Benelli BN 600 R 2015 — Specifications

When Qianjiang, a Chinese two-wheeled giant that sells over a million machines per year, buys Benelli in 2005, no one really knows what it will bring. The answer is the Benelli BN 600 R, which arrives on the European market in 2014 with a significant paradox in its saddlebags: the badge of the Lion of Pesaro, the design of Hangzhou.

The 599 cc inline four-cylinder engine doesn’t immediately fit with the image of the Italian brand, historically associated with charismatic three-cylinder engines like the TNT 899 and 1130. This injected engine, with a compression ratio of 11.5:1 and a short bore of 65 x 45.2 mm, revs high to express its 82 horsepower at 11,500 rpm, with a torque of 52 Nm available at 10,500 rpm. These figures place the machine far from the 106 hp of the Street Triple or the 87 hp of the Hornet 600, but in the same league as the ER-6n, the XJ6 or the CBF 600. This is therefore where the Benelli BN 600 R’s real target lies, in the accessible middleweight category, not in the sporty naked segment.

What really surprises on the technical specifications is the gap between the modest power and the mechanical equipment that evokes a track-day sportbike. 50 mm Marzocchi inverted fork, aluminum alloy swingarm, Sachs adjustable shock absorber in hydraulic extension and spring preload, radial four-piston calipers on 320 mm front discs with Brembo calipers since 2015, 180/55-ZR17 rear tires: we find ourselves with equipment that we would readily dedicate to a highly-tuned 600 sportbike. The steel trellis frame reinforces this impression of serious mechanics. On the used Benelli BN 600 R that we come across in classified ads, these are the components that should be checked first, because their effective quality in prolonged use remains the real question.

The style doesn’t convince as strongly as the list of equipment. The under-seat exhausts, the slim radiator fairings and the teardrop mirror outline a silhouette that searches for its identity without really finding it. One recognizes a lineage with the headlight of the TNT models from Pesaro, but the whole lacks that sharp character that makes a motorcycle stand out at first glance. At 220 kg fully fueled for an 800 mm seat height and a 1,480 mm wheelbase, the BN 600 R positions itself as a machine accessible to standard build, compatible with an A2 license in its version restricted to 48 hp. The target audience is clearly the intermediate rider who wants more mechanical credibility than what entry-level bikes offer, without going through the 10,000 euro motorcycle box.

The displayed price of 7,495 euros at launch doesn’t achieve the disruptive pricing effect that had been anticipated. This is the price of a decent Japanese competitor, not the price of a machine that arrives to shake up the segment. For the Benelli BN 600 R A2 or to answer the question of what is the price of a Benelli BN 600 R 2016, you have to count on a used market that has since absorbed this reality. Benelli BN 600 R reviews regularly highlight this discrepancy between a flattering endowment on paper and a driving experience that doesn’t transcend. The technical promise is there, the final result depends a lot on the manufacturing quality and the care given to maintenance, two points on which doubt is permitted when talking about Sino-European production of this generation.