It's time to say goodbye to the Benelli Leoncino 800 Trail long-termer. We took it for its final twisties thrash up Mac Pass as Jeff and Zane shared their final thoughts on the machine...
Well, a year has come and gone so quickly that I didn’t even realize it was time to give the Benelli Leoncino 800 Trail long-termer back. The noble stead has gotten me from A to B flawlessly every time. I gave it a fitting send-off on some of my favourite roads.
After a year on the Benelli Leoncino 800 Trail, it’s time to give it back. Check out Zane’s final thoughts…
Before I get into my final thoughts, I wanted to take the Leoncino for a run around my local test loop. Macquarie Pass has been a big part of my life ever since I got my licence. What the Old Road is for Jeff is what Mac Pass is for me. I used to show up late to school because my friends and I would often race each other up and down in the mornings.
Macquarie Pass
I spend at least one day a week here either in my car or on a motorcycle. My fondest memories were always embarrassing the weekend warriors, knee dragging on my GSX-R125 on the uphill! You reach the famous Robertson Pie Shop at the top of the hill. The pies are always good, and no matter what day you’re there, if the sun is in the sky, you’ll run into another motorcycle enthusiast.
The beauty of Mac Pass is that it’s a tourist road. Unless you’re going to Robertson, there are quicker ways to get where you need to go instead. This means that on weekdays, the road is essentially empty, besides the odd tradie.
The beauty of Mac Pass is that it’s purely a tourist road. Unless you’re going to Robertson, there are so many quicker ways to get where you need to go instead of Mac Pass. This means that on weekdays, the road is essentially empty, besides the odd tradie. You barely have enough straightaways to get to licence losing speeds, and the road takes a long time to remember every corner and braking point across its 12km stretch. It’s such an epic road…
Mac Pass has always provided me with a benchmark to see exactly how well a motorcycle can handle sporty riding. There are high-speed corners mixed in with low-speed corners, and I know exactly where to brake and how much lean angle to put in on every single corner here. If a bike feels unstable through these corners with me on it, then I know it’s simply not up to scratch.
Once you get up to the pie shop, you have a plethora of twisty roads to choose from. My personal favourite is to run the road down the newly re-opened Jamberoo pass and through the twisties near Swamp Road and Kiama. Or you can head down Kangaroo Valley for a seriously lovely set of corners. If you’ve travelled from Sydney, you can also head out onto the freeway and head back home. It’s that easy! It’s certainly worth the ride down from Sydney; although it’s much shorter than the Old Pac and Berowra roads, you can still turn it into a loop and just do laps all day.
It’s the rule of Mac Pass to stop up at the pie shop. They love having motorcycle and car enthusiasts here…
Now, let’s chat about the Leoncino 800 Trail. I used the bike over the year mainly for my airport trips. I knew it would always start when I had to get to the airport in an hour, and I knew it would always start after being left outside for a few days, and I just wanted to go home. It is a seriously reliable piece of equipment, and I would love to hear about how these bikes go within ten years time as Chinese manufacturing has come a long way.
The gem of the bike is the engine. There’s no doubting it. The way it sounds, the torque curve, the high redline and the manageable amount of power it puts out all make this bike shine. It sounds cranky, and it certainly doesn’t have that obnoxious tone to it that other brands seem to have. I can see the engine being a real sales point for the model because it’s undoubtedly the shining beacon.
“The gem of the bike is the engine. There’s no doubting it. The way it sounds, the torque curve, the high redline and the manageable amount of power it puts out all make this bike shine”.
The Benelli actually handles quite well. I never wanted to thrash it because the tyres certainly don’t fill me with a lot of confidence, but the bike tracks really well and holds its line through the turns with confidence. I really would’ve loved to try the bike with some different, more road-centric hoops, as I feel like I could’ve really had this thing cranked over if I wanted.
“The Benelli actually handles quite well. I never wanted to thrash it because the tyres certainly don’t fill me with a lot of confidence, but the bike tracks really well and holds its line through the turns with confidence.”
The rear shock did cause some discomfort for me on rides that were over an hour long. The rebound is far too harsh, and reverbs every bump in the road extremely aggressively. Of course, winding down the pre-load does help loosen the shock up, but it just needs to be revised entirely. The bike could be perfect if it were set up correctly.
I also continued to have issues with the overall brake feeling at the front. The lever action is far too firm for me to be comfortable with hard braking, as I often have to squeeze a lot harder than an average bike. The overall braking feeling is quite average for twin four-piston calipers. I’ve said it in a few of my previous updates, but I can imagine this bike would’ve been so much better with the Brembo brakes and the Marzocchi suspension that the European market received.
The wheelbase of the bike makes for an overall fun ride through the twisties, but in comparison to every other bike in this category, it falls short in terms of handling. It’s undoubtedly true that the Leoncino is at a disadvantage because of its weight, but it’s not overwhelmingly noticeable while riding.
The short wheelbase of the bike makes for an fun ride through the twisties, it could be improved with new hoops.
One thing I noticed that shines on the Leoncino 800 Trail is its ability to aggressively lane-split. Slow-speed stability is second to none, and I had this thing splitting in places I had no idea were possible. I am able to ride the Leoncino at a near standstill without putting my feet on the ground, which is an absolute godsend when it comes to commuting.
On the flip side, the Leoncino is undoubtedly not the most fuel-conscious bike. At times, I’d fill up the bike and note down over 6L/100km! This meant under 300km at times when it came to filling up. I’m sure it was actually using more fuel than that too as the speedo is out by 15km/h at 110, meaning that the tripper would obviously show more distance travelled than I actually did but each tank was getting me sub-300km.
The 800 Trail could’ve been a spectacular bike with the addition of a few extras in the electronics department. CFMOTO are spectacular at piling assists and an amazing operating system in their TFT’s for a low price, and I’d love to see Benelli follow suit. Traction control is a must in 2023, and switchable ABS is so surprising to not be equipped on a bike that is advertised to be taken off road.
The 800 Trail could’ve been a spectacular bike with the addition of a few extras in the electronics department.
The main thing about the Benelli Leoncino 800 Trail is that it’s not necessarily the most exciting motorcycle on the market, and that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad bike by any stretch of the imagination. It just means you have to take this into account when it comes time to make a decision. I genuinely believe this is an awesome and unique-looking bike, but it doesn’t make me feel special when I ride it.
I’m not entirely sure what pizazz it’s lacking to make me feel like I’m riding something special. It could be the connotation that I’m riding what used to be this historic Italian brand that’s now a shell of its former self in style and European gusto. Or it could be that this is simply not the bike for me. I would never opt for this style if it came to my own money, and that’s entirely my personal preference.
There are certainly no fatal flaws with the design of the bike; it’s simply just a good motorcycle, and that’s about it.
The Benelli does a lot of things well: it cruises along at 130km/h with ease, it handles well, it is somewhat comfortable, and it can be fun for the most part. It could be better off-road and barely scrapes through what you’d call a modern-day adventure bike.
“The Benelli does a lot of things well: it cruises along at 130km/h with ease, it handles well, it is somewhat comfortable, and it can be fun for the most part.”
I will miss the reliable mode of transport but I found it hard to desire to ride it when I didn’t need to, which wasn’t the case with other long-termers I’ve had. The main takeaway from this is that you really need to go out and test ride one for yourself before you really decide on what’s suitable for you; it could be one of those bikes that you fall in love with. There are certainly no fatal flaws with the design of the bike; it’s simply just a good motorcycle, and that’s about it.
Jeff’s Ride Impressions
Jeff really enjoyed the Leoncino Trail both on the tarmac and on the dirt roads, but found the fuelling an issue…
I had a blast on the Leoncino Trail, way more than I expected. Zane isn’t a huge fan of the top heavy handling and the Pirelli hoops, so I was expecting to feel the same. However, after my first 30-minutes in the seat, I found myself having a good old go through the Old Road and enjoying the Trail so much that I turned around at The Slab and did a second full run of the road, all the way to Cowan and back to Somersby! The long travel and good lean angle clearance meant I could just throw the bike at the bumps and corners with no worries, and the Pirelli Scorpions have always had plenty of grip.
“I found myself having a good old go through the Old Road and enjoying the Trail so much that I turned around at The Slab and did a second full run of the road”.
There is plenty of braking power, ground clearance, and the chassis has that same good feedback as the Leoncino 500 long termer we had. The engine is a cracker, for some reason it is way quicker than the Benelli 752S we reviewed, which was horribly slow and underwhelming, so much so that I scored the engine a 6, my lowest engine score ever. It may just have been our press bike, who knows, but it was slower than our 500! The engine is identical to this, so there was some issue somewhere…
The clutch on the Trail is a little on the heavy side and takeup a tad sudden, but shifting is smooth enough. The exhaust note is engaging, the top-end revvy nature of the triple is fun and the low gearing makes for good acceleration. The engine mapping is super, super rich, I got 9.2L/100km out of the bike on my first run, which is the same as I get from my 8-seater Kia Carnival people mover! It stinks of unburned fuel, and explains the revvy top-end hit of the engine. A re-map is definitely a must-do.
On the dirt roads around my area the Trail was good fun, just right for sit-down dirt road work and would be a great bike for exploring country roads such as the St Albans route up this way in the Hunter Valley/Hawksbury areas. I didn’t go on any fire trails or tracks but Zane sure has and the bike handled it all with easy. It’s a great little middleweight scrambler, but fit and finish is questionable, there is a bit of corrosion appearing in places that you would not see on a Japanese or Euro machine. It’s also a bit too expensive for my likes, I’d be happier to pay closer to $9000.00. Overall, 7.5/10.
Benelli Leoncino 800 Trail Tech Talk
The heart of Leoncino 800 is the 754cc, liquid-cooled, four-stroke, twin-cylinder engine; which is now Euro 5 approved. Suitable for off road use thanks to the configuration with crank pin angle phase of 90° from which it gets an irregular firing sequence (0° – 270° – 450°).
The new cylinder-head has been redesigned to integrate a secondary air system, and optimise the intake and cooling system. The distribution case has also been stiffened in order to reduce noise emissions and strengthen the engine/chassis fixing points.
The suspension consists of a front upside-down fork with 50mm tubes. On the back there is a swingarm with central adjustable monoshock with spring preload and rebound damping. The frame is a steel tube trellis (ALS 420) with cast and forged details. It has four engine fixing points on each side. The engine is used to strengthen and stiffen the overall frame.
The braking is sorted by dual 320mm diameter semi-floating discs on the front and four-piston radial-mount monoblock calipers, with a 260mm diameter disc on the back with a double-piston caliper. Despite early press information showing Brembo calipers and Marzocchi suspension, Australia will not receive this equipment. Suspension, Brakes and ABS were all development in-house at Benelli.
The Leoncino 800 Trail features everything from the standard model but adds a double exhaust in a raised position and 19in front wheel. Also different is suspension travel length.
The transmission has undergone updates to the clutch (spring calibration, discs and clutch damper) and to the final ratio, now reduced with the 46 tooth sprocket. The exhaust system has been completely redesigned, low and short silencer for road version, high with double exit for Trail version.
In turn, the suspension has been upgraded: the front fork has longer travel, from 130mm in the road model to 140mm in the Trail version. The same upgrade took place on the rear, travel was increased from 130mm to 140mmm. The Leoncino 800 Trail seat is raised to 834mm from 805mm seen on the road model.
Also different on the Trail model are the spoked rims with tubeless tyres (19in front, 17in rear), the bike comes stock with Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR tyres, 120/70 19in front and 170/60 17in rear.
2023 Benelli Leoncino 800 Trail Specifications
Price: $13,990 rideaway
Colours: Forest Green, Rock Grey and Terrain Brown
Claimed Power: 56kW@8500rpm
Claimed Torque: 67Nm@6500rpm
Wet Weight: 234kg
Fuel capacity: 15L
Engine: Liquid-cooled, in-line two-cylinder, four-stroke, DOHC, four-valves per cylinder, 754cc, 88 x 62mm bore x stroke, 43mm throttle-bodies, 11.5:1 compression ratio, 6-speed gearbox, slipper clutch.
Chassis: Frame: Trellis steel tubes
Rake: N/A Trail: N/A
Suspension: Upside-down forks with 50mm tubes 140mm Travel (f) Aluminium rear swing arm with central shock absorber spring preload and hydraulic rebound adjustable 140mm Travel (r)
Brakes: Twin semi-floating disc 320mm, mono block radial caliper 4-pistons and ABS (f) Single disc 260mm with double piston and ABS (r)
Wheels & Tyres: Spoked Wheel, 19in x MT3.00, 17in x MT4.25.
Dimensions:
Length: 2200mm
Height: 1210mm
Width: 870mm
Seat Height: 834mm
Wheelbase: 1480mm
Ground clearance: 191mm
Instruments & Electronics: DRL, LED lighting, TFT Dash
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