Benelli TnT 899 Century Racer 2013 — Specifications

Pesaro, a small town on the Adriatic coast, has more to offer the world than just its beaches. This is where Benelli comes from, a marque that has weathered a century of hardships, glories, and reversals to celebrate, in 2011, its hundred years of existence. A hundred years of meccanica italiana, from the first turns of a wrench in a family workshop to the 120 horsepower thundering beneath the trellis frame of the TnT 899. For the occasion, the brand dressed in its finest attire in the form of the Benelli TnT 899 Century Racer, a special edition clothed in café racer style and bearing the historical patina of the centenary on its flanks.

Let's be honest: this anniversary edition doesn't reinvent the wheel. The foundation remains the 899 cc three-cylinder engine delivering 120 horsepower at 9,500 rpm and 88.3 Nm of torque at 8,000 rpm. This engine has been the heart of the TnT for years, and it has lost none of its bite. At €9,990, the Century Racer adds a specific paint scheme, a centenary badge, and a vintage logo resurrected from the archives onto this proven mechanicals. The mechanical substance itself benefits from a new fully adjustable 50 mm Marzocchi inverted fork, which is genuinely good news on a roadster weighing 215 kg fully fuelled. Radial Brembo calipers make their appearance at the front, biting on two 320 mm discs with four pistons, while the rear makes do with a 240 mm two-piston disc. Add a revised injection mapping, an Alcantara seat, and recalibrated suspension, and you have the complete picture.

Compared to a Street Triple R or a Speed Triple of the same era, the TnT 899 plays in a slightly different league. It fully embraces its café racer style, its tucked riding position, and its Latin character, where the British machines offer a more accommodating ergonomics. A seat height of 820 mm and a dry weight of 199 kg make this a machine for riders of average stature with some experience; absolute beginners would do better to look elsewhere. The 16-litre tank remains average, and the claimed top speed of 230 km/h positions the 899 in the pack of sporting roadsters without it seeking to be the definitive benchmark.

What truly sets this centenary edition apart is the attention paid to equipment. The Marzocchi fork and Brembo brakes are not mere marketing arguments; they concretely improve corner-entry precision and braking bite. The tubular trellis frame with aluminium plates retains its characteristic rigidity, and the 12.5:1 compression ratio with its short-stroke 88 x 49.2 mm bore and stroke configuration marks out an engine that loves to rev. One does regret, however, that the 1130 cc version — also offered in Century Racer trim — was not imported into France. Big-displacement transalpine enthusiasts will kick themselves for it.