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"Pure passion since 1911" - Benelli er en av verdens eldste produsenter av motorsykler, og har i 2007 en bredere modellinje enn noen gang tidligere.

This is the definition of Trinitrotoluene, better known in its abbreviated form as TNT: a powerful but stable explosive that is insensitive to friction and jarring and needs a detonator to set it off.

Benelli admitted at the time it presented the new TNT - Naked/Cafe Racer that it aimed to combine the dynamic qualities of the Tornado 900 Tre supersports bike and the new three-cylinder 1130 cc engine developed by the firm. The result was to be the most explosive and powerful bike, but also the most enjoyable and exciting on the market.

   

But the bike also had to be a logical continuation of the Tornado range. It had to retain the latter's unique character and style, an unmistakable Benelli trade-mark.

The TNT's first dynamic tests allow us to say right now that we have certainly achieved this.

The natural heir to the '70s Café Racer, designed to burn up the road between traffic lights rather than travel long distances or cruise at high speeds, our Naked bike needed an engine that had lots of torque even at low speeds and was very flexible.

That's what we were aiming for when we started developing the new engine.

By increasing the stroke of our sports engine, we were looking for good torque at low speeds but we also increased the power. Today we can safely say that we have created our first "Long Stroke" sports engine.

DEFINITION OF THE BENELLI TNT PROJECT

Four basic characteristics were identified at the moment of project definition.

1. Appeal and exclusivity of design to heighten owner pride.

2. Torque: the best in its category at low RPM to ensure superb out-of-the-bend performance and smooth handling on easier roads.

3. Making the TNT agile, to exploit the engine and the chassis's superb potential on mixed-road routes and under any circumstances.

4. Excellent high speed stability for good motorcycle control on the motorway, allowing maintenance of high average speeds, albeit at the expense of aerodynamic comfort.