We get lots of stuff from China today, right?
And China does get a bad rep for making a lot of BS products, but think about it,
if you're watching this on your phone, chances are, it was made in China.
And the most premium phone in the world,
the Apple iPhone, is designed in California, but it is manufactured in China.
And that's more or less the story of the Benelli as well.
This is an Italian motorcycle, designed in Italy, but it is manufactured by the owners
of Benelli, Qianjiang or Q.J., in China.
So today the question is, this is the 502C and what does the C stand for?
Cruiser, cheap, Chinese, or something else, let's find out.
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And now let's get on with ridign the mini Diavel of the day.
Powering the 502C is the 500cc parallel twin that we also see on the TRK and the Leoncino.
And it may not be the most powerful or most torquey engine you'll see
in a 500cc parallel twin configuration, but it certainly is a likeable engine
because overall it's a pretty smooth motor torque is easy and abundant
and you can get on with riding in the city or out on the highway pretty easily.
The only issue is, this peg starts to vibrate, about 6500-7000RPM onwards.
But what I found really interesting is that with the ear plugs in as you accelerate on
the Benelli it sort of sounds like the old rally car video that you're watching on
Facebook or something, that I was not expecting.
I was also not expecting to find the TRK's frame here.
Turns out, the old TRK's steel trellis frame, which significantly changed steering geometry,
suspension, a new swingarm, is how the frame for the 502C was created.
And a lot of these parts are made for Q.J. by, yes, Q.J., but how does it work?
In terms of ride quality, braking and handling,
the Benelli is sort of like your neighbourhood's favourite Chinese takeout place,
it does pretty well for itself.
So visually, it looks like a long motorcycle,
but since they didn't go overboard with the size of the rear tire, it actually goes into
corners quite nicely, even despite the extra wheelbase and the extra rake and trail and all
of that. They've also raised the pegs a little bit, so you don't actually scrape them very early.
Similarly, ride quality, this is not the most comfortable motorcycle will ever ride,
but it certainly does enough to take the sting out of the nastiest stuff that you will hit,
so it does a competent job there.
And I have to say the same about braking as well, and the bite is pretty well.
It's neither too sharp nor too soft.
So in that sense, I'm a little bit surprised, but this motorcycle handles all of those departments
pretty well for itself.
The 502C has a pleasant, if slightly slow engine, a likeable, friendly dynamics package,
but the fact is, you're considering it because of how it looks, right?
The Ducati Diavel is becoming a bit of a design classic, right, because everybody who tries
to make a power cruiser, ends up with something that reminds you strongly of the Diavel.
But, this is also where the 502C's design runs into trouble.
The Ducati can run a much larger tire at the back, it's part of the visual appeal of the Diavel
because it is a physically larger motorcycle.
The Benelli makes do with a 160 section,
and I'm okay with that because it makes the handling great,
but that also makes the rear the weakest
angle to look at the motorcycle from.
The other problem of course is the Ducati engine is much larger, so it fills out the motorcycle better.
The 500cc parallel twin, it's super compact.
And now to the multiple choice question section of the design, this headlight is going to
polarise opinion for sure,
so what I wanted to know from you, in the comments, whether you think this looks like
A) The original headlight from the Duke in terms of at least shape B) the Phantom
C) The movie Scream D) The movie Mummy E) All of the above and F) None of the above
So let's wrap this up with the C's that we started with and
let's start with C, with Chinese. That is definitely made in China,
but I have to say, Benelli's quality levels are coming along rather nicely,
there's another C in there, the second C is for cheap and it is an affordable motorcycle.
So if there's a Diavel in your head, but your bank balance doesn't support it,
I think you'll do just fine with a motorcycle like this.
The third C was for cruiser and it's not, honestly, an old school cruiser at all,
neither is the motorcycle it competes with which is the Kawasaki Vulcan S which is similarly priced.
That brings us to a question that's bothered me since I saw that Diavel for the first time,
which is, what is a power cruiser, as a format, supposed to do in Indian conditions.
What do you think this motorcycle is for?
Do leave us a comment.
Do also tell us what you thought of the 502C as a motorcycle,
that would be really helpful for us.
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