Benelli Tornado Tre
Benelli Tornado Tre
ITALY 2003
A work of art in progress
EVERYONE KNOWS THE ITALIANS LOVE THEIR MOTORcycles, but this was ridiculous. I was wending my way through downtown Pesaro, chasing madcap test rider Gianluca Galasso aboard a matching pair of prototype Benelli Tornado Tres, and everybody was honking and flashing the thumbs-up. One wide-eyed motorist even waved the tricolore out his car window!
“How patriotic,” I thought to myself, before I learned that the Italian national soccer team had just won a World Cup qualifying round. Ah, that explains it...
Not that the Italians didn’t appreciate the Benelli. One fellow skidded his Lancia to a halt as we stood by the side of the road taking photos, then ran over and started babbling so excitedly that I couldn’t make out a single word. Then, just as suddenly, he departed.
Galasso translated: “He said, T have to leave before I fall hopelessly in love.’” I assume he was talking about the motorcycle.
Ever since its show debut in 1999, the Benelli Tornado Tre has been stealing hearts. And if the MV Agusta F4 750 hadn’t come out a year earlier, it probably would have stolen even more! But then, if it hadn’t been for the F4, the Tornado might look a bit different. See, Benelli designer Adrian Morton worked under F4 (and Ducati 916) designer Massimo Tamburini at the Cagiva Research Center, so the MV obviously made an impression.
Aside from an on-again/off-again World Superbike effort, there hasn’t been much news from Benelli over the past year. The main reason has to do with scooter sales-or rather the lack thereof. When company president Andrea Merloni revived the Benelli name in 1996, he did so with a line of stylish 50cc step-throughs that were immediately successful. Then the scooter market in Italy tanked, and a deal to produce scooters for French car giant Renault went sour, denying Benelli the expected influx of cash with which to produce the Tornado.
Well, the good news is production is finally commencing. The bad news is the bike still isn’t quite finished, as I discovered during a frantic afternoon’s test ride in the hills around Pesaro, where Benelli is based.
Even before we’d left the factory parking lot, I realized there was something amiss with the fuel-injection. The 898cc dohc inline-Triple fires right up and idles smoothly, but as you click into first gear and begin to engage the rattling dry clutch, the engine coughs and bucks, sounding as though it’s digesting a big-end bearing! Things improve a bit above 3500 rpm, and take another step forward above 5500. But with a claimed 140 horsepower on tap and a tall first gear, you’re exceeding city speed limits by then.
Which means that around town-or on a tight-and-twisty road like the Panorámica, high above the Adriatic coast, where Galasso took me-riding the Tornado is an exercise in spooling up the engine, slipping the clutch and making sure you’re pointed in the right direction. Couple this with the decidedly forward weight bias allowed by positioning the radiator under the seat, and the Panorámica’s notoriously slippery pavement, and the rear tire spins up with the subtletly of a Top Fuel dragster!
Fortunately, the Tornado’s unique chassis, with a tubularsteel front section screwed and glued to cast-aluminum swingarm-pivot plates, is superb. The stout Öhlins 43mm inverted fork makes for a sure-footed front end, the beefy double-sided aluminum swingarm keeps the rear end in line, and with aggressive steering geometry, generous cornering clearance and Dunlop D208 radiais, the bike flicks and sticks with the best of them. The Brembo brakes and Öhlins shock get top marks, too, even if the standard suspension settings are a bit too harsh for the street.
Stopping at the end of the road in Gabicce Mare, Galasso asked me what were my initial impressions, and with my best raised-in-New-York tact, I told him, “The fuelinjection sucks.”
“Yes,” he replied, nodding knowingly. “We’re having some vendor problems.”
They always blame the vendors...
When I suggested that maybe the Panorámica wasn’t the best road on which to evaluate a superbike, Galasso shouted, “Follow me,” and set off for faster, more flowing roads inland. Along the way, we passed though Valentino Rossi’s hometown of Tavullia, where there was a huge billboard celebrating his three roadracing world championships, flags
with his number 46 hanging from windows and at least one building painted day-glo yellow like his helmet and leathers. Talk about fanatic!
Here in these environs, the Benelli was much happier. Now able to keep the engine in its powerband, I was free to focus on other aspects of the bike, such as the riding position, which while sportbike-radical is notably more comfortable than a Ducati 998. And high-speed stability, which the Tornado has in spades. And horsepower: Once past 7500 rpm, the three-cylinder engine feels downright potent, and only gets more so as it approaches its 11,500-rpm rev limit.
And then there’s the exhaust note, a glorious, raucous howl closer to that of a classic Laverda or-dare I say it?-an MV Agusta GP bike than a modem Triumph. I’d use the word mellifluous if I could spell it.
Returning to the Benelli factory at the end of the day,
Press Officer Silvia Donati asked me what I thought of the Tomado. I mulled over it for a moment, then told her I had to leave before I fell hopelessly in love.
I assume she realized I was talking about the motorcycle.
-Brian Catterson
