Benelli working on fully faired 4-cylinder, 600cc sport bike

New middleweight Benelli sport bike leaked

Most riders know Benelli as a maker of naked street and adventure bikes. However, some time ago, Benelli used to offer a fully-faired sport bike called the Tornado. It's been 6 years since we last saw one, but that may change soon.

^{Photo from BikeSocial}

Indian-based motorcycle websites have been reporting of leaked images of what seems to be a new middleweight sportbike from Benelli. The bike is a fully-faired 600cc sport bike based on the recently-unveiled TNT 600i. They also say that the upcoming model will be called the 600RR.

600RR

As the leaked photo suggests, the new bike dons a fully-faired body, complete with all-LED lighting. Underneath the headlamps are what seems to be air-intake units, suggesting it could have a system similar to Kawasaki's ram-air intake system. Low slung clip-ons and rear-set footpegs suggest that the bike was designed for more aggressive riding, as what a sport bike should be.

Inside, the 600RR will be identical to the TNT 600i it is based on. It will have the same Euro5 / BS6-compliant four-cylinder engine that churns out 81 Ps, mounted on a semi-trellis chassis. Other leaked details say it will have dual 4-piston Brembo calipers on floating discs in front, governed by 9th-generation Bosch ABS. It will tip the scales with a 215-kilogram wet weight.

Will it land in the Philippines?

We contacted Des Buncio, Marketing Boss for Benelli Philippines, to find out more about the 600RR. According to her, for now, or at least this year, the 600RR may not yet be offered here in the country. After all, the current pandemic has thrown a wrench into many planned launches as welll as logistics of incoming models.

“Wala pa sa plans yung [600] RR,” said Buncio. She did say that this year's priority is to bring in the TNT 600i. And hopefully, if the COVID-19 situation improves, they will be able to launch it this coming July.

“For now, the priority will be the TNT 600i, and if everything goes well, we can launch it in July.”