TNT just blows us away

MCN road tester Michael Neeves took a world exclusive first ride on Benelli’s explosive TNT on the mountainous roads of northern Italy this week.

His full report is in MCN out on Wednesday, April 14, 2004, but he was so excited by the bike he couldn’t stop talking when he arrived back in the MCN office.

” When you first see it in the flesh you can’t believe how radical it looks. It simply hasn’t been watered down at all from the original designs, ” he raved.

” It really is a special bike, it’s just so unusual… you can’t see the Japanese building anything like this.

” The tank’s very short and the bars are very wide and then you notice the 1130cc decal on the tank and think… this thing’s over 1000cc and it feels this small! It just has to be an animal. And it is.

” When you first give it some stick with cold tyres it just wheelspins in first and second gear, it’s got so much low-down stomp. When the tyres are warm it’s just a wheelie machine. ”

” You can compare it to an MV Agusta Brutale or an Aprilia Tuono… but they are more refined. This is just mad.

” And despite budget suspension it handles well and it stops well too. ”

” With all that said, it’s comfortable and controllable when trickling through towns. It’s just as enjoyable in traffic as it is going banzai through the mountain twisties. ”

Read the full story of why this could be the maddest streetbike yet in MCN, out Wednesday April 14.

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