EICMA: Benelli comeback: TRK502 adventure bike

It seems that, with the Leoncino and now the TRK502 adventure bike, Benelli is back.

As we’ve already discussed, the Benelli Leoncino scrambler turned out to be one of the tastiest machines on display at EICMA this week, surprisingly. Who would have thought the company teetering on the brink of irrelevancy could produce something so pretty?

It’s not on Canadian showroom floors yet, nor will it likely ever be (please prove us wrong!) but it was a pleasant surprise.

Benelli had other surprises up their sleeves, including one machine that fell into the fog of war on Tuesday, meaning we aren’t talking about it until today. Their TRK502 adventure bike is a very tidy-looking machine that occupies that space at the end of the adventure bike spectrum that sees so little competition. If you want a smaller adventure bike, there’s the Zongshen RX3 Cyclone in the 250 cc class, then … nothing, until you hit the 650 class. Honda does produce the CB500X, but it’s not ADV-friendly out of the box, and the same could be arguably said for the Suzuki DR-Z400 dual sport. CCM’s GP450 is certainly impressive, but it’s also very expensive.

The TRK502 should fill that sweet spot between on-road usability and off-road utility. It’ll be available with both 17-inch alloy rims and a set of 19-inch and 17-inch spoked rims for off-road use. It has 150 mm of suspension travel front and rear.

The machine is powered by a liquid-cooled parallel twin with DOHC and four-valve heads. It makes about 48 hp at 8,500 rpm, and peak torque is about 33 ft-lb at 4,500 rpm. Those aren’t monster numbers, but should be sufficient in the market category this bike is placed in.

Unlike its budget 500 cc competitors from Japan, the TRK502 has dual disc brakes up front (320 mm). The rear brake is a single 260 mm disc.

Fuel capacity is 20 litres, and those cases bear a Givi logo, so they ought to be decent quality.

We haven’t seen any indication as to what aftermarket accessories will be available for the machine, but given Benelli’s ties to China, we’re sure someone is working away on putting together a selection of things like a topcase, heated grips, etc.

Overall, the machine is an impressive foray into the ADV world. The styling is bang-on. A jumbled design would have doomed this machine to mockery from the start, but the new Benelli legitimately looks like something you’d expect from one of the other bigger Euro manufactures.

GALLERY

Check out all the pics that go with this story! Click on the main sized pic to transition to the next or just press play to show in a slideshow.

A very tidy package, overall!