Editor’s Pick June 2025 | Benelli’s ticking timebomb!

Reviews editor Dan Trent writes…

I’m still new enough to this motorcycling lark to be in that sponge-like, every-day-a-school-day journey of discovery. A mood I honestly never want to lose.
Bringing me to the Benelli TNT1130, a bike that by all accounts lives up to its explosive name. Not always in a good way.

This all started with a loan of a modern Benelli, this being the current Leoncino 800 Trail, a kind of retro-modern scrambler thing the less generous might dismiss as a budget Ducati Scrambler rip-off. Sure, it’s got some rough edges. But with brand-new pre-registered ones available for less than six grand at the moment it’s a bit of a steal, and great fun to ride.
It certainly over-delivers on the engine front, the 82 horsepower having its work cut out against the Leoncino’s chunky build but surprisingly rude for what I assumed was a generic modern parallel-twin. Only it turns out it is anything but, a call to Benelli importer Moto GB revealing this motor is, in fact, ‘two thirds’ of the triple from the Benelli TNT 1130. The what, now?

Like I say, I’m still new to this so I hadn’t the foggiest what one of those was. So, I went looking on Autotrader in an attempt to find out. Turns out the TNT was rightly named for its explosive performance and, shall we say, old-school Italian quirks. The Café Racer edition I found in the adverts certainly looks dangerously exciting in its gold trim, carbon bits and booster-like underseat exhausts.
Extra tempting for the fact my riding buddy has a Triumph Speed Triple of similar vintage, and the Benelli would be the perfect Italian accompaniment to our rides out across the Yorkshire Dales. Both triples, both 130 horsepower or so, both as beautiful to look at as they appear thrilling to ride. Perhaps fatefully the dealer selling this one is only 20 minutes away from where I live. Can’t do any harm to pop over and kick the tyres, can it? Search for a Benelli TNT 1130 on Autotrader