The history of Benelli motorcycles - from its own models to work under the patronage of the Chinese

Italian motorcycles are not particularly popular in Russia. Unless Ducati is well known. And even then, those who are interested in bikes know about them.


Little is known about other brands from Italy. Another more or less popular one can only be remembered is Aprilia. Surprisingly, they are in demand in narrow circles. Pegaso enduro models are especially popular on the used market.

By the way, they are related to the BMW F650. Moreover, Italian motorcycles are cheaper. And the engines there are still Austrian, but this is not relevant to our topic.


Today we will deal with the mysterious Italian brand Benelli. Fans of Chinese motorcycles will immediately remember that Stels had such a model. The most expensive and powerful in the line. It was not popular precisely for this reason.

So what does Italy have to do with it if the motorcycle is Chinese? Or did manufacturers from the Middle Kingdom simply name their model that? In fact, everything is complicated. Benelli is truly an Italian brand. True, it belongs to the Chinese. But the headquarters is located on the Apennine Peninsula.

Completely confused? Then we will deal with Benelli in detail.

From what it all began

The history of the brand’s origins is quite unusual for our country, but typical for Italy. Let's start with the name - Benelli. This is the name of the founding fathers of the company. Or rather, mothers.


The fact is that the “foundation” of the future famous brand was laid by Teresa Benelli. And the first employees and at the same time the owners were her sons:

✅ Giuseppe
✅ Filippo
✅ Giovanni
✅ Francesco
✅ Antonio
✅ Domenico

The mother was a widow, but quite wealthy for Italy at the beginning of the 20th century. She had her own estate with outbuildings. The woman decided to allocate the outbuilding to her sons so that they would not loiter around.

Teresa Benelli bought the necessary machines and tools, creating a full-fledged mechanical workshop. The mother planned that her offspring would repair watches, weapons and bicycles. And in the future there will also be motorcycles and cars.


We must give the Benelli brothers their due - they zealously set to work and after a few years reached the peak of the career that their mother predicted for them. But the guys weren’t dreaming about renovations. They wanted to make their own motorcycles.

First models

It all started with the development of the motor. Like most competitors in Europe, the US and Japan, the brothers first built the engine for the bicycle. The engine in 1919 was produced with a volume of 75 cm3, but did not gain popularity. He turned out to be too problematic - truly, “the first pancake was lumpy.”


It was called Benelli Velomotore, and a couple of years later the motorcycle was already produced in two versions - Touring and Sport. Moreover, the latter was indeed seriously different from the base one - it had an engine not of 98, but of 125 cm3. How can one not remember the Soviet “Minsk”!

Only the Italian bike accelerated to only 50 km/h. But in the first half of the 20s it was impressive.


In 1923, a new Benelli Velomotore Sport appeared - this time with a 147 cm3 engine. It was on this motorcycle that Tonino Benelli began to win one race after another. Let us remember that at that time this was the main way to announce the manufacturer. If motorcycles win competitions, that means they are the best.

Four stroke models

1926 was a turning point in the history of Benelli. Designer Giuseppe Benelli designed a new small-capacity motorcycle. Its main difference is a four-stroke engine with a displacement of 175 cm3.

I would like to note that we are talking about the second half of the 20s. Let us recall that Voskhods with a similar cubic capacity were produced until 1993 and were only two-stroke.


The model immediately attracted the attention of Tonino Benelli, the same racer. The new motorcycle became his favorite sports equipment for the next few years.

In the early 30s, the Italians “grew up” to motorcycles with a displacement of 500 cm3. At the same time, the manufacturer changed its location - the plant moved to a larger premises of the former sawmill.

Peripetias of fate

In 1940, Benelli motorcycles became known throughout the world. Their most interesting production bike was called the Benelli 500 Quattro. By that time, the plant already employed more than 800 people.

They didn’t forget about sports - a racing bike with a volume of 250 cm3 developed 52 hp, fantastic for its time. With.


Even the Second World War seemed to play into the hands of the Benelli family company. They received a large order to produce motorcycles for the army.

The cunning brothers also mastered the production of parts from aircraft engines. The latter ruined them - the Allies completely bombed the plant.

I had to start everything almost from scratch. Fortunately, there were funds left, plus I had experience. We started with the repair and restoration of military motorcycles, then new small-capacity models appeared. And not only four, but also two-stroke. The latter were cheaper.

Towards the beginning of the 50s, the brand began to revive. But one of the Benelli brothers decided to leave after a quarrel with other relatives. He founded his own company - Motobi. This crippled the brand once again. By the way, after some time the companies merged again.


Until the early 70s, the brand's main motorcycles were small-capacity motorcycles. They periodically tried to return to a larger volume, but to no avail.

For example, in 1967 a prototype with a 650 cm3 engine was shown. Unfortunately, it never became serial.

Infusions from outside

By the beginning of the 70s, the Benelli company was almost completely bankrupt. The main reason is the inability to compete with Japanese brands. The latter had such a variety of models that it was difficult to fight with them. And mass production made it possible to keep prices low.


The new owner invested a lot of money in upgrading the plant. We are not even talking about modern models - workshops have been built, conveyor lines have been installed.


Suddenly, Benelli released a number of bikes in different cubic capacity, from 125 to 900 cc. Models with 3 and 750 cc were equipped with in-line six-cylinder engines of our own design.

But Japanese manufacturers continued their aggressive policy, completely sweeping away their competitors. Therefore, Alessandro De Tomaso eventually lost interest in his new “toy,” which brought nothing but losses to his financial empire. In 1989, Benelli was sold to the Biesse Group.


The next owner tried to revive the brand. We started with budget scooters Devil and Scooty. The Tornado superbike was also being developed at the same time.

But it was not possible to pull Benelli out of the financial abyss. Although, the company even returned to the superbike championship. The brand brought only losses, and it was a pity to abandon it after such an injection of money. Therefore, when the Chinese corporation Quianjiang Group offered to buy out Benelli, the head of the Merloni Group happily agreed.

Revival

Since 2005, Benelli has been owned by a brand from the Middle Kingdom. The plant was moved to China, but the designers and headquarters remained in Italy.


Today, Benelli produces a wide range of motorcycles ranging from 250 to 800 cc. Bikes are offered in different classes.

Investments from the new owner helped bring Benelli to a leading position in Italy. For example, the TRK 502 model became the sales record holder in its historical homeland in 2022.

As for the modern and current models of the brand, this is a separate topic for discussion. And we will definitely return to it in one of our next articles.