Good, but Not Original
A patent filed by Chinese manufacturer Benda on July 10 shows a power cruiser model that could rival some of the other muscled-out cruisers currently on sale. According to Cycle World, the bike’s name is currently the Benda BD700.
Many Chinese manufacturers of motorcycles earn trust in the industry by producing motorcycles for European and Japanese companies. The bikes coming out of the country are genuinely good machines, and that’s why the Benda BD700 could be a big deal.
The bike features an inline four-cylinder engine with a displacement of around 700cc. Cycle World notes that the engine looks an awful lot like the Honda CB650R engine, but it features different castings and some other elements, so it’s not an exact copy. It should produce good power.
Another thing that makes you take notice of this bike is that it has an aluminum frame. It has a large double-sided swingarm and appears to be pretty beefy, but it should have a light curb weight thanks to the aluminum construction. The exhaust is collected under the middle of the bike and spits out to the right-hand side with four different pipes. It looks good.
The rest of the bike has a somewhat of a Ducati Diavel look to it, though it’s far from a straight copy. Benda has blended a lot of previously seen styling elements into one good-looking bike. The bike will likely get LED lights, a TFT dash, ABS, and some other modern features commonly found on other motorcycles.
It’s designed as a production bike, but it hasn’t officially been announced, and that means your guess is as good as mine as far as price and the number of markets it will be sold in. The Benda BD700 is far from full of new ideas, but it shows that Chinese companies are getting really good a putting together motorcycles similar to what’s already out there. I could see this being a good bike, though not an innovative one.
