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Patents reveal Chinese-designed triple

QJiang tourer hints at 1200cc Benelli

Written by Ben Purvis , Date 2:02 PM
1200cc Benelli

Benelli may have faced a tough time over the last decade but its recent launches appear to be a return to form. Now there’s a plan for a new 1200cc Benelli triple and this patent appears to reveal exactly that.

The patent comes from Benelli’s parent, Chinese firm Qianjiang. It carries QJiang branding but it perfectly fits the company’s expansion plan for a 1200cc Benelli.

1200cc Benelli

Ignore the police equipment

Benelli has been praised for its most recent launches, the 500cc parallel twin TRK502 and Leoncino models. It intends to build upwards from those. A new 750cc parallel twin is in the works along with a new 900cc three-cylinder bike using a revised version of the existing Benelli triple. And finally there’s a plan for a 1200cc three-cylinder.

The design patents seen here show styling plans for the forthcoming 1200cc Benelli, suggesting it will initially appear as a tourer. The QJiang branding, visible on the engine, isn’t a surprise.  Some models that are called Benellis in Europe and America, like the BN600 four-cylinder, are already sold as QJiangs in China.

While it might seem strange that the patents show a bike kitted out with police equipment, including lights and sirens as well as a single seat unit and extra equipment space, it’s not that unusual. In China, several firms have revealed tourers in police form first, with civilian models coming later. CFMoto’s 650TK was first revealed in police guise, and even Suzuki’s Chinese-made GW250S first broke cover as a police-spec machine. The bike’s codename, QJ1200GS, confirms its expected 1200cc capacity.

1200cc Benelli

Rear shows twin LCDs and switches on bars

The QJiang/Benelli machine seen here is interesting for several reasons. First is that despite using a development of the existing three-cylinder engine, the bike has had a huge amount of development work including the addition of a shaft-drive transmission. That helps bring its specification very close to obvious rivals like the Triumph Trophy. The engine appears to sit in a steel tube frame, with plastic panels to give the impression of an aluminium beam. Upside-down forks and radial brakes suggest a sophisticated chassis, though.

Equipment levels are unknown. There’s clearly an electric windscreen and a large number of switches and buttons on the bars. We’d expect to see heated grips, a heated seat and all the other equipment that’s par for the course on big tourers. Dual LCD screens suggest that sat-nav will be included along with an infotainment system.

It’s likely that Benelli will take inspiration from rivals like BMW and Triumph and create several very distinct models around this engine, and possibly even the same chassis. An adventure-style bike to rival the Tiger Explorer and R1200GS seems near-certain, for instance.

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