1972 Benelli Tornado 650S - 4-Page Vintage Motorcycle Road Test Article

Description

1972 Benelli Tornado 650S - 4-Page Vintage Motorcycle Road Test Article
Original, Vintage Magazine Article
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
THE GOOD THINGS in life
don’t come cheap these days, espe-
cially when they are imports bur-
dened with excise tax. The Benelli
650, a pushrod Twin with electric
starting and five-speed gearbox, will
cost you more than 00 by the
time it gets here from Italy.
Woe is the rider, then, who
would appreciate the intangible
beauties and eccentricities of a
roadster with a feeling all its own.
The bike is designed against the backdrop of the Italian way
of motoring—long miles of double-lane autostrada one lane
fast and one lane slow. You are in the fast lane, of course,
inhibited only by the “motivation/oil leak/valve float/dur-
ability/fatigue ratio,” watching little Fiats, VWs, and Alfa
sedans pull over for you, and you in turn pulling over only for
Lambos, Monteverdis and an occasional Dino.
Or you are on the rippling narrow asphalt that winds up the
west shore of Lake Como to Riva del Garda, spurting up to 60
or 70, then snapping down for a hair-raising turn through a
tunnel blasted out of the steep rock.
If you are on that Benelli, the bike from Pesaro, the forks
are working beautifully, and the bike is flashing into those
bends with perfectly neutral steering characteristics. Enter the
bend, set it, and the bike stays leaned at the angle you picked,
even as you shake through a series of humps created by the
Alpine winters.
This is the road burner Italian-style: neutral, well-damped,
geared high, stiff on the butt, sharp to the ear, fleet and
masculine. Italian engineers have a whole different set of
priorities, so that this vertical Twin is truly different from
other vertical Twins.
Benelli’s approach to this classic engine configuration is not
particularly exciting, other than that it is well executed and
indicates the choice of good alternatives.
The crankcases are split in the most- oil-tight and easily
servicable way—horizontally. Yank the engine from the frame,
turn it upside down, pull the bottom half to quickly reach the
five-bearing, four-flywheel crankshaft. Both pistons run up and
down together, firing alternately every 360 degrees of crank-
shaft rotation like the British Twins.
The exhaust note therefore recalls the British product, but
the Benelli has less flywheel effect, giving it the urgent,
nervous rush of a racing engine as you snap the throttle. That
quickness demands precise timing of clutch throttle and left
hand as you run through the gears.
Benelli’s claim of 57 blip at 7400 rpm is somewhat
optimistic, to gauge it against its actual straight-line perform-
ance. Even taking into account the 60 or 70 lb. of weight it
has gained in the last two years, due primarily to the electric
starter and related components, an estimate of 45 to 50 bhp,
taken at the transmission output, would seem more reason-
able. The difference may be in where Benelli measures power
output.
The spread of gear ratios was clearly chosen by a man with
a very personal view of what motorcycling is all about. Top
gear is high for this engine and can almost be considered an
overdrive, or cruising ratio. It effectively eliminates the use of
one gear if drag racing is your bag, but at the same time makes
the 650 an eminently calm high speed tourer.
At 70 mph, for example, the engine is burbling over at a
mere 4140 rpm. At 90 (if you are so lucky to be on an
uncontrolled autostrada) the engine turns at 5660 rpm, which
is barely above the engine speed which most imports for U.S...
12090-7211-08 RL- d72ka04