Is this a 600cc Benelli tourer?

Parent firm designs new version of the Benelli four-cylinder

BENELLI’S four-cylinder BN600 is a bike with an identity crisis. It’s a Benelli, but it’s also a Keeway RK6. And it’s a QJiang QJ600. Or a Generic GSR600. And it’s a KSR Moto GRS600, or a Zanella FJ600. It all depends on where you live.

All those bikes are basically identical and come from Chinese firm Qianjiang, which sells them under different names in various parts of the world. The plastics change a bit from version to version, and Benelli recently showed a half-faired ‘GT’ model that hasn’t turned up under any other name yet, but underneath they’re all the same.

And underneath the somewhat bulbous bodywork of this Qjiang-branded police bike resides exactly the same chassis, engine, suspension and everything else that’s already shared by all those bikes.

The design has appeared via a Chinese patent from Qianjiang. They’ve clearly got the police in mind, which is presumably a pretty huge market in itself in China, but once the bike is in production surely the same bodywork, albeit with a pillion seat instead of the extra equipment area of the cop version, must be on the cards. As a Benelli? More than likely in some parts of the world.