese, but the BN600R is a pretty good bike.

http://www.cycleworld.com/2014/07/15/benelli-bn600r-first-ride-naked-bike-review-photo-gallery/

Doesn't that use the uprated suspension not offered in Thailand?

We get the L and I models .. L might mean 'low cost' and I might be 'inferior '

Joking aside. Anyone know the exact difference?

[dave_boo]

Benelli BN600R – First Ride Benelli may be owned by the Chinese, but the BN600R is a pretty good bike.

http://www.cycleworld.com/2014/07/15/benelli-bn600r-first-ride-naked-bike-review-photo-gallery/

Doesn't that use the uprated suspension not offered in Thailand?

We get the L and I models .. L might mean 'low cost' and I might be 'inferior '

Joking aside. Anyone know the exact difference?

There is no "L" model listed on their website. They have a "J" model...perhaps for 'junk'?

Here's the pics of the J model's suspension.

And the "I" model.

Different colours between the two, but exterior look similar. And also appear the same as the tester. Missing the Brembo brakes though.

**edit**

Just noticed that the rear shock's orientation is inverted between the tester and the bikes on Benelli Thailand's website. Was there a design change or is QC so bad they get mixed up on which way is up on such an important part?

[ll2]

L model has better suspension and brakes.

It has Proper Marzocchi fork a better rear shock and brembo brakes. J model has chinese suspensions and brakes which were not that great.

we get both versions of benelli 600 in Thailand - check Benelli Thailand - but both are holding a similar or more expensive price than a more powerful, comfy and quality honda cb650f.

[dave_boo]

L model has better suspension and brakes.

It has Proper Marzocchi fork a better rear shock and brembo brakes. J model has chinese suspensions and brakes which were not that great.

we get both versions of benelli 600 in Thailand - check Benelli Thailand - but both are holding a similar or more expensive price than a more powerful, comfy and quality honda cb650f.

Check again. There's the "I" and "J" models.

http://www.benelli-thailand.co.th/motorcycle/bn600i/

http://www.benelli-thailand.co.th/motorcycle/bn600j/

No "L" model.

[casualbiker]

L model has better suspension and brakes.

It has Proper Marzocchi fork a better rear shock and brembo brakes. J model has chinese suspensions and brakes which were not that great.

we get both versions of benelli 600 in Thailand - check Benelli Thailand - but both are holding a similar or more expensive price than a more powerful, comfy and quality honda cb650f.

Check again. There's the "I" and "J" models.

http://www.benelli-thailand.co.th/motorcycle/bn600i/

http://www.benelli-thailand.co.th/motorcycle/bn600j/

No "L" model.

Ok. J = janitorial model

[ll2]

L model has better suspension and brakes.

It has Proper Marzocchi fork a better rear shock and brembo brakes. J model has chinese suspensions and brakes which were not that great.

we get both versions of benelli 600 in Thailand - check Benelli Thailand - but both are holding a similar or more expensive price than a more powerful, comfy and quality honda cb650f.

Check again. There's the "I" and "J" models.

http://www.benelli-thailand.co.th/motorcycle/bn600i/

http://www.benelli-thailand.co.th/motorcycle/bn600j/

No "L" model.

it is 'i' not 'l' sorry.

[dave_boo]

L model has better suspension and brakes.

It has Proper Marzocchi fork a better rear shock and brembo brakes. J model has chinese suspensions and brakes which were not that great.

we get both versions of benelli 600 in Thailand - check Benelli Thailand - but both are holding a similar or more expensive price than a more powerful, comfy and quality honda cb650f.

Check again. There's the "I" and "J" models.

http://www.benelli-thailand.co.th/motorcycle/bn600i/

http://www.benelli-thailand.co.th/motorcycle/bn600j/

No "L" model.

it is 'i' not 'l' sorry.

Never doubt or argue with me son.

[ll2]

L model has better suspension and brakes.

It has Proper Marzocchi fork a better rear shock and brembo brakes. J model has chinese suspensions and brakes which were not that great.

we get both versions of benelli 600 in Thailand - check Benelli Thailand - but both are holding a similar or more expensive price than a more powerful, comfy and quality honda cb650f.

Check again. There's the "I" and "J" models.

http://www.benelli-thailand.co.th/motorcycle/bn600i/

http://www.benelli-thailand.co.th/motorcycle/bn600j/

No "L" model.

it is 'i' not 'l' sorry.

Never doubt or argue with me son.

dave, you have/had a mean father i guess?

[dave_boo]

L model has better suspension and brakes.

It has Proper Marzocchi fork a better rear shock and brembo brakes. J model has chinese suspensions and brakes which were not that great.

we get both versions of benelli 600 in Thailand - check Benelli Thailand - but both are holding a similar or more expensive price than a more powerful, comfy and quality honda cb650f.

Check again. There's the "I" and "J" models.

http://www.benelli-thailand.co.th/motorcycle/bn600i/

http://www.benelli-thailand.co.th/motorcycle/bn600j/

No "L" model.

it is 'i' not 'l' sorry.

Never doubt or argue with me son.

dave, you have/had a mean father i guess?

Nope.

Did have a sarcastic grandfather though.

You know, the one who could detect humour...

[ll2]

L model has better suspension and brakes.

It has Proper Marzocchi fork a better rear shock and brembo brakes. J model has chinese suspensions and brakes which were not that great.

we get both versions of benelli 600 in Thailand - check Benelli Thailand - but both are holding a similar or more expensive price than a more powerful, comfy and quality honda cb650f.

Check again. There's the "I" and "J" models.

http://www.benelli-thailand.co.th/motorcycle/bn600i/

http://www.benelli-thailand.co.th/motorcycle/bn600j/

No "L" model.

it is 'i' not 'l' sorry.

Never doubt or argue with me son.

dave, you have/had a mean father i guess?

Nope.

Did have a sarcastic grandfather though.

You know, the one who could detect humour...

nope, both grandfathers were serious no bs guys like me

just jokin' bro. dont take it serious.

[dave_boo]

nope, both grandfathers were serious no bs guys like me

just jokin' bro. dont take it serious.

Mine lived to be 93 having a grand old time until the end. Hope I end up being 1/2 the man he was.

[ll2]

nope, both grandfathers were serious no bs guys like me

just jokin' bro. dont take it serious.

Mine lived to be 93 having a grand old time until the end. Hope I end up being 1/2 the man he was.

same here. my grandfather from father side is 90 now!

still can ride a bike - albeit a small one now - and a car and live their lives without a helper by themselves!

he was a rally champion back home and attended nearly all major rallies in europe and bought the first harley back home at 1949 or 50.

a great mechanic too. unfortunately i did not get that gene from him:(

[DILLIGAD]

I'm looking for the Benelli TNT300 thread? Anybody seen it????? (Joke)

ps My Grandad got married to his 3rd wife when he was 95!!!

[ktm jeff]

Whats this post become . . . trace your family !! Let me tell you about the war .

[English_M_in_Bkk]

I am going to go and test ride the bike this weekend - will give a report

[casualbiker]

Where you getting the test ride?

[English_M_in_Bkk]

Well, went down to the showroom, no test bikes - so forget that one then

[casualbiker]

Well, went down to the showroom, no test bikes - so forget that one then

They do have test ride bikes .. but it's a 139,000baht non refundable deposit :-D :-D

[Familyonthemove]

I would really like to know what this bike is like to ride - but buying an unknown new bike at Honda or Kawasaki 250/300 money without a test ride? Don't think so. I sat on one at a bike show - it had that slightly pitched forward, spread out feel like a little Speed Triple - but the footpegs were like small (wobbly) aftermarket rear sets.

But if rides well it would be a nice street bike.

[BirdsandBooze]

Until there is a guinea pig here who can give a long term ownership report it still remains an unknown quantity. I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand though as the QJ factory uses modern German tooling backed up by European quality control management. Some Chinese made products are OK, many aren't. Maybe it will turn out that the Benellis fall into the former category. Something we won't know until the pioneer who buys one enlightens us.

[BSJ]

I think we need to look back in time to see what Benelli have produced when it was 100% Italian. Not a big seller in the market place, bad reliability issues with some models.

Can the Chinese do worse? Sure they can....but they can do a he11 of a lot better too!

As long as the Chinese don't cheapout on components and product testing we should see some reasonable quality bikes

I know that none of you probably will take my post seriouly, so I invite you to use Google, you can find anything I say online.....

Dear BSJ,

Where do you get your information from that the Chinese owners of Benelli are skipping out on quality?

The Chinese owners of Benelli did not moved any of the classic international models out of Italy, they actually hire in Italy more workers at all levels of the company, if you search a bit on Internet you can find that the Italian based staff of Benelli has grown by almost 43%.... That is at all levels of the company, with most new employers at production…

.

This is not a Chinese take over like Saches bikes, where I buy the name and loose everybody in the first year, Benelli has in Europe proven sceptics wrong, and I personally spoke on my last trip to China with a QJ Group executive and he promised that we not seen the full force yet, Benelli will challenge Ducati in 2 or 3 years…

Yes, I even laugh, but not forget how much money the QJ Group has, they can even challenge VW on cash they have to spend… Most of the investor behind Ducati has all its money up in investment and needs more bank credit to make any serious investment possible. QJ Group has compared to VW zero money in investment and most things they do is cash purchase or low credit purchase.

The executive of QJ Group was willing to say that they would invest in the end of 2015, more money than Ducati, made provide over 4 years….

For the last few year Ducacti was able to make a profit of about 6 percent, which is more to 5% percent to be honest. No reason they were bought by VW, they were not able to develop any new engines…

Back to Benelli, QJ Group already guaranteed for 7 years of no profit years for Benelli, while the company did make in the second halve of 2014 some profit…. QJ also confirmed with all banks involved that they will do a cash injections of 3 times the bank involvement…. Making Benelli the most healthy financial motorcycle company in the world…

So who is QJ Group, and why they can do stuff like this… If you live in any developed country, you probably have a product of QJ group in your hand right now is it because you read this on your iPhone or on your computer. In your car.

You could compare QJ Group to Kawasaki, but they have less heavy an more consumer, they produce your well know mobile electric generators for 7 brands, electric powered water pump for 9 companies including themselves, they produce engine, ATV’s for a well known Canadian company and electric powered gardening equipment for the 2 most prominent brands. This are one products they public enough, QJ Groups is also a major investor in microelectronics and owns the only private facilities to be able to make 0,018 micron, while the latest Intel microprocessor is only 0.022 micron…

Hi Richard, I am sorry to see you mis-interpreted what I said. I wasn't being critical of the Chinese. I said there were issues with 100% Italian Benelli's over the years. I bought 7 container loads of equipment last year in China and only had a problem with one product from one supplier for which I was compensated. If you deal with the right people over there it's quite possible to get very good quality products.

[GARYZX6R]

Having bought one of these bikes about 2 weeks ago ,i can confirm that is a fun bike,comfortable, with excellent handling and good brakes much better than the Honda Cbr 250 which i previously owned. Plenty of power from the twin cylinder engine ,one guy on youtube had 176 km per hr on the clock which is decent from an unfaired 300 bike..Gear changing is smooth and the engine free from vibrations

The dealer is selling loads,my neighbour is having to wait a month due to back orders to get his. This feels and drives like a quality motorcycle but time will tell , at present well happy with it ,and oh forgot has a cracking exhaust note from standard unlike any cbr 300/250/500..

[seedy]

Having bought one of these bikes about 2 weeks ago ,i can confirm that is a fun bike,comfortable, with excellent handling and good brakes much better than the Honda Cbr 250 which i previously owned. Plenty of power from the twin cylinder engine ,one guy on youtube had 176 km per hr on the clock which is decent from an unfaired 300 bike..Gear changing is smooth and the engine free from vibrations

The dealer is selling loads,my neighbour is having to wait a month due to back orders to get his. This feels and drives like a quality motorcycle but time will tell , at present well happy with it ,and oh forgot has a cracking exhaust note from standard unlike any cbr 300/250/500..

Let us know how this bike works out for you. Many people interested.

Thanks

[AllanB]

Having bought one of these bikes about 2 weeks ago ,i can confirm that is a fun bike,comfortable, with excellent handling and good brakes much better than the Honda Cbr 250 which i previously owned. Plenty of power from the twin cylinder engine ,one guy on youtube had 176 km per hr on the clock which is decent from an unfaired 300 bike..Gear changing is smooth and the engine free from vibrations

The dealer is selling loads,my neighbour is having to wait a month due to back orders to get his. This feels and drives like a quality motorcycle but time will tell , at present well happy with it ,and oh forgot has a cracking exhaust note from standard unlike any cbr 300/250/500..

At last, please keep us updated Gary, a Thai guy up the road has one, I will try to get MrsB to talk to him, I am dying to give the bike a try.

How tall are you and does it fit? What's the riding position like? How does it compare size wise with the CBR250?

Be nice to get this translated

[BSJ]

Having bought one of these bikes about 2 weeks ago ,i can confirm that is a fun bike,comfortable, with excellent handling and good brakes much better than the Honda Cbr 250 which i previously owned. Plenty of power from the twin cylinder engine ,one guy on youtube had 176 km per hr on the clock which is decent from an unfaired 300 bike..Gear changing is smooth and the engine free from vibrations

The dealer is selling loads,my neighbour is having to wait a month due to back orders to get his. This feels and drives like a quality motorcycle but time will tell , at present well happy with it ,and oh forgot has a cracking exhaust note from standard unlike any cbr 300/250/500..

What country are you in? What's the price there?

[GARYZX6R]

HI

How tall are you and does it fit? What's the riding position like? How does it compare size wise with the CBR250?

To answer this question, iam 6 ft 1 tall ,medium build. Its an upright ,slightly leaning forward postion , for me its very comfortable, more so than the CBR which makes you lean forward a bit ,plus the seat is more comfortable with its extra padding.. Its a bigger bike than the CBR in all ways, certainly feels a lot heaver and it is ,because of the weight it also feels more planted to the road. The tyres are the same on both bikes..

I paid 139,000 bht at the new Benelli shop in Udon Thani and it came with free insurance ,plates ,tax,por bor sor..Also 2 free t shirts and a light weight Benelli riding jacket with the shops logo on the back.

Hope this helps.

Also it has a three year unlimited mileage guarantee..

[AllanB]

HI

How tall are you and does it fit? What's the riding position like? How does it compare size wise with the CBR250?

To answer this question, iam 6 ft 1 tall ,medium build. Its an upright ,slightly leaning forward postion , for me its very comfortable, more so than the CBR which makes you lean forward a bit ,plus the seat is more comfortable with its extra padding.. Its a bigger bike than the CBR in all ways, certainly feels a lot heaver and it is ,because of the weight it also feels more planted to the road. The tyres are the same on both bikes..

I paid 139,000 bht at the new Benelli shop in Udon Thani and it came with free insurance ,plates ,tax,por bor sor..Also 2 free t shirts and a light weight Benelli riding jacket with the shops logo on the back.

Hope this helps.

Also it has a three year unlimited mileage guarantee..

Well at last I have found a bike that at least fits me, so many don't and I am only 6ft, pretty average by today's western standards.

[BBJ]

Ultimately, buy a bike you enjoy riding regardless of the brand. Test both or all and decide from there even if it means losing money on its SH value.

Last week I was invited to test the F800GS for a Thai Auto Blog and was expected to be blown away by it leaving me depressed to get back on my Versys. I wasn't, not one bit and I've since ruled it out for my next purchase. The BMW was better, but it wasn't worth the 200k + over the Versys.

Forget the naysayers, get out and test it.

[wantan]

HI

How tall are you and does it fit? What's the riding position like? How does it compare size wise with the CBR250?

To answer this question, iam 6 ft 1 tall ,medium build. Its an upright ,slightly leaning forward postion , for me its very comfortable, more so than the CBR which makes you lean forward a bit ,plus the seat is more comfortable with its extra padding.. Its a bigger bike than the CBR in all ways, certainly feels a lot heaver and it is ,because of the weight it also feels more planted to the road. The tyres are the same on both bikes..

I paid 139,000 bht at the new Benelli shop in Udon Thani and it came with free insurance ,plates ,tax,por bor sor..Also 2 free t shirts and a light weight Benelli riding jacket with the shops logo on the back.

Hope this helps.

Also it has a three year unlimited mileage guarantee..

Well at last I have found a bike that at least fits me, so many don't and I am only 6ft, pretty average by today's western standards.

If i think of all the bikes you wanted to buy the last years i am not sure you will buy this one

Imo the only downside this bike has (aside from not being made by Honda) is the lack of ABS. But you cant have it all i guess...