History of Benelli and Motobi
Six
brothers founded the Benelli concern in 1911 in Pesaro on the Adriatic
coast. It is one of the oldest surviving motorcycle builders in Italy.
They started as a repair business and gradually moved on to producing a
variety of components for various diverse industries including firearms.
Right - The Benelli brothers in 1929: from left, Antonio (Tonino), Francesco, Giovanni, Giuseppe, Fillipo and Domenico.
The first motorcycles
After the First World War the company started motorcycle production
with the introduction of lightweight motorcycles of 98cc, soon
increased to 150cc. Giovanni and Guiseppe were the engineers, Filipo
and Domenico the accountants, Tonino was the racer, Francesco
concentrated on his car business. Tonino started racing on a tuned
version of the firm's 150cc model and gained many successes. In 1927
the firm built a 175cc overhead cam racer for Tonino which proved to be
unbeatable. In 1932 a double overhead cam version was produced, and
machines based on this design were to race into the 1960s. A bad crash
in 1932 was to end Tonino's racing career. He continued as a factory
test rider until his death, on a test run, in 1937.
By the mid 1930s Benelli was one of the top five Italian motorcycle
manufacturers. In 1938, a supercharged 250 four cylinder, water cooled
bike was developed, producing 62 bhp. Unfortunately this was never
raced due to the start of WW2.
During World War Two the factory started making parts for the military.
After the war many small capacity machines were made and of note were
the two and four stroke versions of the Leoncino 125.
Motobi
The Motobi marque emerged in 1950 as a separate concern when Giuseppe
left to form his own company (moto is the Italian word for motorcycle,
b was for Benelli, Moto-B). Motobi produced a range of two stroke
lightweight motorcycles with horizontal engines, and then the familiar
horizontal (egg-shaped) four stroke engines which remained in
production for almost twenty years.
Meanwhile Benelli, and to a lesser extent Motobi, were very active on
the racing scene and famous riders include Renzo Pasolini, Mike
Hailwood, Tarquino Provini, Silvio Grassetti and the Benelli 250cc
World champion in 1969, Kel Carruthers.
During the 1960s, Benelli, who by now had the Motobi marque back with
them, started exporting considerable numbers of machines to the USA,
namely the 250 Motobi inspired singles, also vertical singles in 2 and
4 stroke versions, and finally what many regard as the last real
Benelli before the Tomaso takeover, the 650cc Tornado.
The De Tomaso years
As the Seventies dawned the Argentinian Alejandro De Tomaso bought
Benelli and also Moto Guzzi who were both in financial trouble. A range
of 4 and 6 cylinder bikes were produced to supplement the existing
range of smaller bikes, ranging from the 4 cylinder 250 to the
mighty 750cc and 900cc 6 cylinder models. During the '80s Benelli focussed much of its efforts on its new range of mopeds and scooters. In 1987 2 new 125s were produced: the exciting 125cc Jarno street racer and BKX, at which time it was announced that Benelli would focus entirely on small capacity 2 strokes, while Guzzi concentrated on the larger capacity bikes. However, sales continue to decrease and in 1898 Benelli was sold to the Gruppo Biesse, owned by Giancarlo Selci. During the 90s Benelli produced significant numbers of small lightweight models, but no larger bikes.
A bright future?
In 1995 Andrea Merloni took over Benelli and the marque was revived as a producer of larger bikes with the 2002 launch of the Tornado 900 Tre super sport bike. The company are now part of the QianJiang group, and produce a range of scooters as well as the modern sports bikes. In 2011 Benelli celebrate their centenary in Pesaro, and a new range of bikes has just been announced..