The Benelli BN600R was officially u

The Benelli BN600R was officially unveiled at EICMA 2012, but the project of a totally new, four-cylinder middleweight was green-lighted in 2006, when the company was still owned by Italian investors. The BN600R is fundamental for the future of Benelli and QJ, since they are hard at work in Pesaro to validate and homologate the BN302, a twin-cylinder version aimed at vital markets in Asia.

The BN600R, incidentally, isn’t the first production four rolling off the assembly line at Benelli. When Benelli was owned by Argentine entrepreneur Alejandro DeTomaso, the company built the infamous Benelli 750/900 Six and four-cylinder derivatives that ranged from 350 to 600cc. While the DeTomaso multis were forgettable, the four-cylinder Benelli I would rather remember is the 250 GP Four, the last four-stroke bike to win the world title, in 1969 and ridden by Kel Carruthers.