In the recent events, Benelli announced that it will launch 2-3 products within this fiscal year. The future lineup consists of Scrambler-like Leoncino, sportsbike 302S and the ADV TRK 502. First, the Benelli Leoncino 500 will be launched in India. Check out the details that you can expect from this upcoming bike.
DSK Benelli had 3 bikes in India lineup. The TNT 300, TNT 600i and 302R are the models for sale. However, recent events have led to Benelli falling out with DSK. Now, Benelli has tied up with South India based Mahavir group to revive its business and manufacture more bikes in India. For now, it will get CKD units of the bikes until it starts producing them locally. The Italian brand also announced the three bikes which are going to come in this fiscal year – Benelli Leoncino 500, 302S and TRK 502. The Leoncino will sport a Scrambler type design, the 302S is a revised version of the 302R sportsbike and the TRK 502 will be an Adventure bike. In this case, we take on the Leoncino 500 and give all the details that you can expect from this bike.
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The Benelli Leoncino 500 will sport a 499cc dual cylinder liquid cooled engine. This dual cylinder feature classifies the bike as a premium offering. This engine churns out 47.6 BHP of maximum power and 46 Nm torque. It runs on an electronic fuel injection. The transmission duties are done by a 6-speed wet multi-plate clutch. The fuel efficiency expected on this bike is around 20 KMPL. It gets a fuel capacity of 12 Litres and 2 Litres reserve capacity.
For suspension, it gets 50 mm USD forks and Mono-shock with 112 mm travel at the rear. For safety, it gets 320 mm twin disc brakes in the front and 260 mm disc brakes in the rear. Furthermore, it gets dual-channel ABS safety feature too. These are the main features that the Benelli Leoncino 500 will get. Speculations say that it might get some more features too.
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Features of the bike include 17-inch alloy wheels, ABS, LED Headlamps with circular LED DRLs, LED tail lights, LED indicators, Monoshock rear suspension, and a Tubular steel-trellis frame. It also gets a fully-digital instrument cluster with lots of information to display. Its biggest highlight is the neo-scrambler design, which is not seen much in India.
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As per Benelli, this bike will be the first one to launch from the new partnership. For the manufacture, it has already taken a land near Hyderabad for manufacturing CKD bikes. We still expect this bike to launch sometime early in 2019. The main reason for the delay is because the Italians are considering localization. If the idea works, all their 300cc bikes in India will be first localized. Expect the bike to cost around Rs 4 – 4.5 Lakhs (ex-showroom). At this price, it will be the cheapest Scrambler in India.
