1970s Benelli 650 Tornado sought

[dunedinite]

I'm looking for one of these in any condition. I see there was one for sale on Trade Me back in October 2010 and wonder if anyone still has the link to that listing or know what happened to that bike or can put me onto another one for sale. I'll consider absolutely any condition as the alternative will be to bring one in from the U.S. There may even be a little "thank you" for the person who can put me onto a successful purchase. Cheers, Seth.

[Grumph]

Firstly - they're not nice - being polite, I'll merely describe them as awkward to work on...with a number of potentially expensive faults.

Secondly - follow up any Invercargill contacts you have as there's a Benelli fanatic who does the Burt Munro every year and usually brings along a few Benellis to show off. I believe he's an Invercargill local.

As the motors get older/worse the running gear becomes more attractive to specials builders and racers...38mm Cerianis or Marzocchis and the big drum brakes....a lot have been broken up.

[dunedinite]

Hi Grumph, thats for the feedback. I was brought up on Fiats... need I say more

I only know one guy in Invercargill so will give him a call but in the meantime does anyone know of any others?

Cheers
Seth

[Road kill]

Can't help,,but had one during the early 80's.
Spent lots of time working on it "happily".
Bought new workshop manual in from company,,,written in Italian,,,stupid $%# spent lots of time getting it translated by Italian guy at AK Uni.

[Atlas]

needs some fettling and too rare to be broken up. Quietly impressed. Need to source a new taillight.
I do have the full workshop manual in both English and Italian.
A recent acquisition, came from Ashburton...

[Voltaire]

looks nice, I imagine being Italian it shares a lot of parts with other Italian bikes in the electrics department. You could try some of the Guzzi and Ducati sites.
I think a lot of the problems with bikes of the past was poor electrics.... I run a 'hand grenade' Norton Combat and it runs really well with electronic ignition, better electrics and sleeved Amals. Usually starts in 2 or 3 kicks.
I don't know anything about Benellis but as the owner of a couple of BMW's, a Ducati and a Norton I can work out most problems.....might be able to assist with ideas.
I'm only in Auckland and any excuse to do SH 16 on a Sunday morning....

Did I not recently see on on TM ?

[Woodman]

I bump int a guy occaisionally here in Richmond thats got a Tornado. He's had it for bloody years. Pretty sure he won't part with it, but he may have some contacts.

If you want I can PM his contact details. Worth a go.

[Paul in NZ]

looks nice, I imagine being Italian it shares a lot of parts with other Italian bikes in the electrics department. You could try some of the Guzzi and Ducati sites.?

My guzzi has exclusively BOSCH electrics....

Yeah - we looked at the Tornados when they were new. Like the parsons egg - good in parts but frankly a Guzzi and an ancient triumph is enough bother for any one man... Back then the benelli just seemed an expensive way to not go very fast...

[Atlas]

My guzzi has exclusively BOSCH electrics....

Yeah - we looked at the Tornados when they were new. Like the parsons egg - good in parts but frankly a Guzzi and an ancient triumph is enough bother for any one man... Back then the benelli just seemed an expensive way to not go very fast...

A mate has described it as a poor mans laverda! not quite sure he's right but I know what he means. Certainly a fairly rare beastie and I am partial to a 650 twin albeit preferably with a three rifle motif, but they never made those with 5 speeds and an electric leg in the day.
Certainly a solid wee motor, 4 bearing crank and pushrods, so within my knowledge base of old pommie rubbish.
On our shitty B roads, with drum brakes will be fast enough for me to have some entertainment.

Yes appears to be all bosch.

[Voltaire]

My guzzi has exclusively BOSCH electrics....

Yeah - we looked at the Tornados when they were new. Like the parsons egg - good in parts but frankly a Guzzi and an ancient triumph is enough bother for any one man... Back then the benelli just seemed an expensive way to not go very fast...

On my latest money pit ...the Monza I noticed that it had much the same electrics as a 70's BMW.... My Ducati had Bosch Ignition and Nippon Denso instruments.

[Paul in NZ]

On my latest money pit ...the Monza I noticed that it had much the same electrics as a 70's BMW.... My Ducati had Bosch Ignition and Nippon Denso instruments.

Correct but with a taper fitment instead of a shaft.

[Paul in NZ]

A mate has described it as a poor mans laverda! not quite sure he's right but I know what he means. Certainly a fairly rare beastie and I am partial to a 650 twin albeit preferably with a three rifle motif, but they never made those with 5 speeds and an electric leg in the day.
Certainly a solid wee motor, 4 bearing crank and pushrods, so within my knowledge base of old pommie rubbish.
On our shitty B roads, with drum brakes will be fast enough for me to have some entertainment.

Yes appears to be all bosch.

Yup - the seemed to go OK but from memory they were let down by being horribly heavy so reliability aside your average 650 Triumph would slay one in the twisties despite the better spec of the Benelli... One came for a fang around the summit road with our regular group... I passed him (on my Atlas) going up Dyers Pass road and never saw him again. I think he was a bit discouraged....

[Atlas]

Yup - the seemed to go OK but from memory they were let down by being horribly heavy so reliability aside your average 650 Triumph would slay one in the twisties despite the better spec of the Benelli... One came for a fang around the summit road with our regular group... I passed him (on my Atlas) going up Dyers Pass road and never saw him again. I think he was a bit discouraged....

Sounds like rider ability...they are typical Italian, two big dustbin lids on a very short stroke. Would need to be pedalled along and use the gears; but period and more recent reviews suggest they should be quite capable on keeping up with anything from the period and provide the rider with smiles. Have yet to ride this one but I see no reason it couldnt hold its own with the throttle applied accordingly.

[Motu]

Tall and heavy with a trail bike 1st gear...the one I used to ride had a Fontana front brake. That low 1st gear made around town hooning annoying.

[Paul in NZ]

To be fair all the stuff we were riding was well stripped down (Ok all the heavy stuff fell off) and the Tornado was stock so our bikes were probably 40 to 50kg lighter which was the big difference around the hills plus we did it every week..... sometimes twice if the weather was agreeable...