Benelli Leoncino Spotted Testing In India

We’d recently told you about Benelli’s plans to get the Leoncino range to India, and now the bike has been spotted testing on Indian tarmac for the first time. The upcoming motorcycle was spotted testing around Pune, which indicates that the Italian manufacturer is gearing up to launch the motorcycle in India soon.

The Italian motorcycle brand had showcased three different versions of Benelli Leoncino at EICMA in Milan, Italy, this year. These included the 500 Sport, which is a cafe racer-inspired motorcycle; a 250cc version, which is by far their smallest offering; and the 2018 version of the stock Leoncino. At the event, the manufacturer said that all three of them could be launched in India soon.

Like most things Italian, the Leoncino is a beautiful looking bike. Designed by CentroStile Benelli, the bike features a round headlight and an upright riding stance with a single piece seat. It gets a dual tone front fender, fuel tank and floating tailpiece.The bike is powered by a 499.6cc twin-cylinder, 4-stroke, liquid-cooled engine that churns out 47.6PS of peak power at 8500rpm and 45Nm of peak torque at 5000rpm. It uses a 6-speed gearbox to transfer all that power to the road and also gets a hydraulic clutch as well.

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The bike gets 45mm USD forks at the front and a monoshock unit at the rear. To bring the motorcycle to a standstill, Benelli has employed a 320mm twin petal disc brakes with 4-piston calipers at the front end and a 260mm disc with a single petal disc with a single piston floating caliper at the rear. The 17-inch spoke wheels made of aluminium alloy are shod with tyres that suitable for both on and mild off-roading. The Leoncino gets ABS, a digital instrument console, and an all-LED lighting system as well.

But, these specs aren’t what the Leoncino range is truly known for. The bikes were first introduced post World War I and have been one of their most successful and premium looking contributions to the motorcycling world. At the 2015 EICMA, Benelli revived these scrambler-inspired motorcycles with a retro design. It promised a blend of elegance from the classic motorcycle era and the technology from the present day. In Italian, Leoncino stands for ‘lion cubs’. On that end, the Leoncino gets a small but fierce ‘Lion of Pesaro’ that sits on the front mudguard. The Leoncino is expected to be launched by early 2018 and is expected to be priced around Rs 4-4.5 lakh as it will be assembled by DSK-Motowheels at its facility in Maharashtra.