1000 miles on a heavy underpowered china pig

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minkyhead
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1000 miles on a heavy underpowered china pig

Post by minkyhead »

took a punt on china benneli 70plate fully loaded 4 grand

done around1800 miles in three weeks and as a soft tourer with no off road expectations i have to say it exceeded expectations ..i like it quite lot so ill see how thing look in 15 months when the warranty runs out

it rides better than i thought it would very plush and stable and the suspension is pretty decent for a cheap bike in this class it must be amongst the most comfortable bikes ive ever sat on

..straight up ive just done 1000 miles in 4 days on 4 tanks of fuel ....and have little to gripe about

ive got 15 months warranty to see if holds up but so far it seems pretty well put together im going to run i till then ....err i hope :D

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Tonibe63
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Re: 1000 miles on a heavy underpowered china pig

Post by Tonibe63 »

I recently bought a 2 year old Benelli Leoncino 502 with 5k miles on the clock and loaded with extras. It's a very revy and willing engine which rides at motorway speeds (plus) and returns over 80mpg. The fit, finish and quality is very good.
Open your eyes and you see what is in front of you, open your mind and you see a bigger picture but open your heart and you see a whole new World.
Helicoptermanr22
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Re: 1000 miles on a heavy underpowered china pig

Post by Helicoptermanr22 »

Tbh it looks really good and brilliant video, i don't know anything about them however for the money and fun factor it get a 10/10 from me MH
Whippet
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Re: 1000 miles on a heavy underpowered china pig

Post by Whippet »

Great video Steve as usual, I’ve been sceptical about full bodied Chinese bikes , however it looks like the quality control is improving, it will be interesting to see what things are like in a years time 🧐.
Thanks very much for posting 👍
minkyhead
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Re: 1000 miles on a heavy underpowered china pig

Post by minkyhead »

got to admit i was/ am wary myself ..i was looking at the versys /wee stroms and saw a trk in a related article ...there were afew on ebay 2nd hand and i then did a lot of digging online .. there are literally hundreds of ride reports and vido reports on you tube and the thread that ran through them was it was very difficult to find a negative report on them ....they have been around since 2017 and in some countrys are quite abig selling bike .... in italy there are tens of thousands of them and were the top selling adv bike last year even toppling the mighty gs in to 2nd place notwithstanding the ultra low price ...maby it is also its the only fully dressed adv bike type machine thats a2 compliant that is quite a cleve r move it certainly fits well with bigger lads who may look like elphant ring a flea on some machines in the class ..it does feel substantial super wether protecion and comfort very hard to knock and very easy to ride as long as you are happy to live 30to 80mph ..i guess it will top out around a100 mph and i really have no desire to find out just keep it between 4and 7k revs and performs better than you expect ..theres a few niggles and it may be a little ott styling wise but having ridden it for near 2k miles and understanding it is indeed a a2 class bike its hard not to like it ..basic service intervals are 4k and valve checks at 14k so nothing too stressful there

so armed with the above info and a private bike 4k no offers on ebay ..a short test ride and a punt was taken ..it rides pretty well i think ..the engine is not what you expect super flexable ..will pull 6th gear clean away from 30mph flawleass fueling its like riding a autamatic at times ..in touring mode day 1 i clocked 239 miles and thought id fill it for day 2 it took 14.5 litres leaving 5.5 in hand of the20litre tank so the tank range is stress free for the days ride for sure .its also comfy enough to empty a tank in one sitting
trusting soul ive 40 quids worth of green flag on her :mrgreen: ..im of the opinion so far that i may not need it ..im going to run it a while its quitelikable ...time will tell
Last edited by minkyhead on Mon Sep 06, 2021 8:53 am, edited 2 times in total.
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cowling
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Re: 1000 miles on a heavy underpowered china pig

Post by cowling »

Just brilliant minky, the bike looks great and it looks like it's passed its first test with flying colours. 😀

You found some great roads there, early on in the video you followed a rocky stream/River, is that the one that runs through the cheviot hills ? It comes out on the a68 near the end/start of keilder forest drive.

You love a mini adventure, braaaaaap !!!!!
minkyhead
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Re: 1000 miles on a heavy underpowered china pig

Post by minkyhead »

went through the hills around rothbury way neil .....loose rout bowland hawes buttertubs middleton stanhope rothbury keilder selkirk threel lochs ....galloway forest road tourist route ...raiders road old edinborough road portpatrick ..peninsula ..switch to lakes winlatter honister wynrose and hardknott

braaaaaaap
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Uncle Buck
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Re: 1000 miles on a heavy underpowered china pig

Post by Uncle Buck »

How's the suspension?
minkyhead
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Re: 1000 miles on a heavy underpowered china pig

Post by minkyhead »

Uncle Buck wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 12:17 pm How's the suspension?
he he you know in pretty fussy buck but tbo its very acceptable as is ..the front forks are beefy 50mm jobs and do a very nice job ..the rear is acceptable not quite as pliant as the front .... its well sprung has rebound and preload ... stattic and rider sag are well good enough and it should take apillion no bother ..for four grand its way better than you may expect ..i keep coming back to that the price is nuts tbo
ive radically altered the gearing from 14/44 to 15/42 and it really does chuga along nice ..the i/e gearing was supposidly for off road and was way to fussy ..it now does a very acceptable sat nav at 80mph on the motorway around 6.5 k revs ..stable as feck could ride with no hands .. csnt knock it so far

just how long for is the question ......its good enough for me to want to run it to find out i do rather like it ...

keep well m8
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Helicoptermanr22
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Re: 1000 miles on a heavy underpowered china pig

Post by Helicoptermanr22 »

Well as said it looks great, suppose were trying to find the flaws as almost too good to be true however i seriously cant find anything relevant on line,
Id definitely look at one if i get near a dealership but have too many toys at mo.
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