Benelli took to the stage at EICMA this year to unveil its Leoncino 800 concept bike. In terms of styling, the bike is similar to the Leoncino 500 and looks part of the Leoncino family. The unique tank-profile, minimalistic rear end and exposed trellis frame are all styling cues we have seen before. However, this time around, everything is a lot beefier. The matte-black colour scheme also works well with the design of the motorcycle. That being said, one must keep in mind that this is only a concept and that the production-ready version will have a few changes.
Powering the bike is a 750cc parallel-twin motor sourced from the 2019 Benelli 752S. The liquid-cooled engine produces 77hp and 67Nm of torque on the 752S; but it is speculated that the same powerplant could be tuned or geared differently for application in the production-ready Leoncino 800. The motorcycle also has a new frame to accommodate the new powerplant. Suspension hardware consists of a stocky USD fork and a monoshock unit at the rear. Although the brakes are petal-type on the Leoncino 800, while the concept bike rides on spoked wheels and scrambler-oriented tyres.
Benelli will showcase the production-spec version sometime next year – and it might come to India thanks to the recent Benelli-Mahavir Group tie-up. The Leoncino 800 will compete against the Ducati Scrambler 800.
Vishal Venugopal
Ved Janve
