1973 Benelli 650S Tornado

Enlarge Image Image Gallery 1973 Benelli 650S Tornado Photo by James Adam Bolton

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Benelli 650S Tornado
Years produced: 1968 – 1976
Claimed power: 57hp @ 7,400rpm
Top speed: 97mph (period test)
Engine type: 642cc OHV air-cooled parallel twin
Weight (wet): 480lb (217kg)
Price then: $1,779 (1973)
Price now: $3,500-$6,000
MPG: 40-50

I know absolutely nothing about this motorcycle’s past. It has no documented history that I know of. No boxes of receipts and musty old records to its name. No “owner Jim bought this bike in 10 boxes, spent five years restoring it and it has won many show prizes” story.

The most specific information I can register by looking at the machine is that it has Benelli badges on the tank, “650S” on the side panels, and it’s a parallel twin. I know that it’s also called a Tornado and I haven’t ridden one like it before. I maybe even unconsciously and sentimentally picked it out from a couple of bikes on offer at a shop because the metal flake lime green looks to have come from the same batch of paint floating around Europe in 1970 that also fabulously adorned the Ford Cortina 1600E my dad used to own.

Perhaps that’s not a logical reason to ride and write about an old motorcycle, but it’s as good as any; non-scientific, random, and more honest, perhaps? It’s also refreshing to try out a bike and have no expectations to fulfill. No concerned owner worried about their pride and joy being ridden by someone else they’ve only known for 10 minutes. No having to recall someone saying “remember what I said about the front brake” or “don’t take her past 3,500rpm.” Walking round and round a motorcycle and taking mental notes, as well as those with pencil and paper, is always best done alone.

First impressions
On first look, my feelings are slightly mixed. It’s a very compact but robust looking bike — sort of like a Honda Benly that’s been pumping iron and abusing steroids. A graceful swan it is not. Bits of it just seem, well, big. The massive front brake, the large, slabby side panels, the fat, oversized rubber grips and big, child-friendly black starter button. The aluminum crankcase features generous surfaces, and is topped with a barrel and cylinder head that seem to want to burst out of the confines of the frame. Stubby but tapered silencers sit at an angle that doesn’t help to elongate the profile of the Benelli. The handlebars are low on this bike, and being Tomassellis, I suspect they’re not the original equipment. Researching later, I find that most Tornados had higher bars, though there is one factory photo that shows this same model with bars at just this height. Italian parts bins of the era so often cause the confusions of today.

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