Someone, anyone please review the Qjiang /Benelli BJ600GS

[ZMC888]

Thanks Sergio, makes for interesting reading.

Here is my tidied up version of the Russian motorcycle magazine's translation:

Stels Magazine. Words: Nikolay Bogomolov Photos: Kirill

Denis Gleb Panfyorov became famous in motorcycle circles not only his professional activities, but love for Italian motorcycles. Every year more and more emerged in his garage. In a series of stand Ducati 999R, MV Agusta Brutale, Husqvarna Nuda and some various Benellis. Inspected from all sides and touched. A new Italian motorcycle: lattice frame, radial twin disk calipers. Once again this jealous colleague had to look. I was looking at the new bike, until I was told that the Benelli is actually not quite the Benelli it looked, and this Benelli, was the product of merger between the Italian brand manufacturer with Chinese capital. On the Russian market it has a fantastic price of 210000 Roubles. By all the laws of common sense a motorcycle should not be half the price of its competitors and for no reason. It becomes noticeable on inspection. Bright anodizing, rough welds, low grade stickers and warning labels with grammatical errors, (yes even Russian motorcycle journalists know!) Clearly it is not a miracle that this bike is cheaper. But a cursory examination nor a close examination of the bike did not reveal anything suspicious. Even the tires Metzeler Sportec M5 are great even if a sport-touring tire. If I hadn't been told about the place of birth of the motorcycle, I would not for a second have doubted that it was made in Europe. This Benelli looks even better some budget Japanese motorcycles, but for almost half the price.


Still, under riding the 80hp strong naked bike under power I was concerned; would I break a piston? Blow a big end bearing or boil the brakes? So it was with some trepidation of potential serious consequences that I rode the bike for the first few minutes. I tried not to rush and used all my senses listened, and smelled for strange odors. Only the typical smell of hot grease and plastics, typical new bike smells and sounds, nothing alarming. Engine power – 81 claimed horse-power. Of course, there are more powerful bikes, but for city riding this power is generally sufficient. Generally more power will also move the torque band higher up and make the bike less usable in the real world. Unfortunately, this theory doesn't quite apply to the Benelli 600, here things are not so good. Up to 6000 RPM motor, like many four-cylinder engines is pretty sluggish. Then a small dip, and after 7000 bike comes alive and is very strong by 11000rpm. The range is not too painful, although I occasionally hit the limiter, but the joy of riding was never spoiled. There is even a certain thrill on the top end like a 600 Supersport bike.

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The Benelli 600 can go pretty fast, and reaches 215 km/h, with a stock configuration. Under these conditions the most important part of the motorcycle are the brakes. They are good, especially on the front. Large disks, reinforced hoses, radial caliper. All told, the brakes stop all this beauty a bit worse than the Brembos, which have been copied, but are still pretty effective. On the mountain roads and the Kart track I felt none of the slightest signs of overheating.

Initially, on mountain roads the bike seemed a bit strange, in corners it seemed as if there was some side to side wobble like a pendulum effect, which seemed to oscillate worse and worse like I was being elbowed by a wrestler. Fortunately the bike has an adjustable rear shock and tightening this I was able to get the bike feeling good, and the front end didn't need any adjustment at all. All this adjust-ability makes the bike a great amateur track-day bike out of the box.

In addition to good suspension and brakes the motorcycle has excellent sport-touring tires, the Metzeler Sportec M5 which last well. These days no one uses 180 width slicks on a bike like this on the track, which this bike has as stock. It's hard to say whether the designers were wise to put such wide tires on this machine, as 160 is a much more typical width for this kind of motorcycle and 160 really handles much more sweetly. Honestly with 180 the contact patch is bigger and the bike is less likely to low-side but cornering on tight tracks and uneven surfaces is a chore. Coming out of the slow corners, it's best to use the mid-range and wait for a while until the crankshaft spins up to the desired speed. Exiting corners there are two exits: either exit sharply and tight in first gear or try to carve in a higher gear.

Because the motorcycle lays claim to title of Streetfighter, fuel consumption can be quite high. Especially when you love to open the throttle and keep the tachometer near the red zone accelerating to maximum speed. When ridden hard like this the reserve bulb lights up on 160 kilometers, with fuel consumption at 7 liters per hundred kilometers giving the bike a maximum 200 kilometer range from the 15 liter tank, as nobody has thought to put an enduro tank on this kind of bike, you'll be in for frequent fuel stops.

If you have racing ambitions you can find fault with the sound. When you sit behind the bar, the sound remains at the rear, and the remnants of sound waves are ingested by your helmet. But outside observers hear a loud jarring shriek as if from valves under strain and the rattle of loose bolts. If you don't care about the opinion of others this phenomenon can be ignored, or you can try a range of aftermarket mufflers to get a better sound.

So a Chinese naked bike with decent appearance, great motor, competitive performance characteristics, details and costs a little more than 200,000 Roubles, value which we have never seen before. But it does not end there. In principle, the bike being labelled 'Stels', some will dislike the bike for not being a true thoroughbred Italian motorcycle as can be seen in the details mentioned before and 'Stels' is applied only to the area unobtrusive rear end.In few years a surely there will be many of these motorcycles on the street. With a bike that looks and rides as well as a good Italian Street bike, and cheaper than the weather-beaten Japanese 2nd hand bike. The main question is of questions of critical quality, of course these problems with surface over time. Even if the Benelli hopelessly fails you'll still be able to put this, the most beautiful Chinese motorcycle the world has ever seen in your living room on a pedestal to admire.