Benelli Leoncino 500

The Benelli Leoncino (pronounced Leon-cheeno) is a scrambler motorcycle that relaunches a name synonymous with Benelli’s lightweight motorcycles in the past. The Leoncino, meaning lion cub, is the Italian bikemaker’s attempt at jumping on to the retro-styling bandwagon, which has spurned many motorycles from various manufacturers over the past couple of years. The chief among these is the eponymous Scrambler from fellow Italian bike maker Ducati.

The Leoncino was first showcased at the EICMA in Milan last year to immense response. Its rugged look is supplemented by a newly-developed 500cc parallel twin engine. This is a new platform that the company has introduced with the TRK 502 adventure tourer motorcycle, which also makes up the underpinnings for the Leoncino.

The 500cc liquid-cooled parallel-twin engine produces about 47bhp of power at 8,500rpm and the peak torque of 45Nm comes in at a lowly 4,500rpm. This early surge of torque will enable the Leoncino to get off the block quicker and also give the scrambler a strong mid-range while on the move. This engine is housed in a beautiful trellis frame, and both elements along with the majority of the mechanical parts have been given the blacked-out look to increase its cool factor.

But the higlight of this motorcycle has been its intelligent fusion of an old-school cover over modern technology. The simple looking round headlamp up front actually houses LED daytime running lamp surrounding a projector lamp for low-beam, while high-beam duties are taken care of by a haolgen lamp. The headlamp is flanked on either side by LED indicators in a clean cylindrical shape.

The beauty of this motorcycle lies in its rugged simplicity. The front looks imposing with the large-ish headlamp and fat 50 mmm upside down front forks that offer 145mm of travel. The 110mm tyre at the front sits on a 19-inch black rim with wire spokes, lending the bike an air of a true-blue offroader. The front brakes are twin 320mm petal-shaped discs while at the rear, a 240mm single disc serves duty on the 17-inch 150mm tyre. Rear suspension comes in the form of a monoshock.

The motorcycle with its slightly raised handlebar and comfortable footrest position and contoured seat puts the rider in an upright seating posture. This leads to more control over the bike, with enough room to move around and stand up on footrests when the situation demands it. The knobby tyres of the motorcycle clearly state its purpose and seem like they could ride dusty back roads as well as rough terrain with ease all day. The boffins at Benelli’s design centre are still working on getting the motorcycle production-ready, we expect DSK-Benelli to bring it to Indian roads within 2016, or early 2017.