Benelli 650 Tornado S
Benelli 650Tornado S
°. .
When in Rome.....okay, no long preamble, I was inItaly, saw a nice 1975 Benelli 650 twin for the equivalent of £500, test rode itand bought it. I then had to ride the beast home to England, which is a good away as any of becoming fully acquainted with a motorcycle.
This Italian version of the ubiquitous verticaltwin had many modern refinements that were lacking in the British rivals.Horizontally split crankcases, wet sump oil supply with a proper oil filter,helical gear primary drive and very short stroke engine, amongst others. Thatsaid, it still controlled its valves via pushrods, the camshaft being situatedin front of the engine, and managed a mere 52hp from its 643cc.
Or at least it did when new, my machine had avenerable 73,492 miles on the clock when I purchased it had enough past ownersto form a motorcycle club. My initial impressions had been that the motor was ingood fettle, whirring away with none of the rattles, knocks or grumblingsnormally associated with large capacity British twins. However, once out on theopen road when the throttle could be used in anger, a disturbing reluctance topull more than 70mph in fifth was experienced.
I took the easy option for the first two hundredmiles, pottered along at fairly moderate speeds. The sun was shining, the beatof the vertical twin engine was reassuring and I was not in any particular hurryto return to the UK. In Genova, my stop for the night, I thought I had found theproblem, badly worn ignition points, but a quick blast revealed no differenceafter I'd cleaned them up. I bought a new set from the local dealer, along witha new pair of spark plugs, but still no difference in performance.
Handling was pretty typical for an Italianmachine. Basically stable, but tortuously stiff suspension. With so little speedavailable there was no danger of over-cooking it. At walking speeds theremarkably large mass, for a 650cc twin, of 485lbs was usually present, themachine quite often trying to flop over in low speed corners. Tyres werePirellis, which appeared to follow every minor road contour and felt very harsh.Trundling into Nice, the motor stuttered into silence, feeling like the fuel hadrun out. I knew it hadn't because I'd only just added ten Litres to the threegallon petrol tank. The solution to the lack of speed hit me then....the fuelfilter was clogged up. Tearing along the coast to Marseille and then up to Lyon,after I'd cleaned it, I was able to put the ton on the clock several times butonly at the price of the whole chassis turning into a blur of vibration.
Effective top speed was 75mph, which was prettyinsulting actually as low speed torque was conspicuous by its absence, not until5000 revs were on the clock did the motor take on any urgency and then the vibescame roaring in before the development of power could get seriously underway. Ireassured myself that once back in the UK I could sell the machine for three tofour times what I'd paid to some foolish collector who would not give a damnabout its useability.
Another disappointing factor was that it was avery tiring bike to ride any distance. The seat was like iron, the bars were toohigh, the footpegs too far forward and the gearbox as clumsy in action as it wasnecessary in use to keep the engine turning over. The Italian's love of noisewas evident in the straight through megas, which soon paled after fifty miles ofhaving one's head buffetted by enough sound to drown a 747 on take off. Theenforced leisurely pace was mitigated to some degree by frequent stops, lots ofcoffee and croissants whilst eyeing fabulously exotic French women.
The next day's ride from Lyon to Paris had astrong wind behind us. On a couple of occasions I sneaked the Benelli up to110mph, ignoring both the vibes and the way the chassis snaked all over theroad. Petrol disappeared at about 35mpg instead of the more usual, butnonetheless very poor, 45mpg. As I had to stop for R & R every 50 miles the poorrange offered by the three gallon petrol capacity was of no concern.
Both the Benelli and I had problems hustlingaround the environs of Paris. The machine was too heavy to haul through thetraffic, acceleration was poor at low revs and after too many hours in thesaddle my concentration was all shot. A massive rainstorm did not help thingsone bit, the Pirellis being very nasty in the wet, sending the wheels skiddingoff in different directions. Okay, I admit it, I fell off! At about 20mph weslid down the road, bounced off a Renault and nearly demolished a front garden.
The bike turned out to be a tough bugger withlittle bent and no serious damage. I had an arm torn off my well nurturedleather jacket and a dose of gravel rash to my leg. The hospital were veryunderstanding, agreeing to send the bill to an address I made up on the spur ofthe moment. A couple of days were spent hobbling around Paris, then a mad dashfor Calais and the ferry home. The customs were very understanding when I toldthem I'd lost most of the documents in the crash, consoling themselves by taxingthe bike on a value of £1750, which almost doubled the cost of the machine.
My immediate plan of selling the machine at aprofit was temporary dislodged when I found that my other machine had beenstolen in my absence, so the Benelli was pushed into use as a DR machine inLondon! The first thing I did was to fit some proper tyres, not that the Venomsoffered any better stability, they just held on to the tarmac come what may inthe wet.
In theory the Benelli has an electric start, inpractice, Italian electrics being dubious at best, it rattles the engine intolife about once a week and then takes the rest of the time off to recover. Ihave never started the 650 first kick, even when hot (the engine not I), usuallythree to five attempts are necessary. After a couple of days abuse in the city,the multi-plate clutch decided it had had enough, dragging something chronic attraffic lights and junctions. Neutral was next to impossible to find, and evenwhen found had a frightening tendency to jump into first gear all on it own.This meant stalled engines were the order of the day and I was soon knackeredkicking the beast back into life.
Just to add to my joy, first the side-standsheared off then the centre-stand collapsed. No damage to the machine but I thenhad to find a wall or car to prop the machine against every time I stopped tomake a delivery....at the end of a long day it was dead easy to mess up thekickstart, ending up in a heap with the machine in the gutter. I've still gotthe scars from the burns as evidence of this ineptitude.
A month's worth of despatch riding reduced themachine to rat status. Rust broke through on the tank and frame, the chrometurned brown and the alloy white. As soon as the insurance paid up for the theftI bought something more suitable for despatch riding and spent a weekend tartingup the Benelli. It sold within a day of the advert for £1200, which I thoughtfair enough as it had kept me in the DR game, amused me through Europe and endedup in a very poor state.
The engine had been most impressive in itsreliability. In over 6000 miles it had never given a moment's cause for concern,had received no maintenance other than an oil change and had lost none of itspower. However, the power was equivalent to a mere GS450, wasn't usable above5500rpm and lacked torque below 5000rpm. The machine was also a 100lbsoverweight, awkWard in town and poor on fuel. The TLS front brake provedexcellent in town and saved me many a time in treacherous conditions.
In the UK they are well overpriced, the usualidiot collectors buying them just because they are rare. I certainly would notbe willing to pay silly money for one but when next in Rome I may well pick upanother one for a few hundred quid and do the same journey all over again.....Ireckon the profit would pay for a couple of weeks frugal holiday in Italy.
Source Dick Lewis