THE unfortunately named Benda Motorcycles could be about to launch a very interesting motorcycle that could fall into its own segment within the market.
The as-yet-unnamed machine will be built by Zhejiang Changling Benjiang (Benjian) Motorcycle Co., but as that’s a bit of a mouthful they instead opted for the name Benda – stop sniggering at the back!
The bike they are teasing is on the face of it, a conventional cruiser type machine, with muscular bodywork and a stance that is not dissimilar to that of the current crop of power cruisers – think Diavel, FXDR and so on.
But the stance and styling of the machine aren’t what makes the bike unusual, it’s the engine size and configuration that the company has settled on that makes it stand out from the crowd.
Benda are no stranger to cruisers; they currently have the BD250 and BD400 cruiser already for sale in their home market of China. But both those machines are powered by small capacity twin-cylinder engines, the latest bike looks to be powered by an inline four-cylinder lump.
Evoking memories of custom choppers with GSF1200 engines this may do, although fans of big displacements may be a little confused by the bike’s capacity. Benda is reported to be looking at slotting a 750cc engine into the machine, that at first looks like an own goal given the average capacity in this class of full-sized machines being over 1000cc.
But the more you look, the more it could actually work, forcing the new bike into its own little niche of the mid-weight power-cruiser.
We have no official word as to the bike's direction and whether it will make it to Europe or the UK, but for fans of the power cruiser aesthetic that ride on an A2 licence – the Benda might be an interesting avenue to take.
We’d probably advise removing the badges though!
