500cc’s For Going Anywhere, Any Time
The adventure market is running a little thin for midsize bikes at the moment. Some adventure riders aren’t too keen on navigating a 1200cc monster up a rocky path, so we welcome the smaller TRK502(X) facelift with open arms.
Benelli and SSR Motorsports just unveiled their new adventure twins, the TRK502 and TRK502X. These mid-size go-anywhere bikes are wrapped around Benelli’s new four-valve 499.6cc parallel-twin powerplant. The new engine is a four-stroke, fuel-injected, with dual overhead cams and is liquid-cooled so the bike can avoid overheating when stuck in the mud or other tricky adventure scenarios (or maybe you’re stuck in traffic, that’s okay too).
These bad boys are fully equipped with a total of six gears for a wide spectrum of throttle control, built with rugged adventure in mind boasting a steel tube trellis frame, inverted front fork with 5.3 inches of travel, and the rear suspension with adjustable preload.
If you’re concerned about fuel issues, the bikes come with 20L (5.28 gal) tanks, although with the adjustable suspension coming in handy, you might as well strap a jerrycan to the back of it to get a little more distance out of your ride. My FJ09 (tracer) runs an 18L tank and I’ve never really had fuel concerns, but when you’re out in the middle of nowhere rocketing up the side of a mountain you never know what could happen.
Phew. Glad we got all that out of the way.
To clear up any confusion, the TRK502x is a TRK502 with a few creature-comforts for the adventure rider looking for higher ground clearance, wire-spoke wheels, and all a bike more suited for ADV riding despite looking quite similar at first glance.
Honestly, I think they nailed the high-end adventure bike look. If you rode past me fast enough I might even think you’re riding a Ducati Multistrada, as they share similar design cues with the more refined ADV bikes on the market.
If you are in the market for a smaller adventure bike without having to worry about laying down a $15,000 Multistrada because of a few bad trail mistakes, this is the bike for you retailing at only $5,999 for the TRK502, and $6,399 for the TRK502X. Both bikes are coming to US distributors as we speak, so go check em’ out at your nearest SSR/Benelli dealership!
Youtuber Emil Sbaste has a great video doing a quick walk-around of the bike for you to get a closer look at some of the details. Watch below.