Authentic Italian Benelli Multi!!!

Benelli's 250cc four in 1969, its world championship year. Eight- and 16-valve versions were produced, and seven- and eight-speed gearboxes were tried.

Tokyo Nowhere In Sight!!!

Color photos by Wolfgang Gruber

The Ex-Hailwood/Saarinen Benelli 500-4

At left, Marko Benelli Gets His Wish: "We would like very much to go Grand Prix road racing next year (1974) -- if we get Saarinen." At right, John Surtees at Salzburgring with the Benelli 500-4. Below, the ex-Hailwood/Saarinen Benelli 500-4

Fabulous Pre-War Supercharged Benelli 4 !!!!

The sensational 250cc Benelli supercharged four with town arms of Milan on the tank.

"In the 250cc class, Benelli had enjoyed a successful 1939 season with the normally aspirated single which had propelled Ted Mellors to a rain-lashed TT victory. But in a determined attempt to stay on top of the quarter-liter pile, the Pesaro concern unveiled a new model at the Milan Show late in 1939.

"The sensational Benelli, boasting four cylinders, relied heavily on the single for cycle parts, merely transplating the same elementary frame, girder front forks, plunger rear suspension, 2.75 by 21 inch tyres, tank and so on. But the engine was a revelation. Each cylinder was of 42mm bore by 45mm stroke for a total capacity of 249cc. In the mode made fashionable by the 500cc Gilera, the four cylinders were mounted across the frame but inclined only by 15 degrees. The two valves per cylinder were governed by a dohc assembly with a T-shaped cascade of gears on the right hand side of the engine. An extension ran to the front of the engine to drive the magneto. Water cooling was employed with the radiator mounted on the front down tube, while the oil tank was beneath the saddle.

"The gear driven blower was a Cozette vane type, mounted above the four-speed gearbox. The supercharger employed one carburettor and a compensating lung with generous circular finning. The four exhaust pipes merged into two on either side.

"This fearsome power plant supposedly produced an undreamt of 52bhp at 10,000 rpm, producing a purported top speed of 145mph in GP trim and 155mph in streamlined guise for record attempts.

"Regrettably, the war started before the machine had the opportunity to show its pace on the racetrack. An example survived the devastation inflicted on the Pesaro factory by retreating German armies but, thanks to the FIM ban on supercharging, it was destined never to turn a wheel in anger. Today only an engine remains intact."

--Classic Racer, Winter 1987

SPOT THE ENGINE: MOTO GUZZIS FOR DUMMIES

In case anyone's forgotten what a real Moto Guzzi looks like, here's a photo of the genuine article (this one goes 153 miles per hour). Look closely at the engine. Memorize it -- the shape, the outline, the contours. That's what a real Moto Guzzi engine looks like. If the motor doesn't look more or less exactly like this one, it's not a real Moto Guzzi, it's some clone or rip-off or de Tomaso-spawned badge-engineered monstrosity. So simple! Now you try it...

BADGE ENGINEERING: 2008 QUIANJIANG QJ125 vs. 1975 MOTO GUZZI 250 TS vs. 1973 BENELLI 250C

At the top, the 2008 Quianjiang (new Chinese owners of Benelli) QJ125-A . In the middle, a 1973 Benelli 250C. At the bottom, a 1975 Moto Guzzi 250 TS. Always on the lookout for bright new ideas, Alejandro de Tomaso saw "Badge Engineering" at work in the (now dead or dying) British and American automotive industries, and brought it to Italy. Hey, Grazia! Think these bikes look somewhat similar? That's what I thought.



Benelli's very first "badge engineered" bike, and its creator -- Alejandro de Tomaso sits atop his new baby, The Benelli 750 Sei.

Renzo Pasolini Races 500cc Benelli Four at the 1967 TT

Renzo Pasolini on the 500cc Benelli four at Quarter Bridge in the 1967 TT. He retired that year, but returned to the Island in 1968 to take second places in the Junior and Senior races on the Italian fours. Photo by Nick Nichollis, courtesy Classic Racer magazine, Summer 1983 issue.

Twisted Darwinism: Survival of the Yes-Men, Copycat-ism, Engineering Mediocrity, and (Ultimate) Corporate Death

Now there's a Real Italian Motor -- Laverda V6!!!

"The leader of the [Laverda V6] design team, working in concert with long-time Laverda designer Luciano Zen and Massimo Laverda, himself no mean engineer, was one of the most respected names in automotive engineering, Ing Giulio Alfieri. Alfieri had worked for both Ferrari and Maserati in the past, designing the whole post-war series of Maserati racing and sports cars before the company was bought by Alessandro de Tomaso, with whom he found it impossible to get on.

"The result was that Alfieri left the firm his name had become synonymous with, and for a handful of years worked as a freelance engineering consultant before taking up his present position as managing director of the Lamborghini car company.

"I consider him [Alfieri] to be one of the three leading experts in the world on high-performance internal combustion engines,' says Massimo.

-- Classic Racer, Autumn 1983

N.B. Alfieri died on March 20th, 2002 in Modena Italy. In his late 70s at the time of his death, he had been ill for a month and was undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous brain tumor.

In a much earlier post, I provided vintage quotes showing that the engineering staff at Lambretta (legendary Italian scooter manufacturer) couldn't stand de Tomaso, either.

WE LIVE IN GARAGELAND

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Dave,

I think they finally removed me as a moderator of the Yahoo Benelli Group, I have no problem with that. Somebody else will be approving or disapproving new members, and moderating spam -- that's basically what a moderator does. It's an easy job, and maybe the NEW moderator will love those homely DeTomaso ("Honda-Engined") Benellis more than I do!

Where I come from, everyone has the right to their opinions and tastes. These folks really hate me because I don't love their lumps, and no amount of attacks or "threats of exclusion/ostracism" can make me change my mind. Maybe these guys didn't realize, until they saw my blog anyhow, that I can fight back, too. You know, I'm not perfect by any means, but I do have pretty good taste, generally speaking. I live in a beautiful house, have a beautiful girlfriend, and own a bunch of cool, beautiful bikes. What, me worry?

Did I ever tell you how I got tossed out of a BMW rider's group? It's a long story, but boiled down, some guy wanted to sell his motorcycle repair business and wasn't successful, so he decided to run a "lottery." You bought tickets and the winner won the business! I thought about it for about 5 minutes and realized that the whole thing could easily be fixed, he could have already picked out a silent partner who was "guaranteed to win" and that everyone who bought tickets could just be getting ripped off.

I suggested this possibility to the group and everyone crucified me, how dare I suggest that there was a possibility that the whole thing wasn't honest, what the hell was wrong with me, blah blah blah. This is where I first saw the "Pack Wolf" mentality at work -- I was like a deer getting attacked by a bunch of starving rabid jackals, hell-bent on having my hide!

Anyway, a few weeks later the Attorney General of the State of New Mexico wrote the guy a letter and told him he'd better shut down the lottery because there was no means of oversight and no way to guarantee that the whole thing would be above-board. In other words, exactly what I said; I was perfectly correct in my analysis. Not only that, but the owner of the business has since done very well (must be the high gas prices, because he's not so great), and so in retrospect he was glad the lottery thing didn't happen. In other words, he actually owes me a debt of gratitude! -- but he's too lunk-headed to understand that.

Like an artist who is penniless and unrecognized in his lifetime, sometimes vindication comes too late, but it always comes to the pure of heart and steady of spirit. As I said, I never felt stupid until I joined these motorcycle groups! Of course, I join because I like the BIKES -- it's pretty hard to like most of the members, given my penchant for expressing myself honestly, as a free-thinking individualist. We know what happens to people who do that -- Golgatha!

Shucks, I'll just have to keep slogging along with my nine ugly old pre-DeTomaso Benellis, and struggle to make sense of things with my pathetic 188 IQ and second-rate Ivy League Education!!!

And you know, in the final analysis, there's only one possible response when people think you're an asshole -- "Fuck 'Em!"

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

SS

de TOMASO: GRANDIOSE, NOT GREAT

Kjell,

Are you denying that Benelli copied the engine from the popular Honda design, down to every last dimension, and changed only what they needed to change to stuff the thing into whatever frame they were trying to hang it on, or put it into?

I have the Benelli Sei book with all the period test reviews, every single one of them refers to the fact that they lifted the design WHOLESALE from Honda. It was usually in the first or second paragraph, in fact. We all know it. DeTomaso copped to it. So why deny it?

I knew exactly what a real Moto Guzzi engine looked like before I joined (and left) the group, and you know, funny thing, it's exactly what a Guzzi engine looks like today: two big air cooled cylinders, horizontally-opposed or 45-Degrees or whatever it is. It's a thoroughbred design, it's the heritage and the history, it's pure and real Guzzi, it's the only thing that survived, because it was the only thing that was really any damn good and the only thing (I'm sure the smart folks at Piaggio picked up on this) WORTH PRESERVING. It's that wacky Darwin again!

"If I wanted a Honda, I'd have bought a Honda." See picture of Mr. Prampolini below, a real Italian engineer designing a real Italian engine in-house -- not stealing blueprints from Honda!!!

Regarding my decision to leave the group, one must (as my girlfriend says) "go where your market is." As a moderator, I get two or three people leaving the group PER DAY (you don't hear about these folks; I do) because you guys won't stop lavishing praise on your damn multis and ignoring every other Benelli ever made. My love for real pre-Tomaso Benellis from Pesaro (not by way of Tokyo) is an antidote to this illness. Since you all HAVE these bikes and since you all spend your days worshipping them, it's just externalized self-love, in my opinion. See earlier blog posts for my uncensored take on this phenomenon!

Also, if you go back into the archives, you will see that I have been more or less ruthlessly attacked by people, often people with a complete disregard and lack of understanding of what I was saying. The "LINE" that people have crossed can be expressed thusly: I have never once attacked anyone on the forum, merely bikes and designs I didn't like. I never made things personal. Such comments are always offline and private and personal between me and the correspondent; one creep from the U.K. posted them publicly, a breach of the most basic e-mail etiquette and privacy, but after all, his only goal was to paint me black in the eyes of the group, not play fair or act decently. I have the right to my private opinions, however unflattering of others, and I have the right not to see these private opinions posted publicly!

All this, in essence, is why I left the group -- poor behavior and ignorance on the part of the participants. I'll continue to read the posts to make sure I don't miss anything interesting or useful (unless, as moderator, I choose to throw myself out of the group, ha-ha!), but I wouldn't dare contribute a word, for fear of being mocked and attacked, and to not commit the biblical error of pearls and swine.

Besides, this blog is a fine opportunity to say whatever I damn well please. After all, there may be a connection between "The DeTomaso" mentality (bigger is better, my engine is bigger than yours, therefore my [you know] must be bigger, too…) and charlatanism (the bikes weren't that great, nor were his cars, they were all flash, grandiose but not great).

DeTomaso was very wealthy, and very successful, but he was also very short. Can you say NAPOLEON? Sure you can….however much fun they ultimately end up having, successful men who become successful with girls only after they have their financial success must carry around with them a dirty, shameful little secret: if I was really attractive and desirable, why didn't girls want me BEFORE my success? Ask Pete Townshend with his big nose, or DiTomaso with his dimunitive stature, or countless "just plain pug-ugly" millionaires!!!

There were many errors of thought and expression in your letter. I won't address them all. The Japanese copying Benelli and Guzzi engines? You are dreaming. Honda not suing Benelli as evidence of non-copying of the engine design? Hardly! 1) There may have been a licensing agreement in place, unknown to us -- some of the early articles stated that there was, and/or 2) Benelli had no significant money to chase down, so why bother? That's the first thing the lawyers look at -- how big is the potential booty?

Benelli's sales numbers were insignficant and so was the revenue stream. The canny Weiss/Wise family dropped them like a hot potato as soon as there was a good excuse -- the lousy transmission design. Which was lousy, some say, because it was (HERE WE GO AGAIN!) a copy of the Honda design, which was made for the 500, and didn't have the strength to handle the 750's extra two cylinders, torque, and power!!!

Right! You can see that lack of originality and creativity has its technical and (ultimately) sales consequences!

As for DeTomaso "saving" Benelli, it's much like "selling the farm" or "killing the goose that laid the golden egg" or spending your last dollar on a small packet of drugs. You get the initial cash boost, it feels good, but you've signed your death warrant, even if it takes a few years for the executors to knock on the door....

Thanks for your kindness and sincerity,

Over and Out,


SS

HAVE BONNIE WILL TRAVEL

So I sold my 1974 Benelli Tornado 650S (weeping and gnashing of teeth!) and bought a 2008 Triumph Bonneville T100 with lots of cool accessories. Here is a picture of my Triumphant (pun intended) departure from Denver. Drove the bike down to Santa Fe in one day, a bit chilly but I was well-wrapped up so not unmangeable. Bike ran nicely. Too Much Fun, love these motorcycle adventures!

The Tornado will adorn an Attorney's Office (Terrific Conversation Piece!!!) for the winter, and then, after some very minor repairs and tune-up work, will take to the roads again...

Selling The Tornado was a wrench and I hope someday to acquire another one.

JE ACCUSE!

Sean,

Who said I was a class act? Certainly not the members of this group!!!!

"I am what I am" is a better way of putting it.

I am off the group totally and what I do on my blog is, for sure, my own business! And I have the right to my own opinions, be they the dubious character of the Benelli Multis, or the dubious character of most of the Yahoo Benelli Forum Group.

I am DESPERATELY seeking a new moderator so I can bail, would you like to volunteer? It's REALLY EASY.

I trust such morning revelations as being divine inspiration or something close.

Here I was, anguished and confused about the group, and how they have continually mocked, ignored, or denigrated my opinions and postings since DAY ONE.

After I realized what was going on, I understood all and felt much better. Hell, as a Christian Boy, I'll even forgive 'em! But it doesn't mean I want any part of it, not one little bit.

I'm totally clear on it.

SS

CIRCLE JERKS!

I had to leave the Yahoo Benelli Forum last night, tired of being ignored and attacked. Buncha Losers! In the delicious half-sleep state this morning (which also, sometimes, brings the gift of visions and revelations) the phrase "circle jerk" came to mind: The Benelli Yahoo Group is a circle jerk!

Now what is that? Here's what the dictionary says:

"A Circle Jerk"

1.) When a group of males sit in a circle, jerking each other off.

2.) *NOT* when a group of males stand in a circle to jerk off onto a cookie or anything of the sort. That retarded frat game is called "Limp Biscuit"... which kind of indirectly explains why the band of the same namesake is so fucking horrible.

3.) When a bunch of blowhards - usually politicians - get together for a debate but usually end up agreeing with each other's viewpoints to the point of redundancy, stroking each other's egos as if they were extensions of their genitals (ergo, the mastubatory insinuation). Basically, it's what happens when the choir preaches to itself.

Well, number 3 sounds about right!

Old Cosmo Now Home to Feral Cats!!!

I also got to see the "old" Cosmopolitan Motors complex in Hatboro, Pennsylvania -- now closed, and soon to be razed for a luxury condominium development (what else? a parking lot?) called "StoveWorks." This large building was a beehive of motorcycle activity in the 60s, 70s, and into the 80s and 90s. It is now overrun by feral cats, which Mr. Larry Wise (Weiss) kindly suggested I take back to New Mexico with me!!! I would have preferred some motorcycling souvenirs...

At left is an outrageously-cool, vintage Italian-Built Super-Duper electronic component tester. At right, the old Cosmo Dyno(meter) room, now leased to an automotive body shop....

Visit To The Enchanted Kingdom!!!

I spent several days in March visiting the incomparable Joe Purshock of Vintage Cosmo in Hatfield, Pennsylvania (that's Joe, below) . Joe is the owner of Vintage Cosmo and the de facto custodian of this fantastic collection of original vintage NOS Italian motorcycle parts and accessories.

Did I say parts and accessories? At Vintage Cosmo, there are also many holy sacred relics -- check out this beautiful Benelli Sign, below, one of two in the world (the other is at the factory in Pesaro). Handmade after the war, it is a thing of great beauty and it would take an incalculable sum to wrest it from him!

Early warning to motorcycle museum curators who want these thing for free: forget about it, it ain't gonna' happen!!! At right is another treasure, a lovely Benelli Moto sign -- so perfect it looks like a reproduction, but it isn't, it's an original. Stay tuned; Vintage Cosmo will soon be selling reproduction signs that look every bit as nice!

I also got a chance to see my 1966 Benelli Nuovo Leoncino 125 (sold in the U.S. as the Benelli "Cobra Scrambler") at the tail-end of its superb restoration by Claudio Catania of CFM Motorcycles. This bike was a basket-case before Claudio took it in, and he's been fixing it up for months. The bike is virtually all NOS (new old stock) parts, and it shows -- the bike looks like it was made yesterday, not 42 years ago! I took the bike for a test drive and it motors right along, a real blast to drive. Nice work, Claudio!

Claudio will also be re-doing a Benelli Cobra for me, and perhaps a rare Harley-Davidson Aermacchi mini that looks more like a bicycle than a motorcycle!!!

If you can't make it to Vintage Cosmo in person, you can always visit them on the web -- Joe's popular E-Bay Auctions, great parts and accessories spiced with his unique commentaries and personal perspectives, can be seen at: www.http://stores.ebay.com/Cosmopolitan-Motors

Joe will also be attending several vintage motorcycling events this season, including Mid-Ohio (AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days), July 25-27th; and the Barber Vintage Festival (October 17-19th) in Alabama. He'll have truckloads of vintage goodies with him, and new stuff like helmets, t-shirts, and more.

Should be a great season!