Benelli has been putting in a fair amount of work lately ensuring their North American customers have good access to their new models of motorcycles. Following their TRK502 and TRK502X announcement earlier, we’re pleased to see that the brand has just launched the Leoncino 500 for the market here in the USA.
This motorcycle is a great beginner’s mid-weight bike or for the casual weekend rider looking to get around in style and comfort. The motorcycle features a 499.6cc (let’s just call it 500) parallel-twin engine producing 46.9 horsepower at 8500 rpm with the engine making peak torque numbers of 33 lb-ft at the 5000 rpm mark. For the power-to-weight gurus out there, the motorcycle weighs ~410lbs for reference.
All off these details boil down to the Leoncino 500 being a remarkably tame motorcycle for casual riders while maintaining visual styling freakishly similar to that of the new Yamaha XSR700 with having around 45% less horsepower.
The motorcycle is made in China as Benelli is indeed a Chinese/Italian manufacturer, but that is an important factor that helps bring the overall cost down to make it an accessible option for many different kinds of riders.
Luckily for the newer riders that may be drawn to this bike, it comes standard with ABS with some Pirelli Angel ST tires for great stopping potential and a 31-inch seat height for comfortably planting your feet.
With a low MSRP of just $6,199, I don’t see why this motorcycle won’t be on top beginner’s motorcycle lists in the future. We’ll have to see some official reviews to come once American writers can get their hands on some test rides.