Finally !!

[R160]

I actually hope to take it out for a proper ride on saturday to break it in, but give me a week or so to get it ready for a proper ride, lots of family committments at the moment with school holidays etc still on. :-)

[CBT]

Crikey, thats gorgeous, I've been lurking around watching this thread ever since you ordered the beastie. There's something about triples - any triples really. They are all unique.

Great to see that it is finally here - congrats !!

[Evil Dwarf]

...

[D'Artagnan]

heres 1, more to follow later today if i get a chance, and can work out some decent settings for the wifes camera :-)
have a bit on today, but will try for a ride today if possible, waiting for the neighbours to wake up so i can start it!
Attachment 67034

Your garage neatness offends me! Worse still, now I'm jealous! :p

[AZAZL]

sorry about the dribble and jizz. Hope it didn't mark the paint. I sneaked in yesterday morning for a peak. err, peek.

Fantastic. Congrats!

[R160]

took her out for a quick 60 kays run today to just get a feel and set up levers and footpegs etc, riding possie is vastly different to the Tornado, being my first upright naked bike it'll take some getting used to.
front brakes are brillant, and dry clutch isnt too bad , very similiar to the RS's wet slipper, but substantially less lever pressure, get nuetral everytime too. the throttle response is hell responsive in full power mode and quite tricky when tottling around roundabouts in 1st as the clutch take up range is quite narrow as the Tornado's was. The softer enine mapping mode feels better in a urban setting. build quality is way better than the 04 RS.

the mid range pull is erh...pretty abundant :-). they probably run it the motors a fair bit at the factory these days as opposed to absolutely none when Moto Morini were assembling them under license back in 02-05. with 8 kays on the clock it felt nice and free spinning and the sounds is pretty freakin awesome. Clip ons will go on in the next 3-4 months.
I'll fit the tail tidy and billet levers on the weekend.

sprayed some CRC on the exhaust bung / insert and removed the retaining screw, and shoved the handle of a hockey stick up its ass to gently wiggle the bung out when i got home, its a straight thru CF race can now
:-)

Will aim on adding a few more kays on the weekend to bed in the motor and suspension and scrub in the brakes and tyres.

for the cash, its pretty good value i thing, considering the base tnt in 04 with non adjustable suspension etc, plastic panels etc was 30K

[jules_1972]

Sweet!!!

[R160]

21012012(001).jpg21012012(002).jpg21012012.jpg
TnT R160 Thoughts and Review

Here all some things I encountered with the R160, compared to my previous 2004 Benelli Tornado 900RS, and a 2008 TNT Sport Evo / Cafe racer, which I've ridden as a demo, of which the R160 is a development of.

Pros:

• Dry Hydraulic slipper clutch, while lever pull is still firm, its no longer super heavy, and neutral is perfect every time. The other TnT's are still cable operated, boooooo!.
• Brembo mono blocks J.
• Alan Cathcart commented the dry slipper clutch was very noisy, I don’t find it is, although the action is fairly grabby, and will hopefully improve with some mileage. Take up band is still fairly narrow though.
• Both tyre valves are 90 degree billet items that dramatically ease tyre pressure checking and inflating.
• Rubber topped foot pegs are a million times better (and less slippery) than the original bare pegs as fitted to the RS.
• Proper carbon fibre for the front guard, vented clutch cover, bellypan and fuse cover.
• Nice Brembo master cylinders up front with sports bike style clear plastic reservoirs, as opposed to the cast aluminium ones as fitted to early TnT’s, (bar the Café Racer). I will fit some socks as opposed to billet reservoirs to remind me to keep the fluids fresh.
• Braking wave style discs look awesome, and no squealing like my old RS rear did.
• Gearbox is sweet, nice clean shifting up and down.
• Much thinner feel to the motorcycle than the RS/Tornado due to the Tornado’s lateral air ducts. slimmer waist offers a much better feel and aid in getting you feet flat on the ground, the biggest dislike I had with the RS was it excessive seat height, which with the limited steering lock, made low speed car park work a bitch. The TnT still has limited steering lock like most Italian bikes, but the narrow waist and lower seat height pretty much negate the limited lock.
• Super comfy riding position.
• 160hp!!, with the bung out, power mode on, and a new de-catted link pipe fitted I expect to clean of the power curve for more linearity as opposed to more bulk power. Stonk?, Jesus does it ever!!!!!!!!!!
• ECU mapping is very good, especially at low revs where the RS was lacking. Definitely upload 2011 spec ecu mapping into a older TnT for betting fuelling.
• Stock carbon fibre exhaust is EU compliant, but remove the insert via the single Allen screw and you have a full straight through race can J.
• Price, different for other countries, but here in Oz the R160 is a bargain compared to Benelli former rrp’s, the nearest spec to the R160 in the TnT’s history was the Titanium, (which was very similar to the R160’s spec) and came with a Ti exhaust system as stock, build only to order, these were advertised as $34,000 AUD back in 2008. the R160 offers better handling, braking and an extra 20 hp and costs substantially less.
• Is Oz the RSV4 Tuono is $2000 more and the top spec Brutale is the same as the R160. while a Ducati 1098 Streetfighter is $7000 more. Good value.

Some thought applied?:

• Nice little rubber moulding is fixed to the leading edge of the front carbon fibre guard. Pity its off centre by about a cm ;-).
• Dash font is more modern and uses bigger font. Red backlighting is less distracting at night than the Tornado’s blue lighting, which was light sabre like in its intensity. Dash also has an ambient light sensor to self adjust the levels of dash illumination. Clever. Dash also has an ABS light, so maybe that’s coming on future models?
• Rear speed sensor bracket and calliper mounts look good, much better than the Tornado’s.
• Cylinder head oil feed line of the LH side is slightly longer and allows a bit of clearance from the engine cases, so the line isn’t rubbing on the block and creating wear marks.
• Carbon nitrided front forks are better looking than the chromed Sport, but not as nice as the RS’s DLC/black carbon finished forks. They are still 50mm units so no complaints with front end rigidity.
• The black anodised finished frame plates, rear sub frame, foot pegs, fork lowers etc all make the motorcycle look better. Engine paint / coating looks much better than my RS and earlier TnT’s and should aid in engine cleaning duties, which it just as well and with all the external webbing on the engine there’s lots of places for dirt to hide.
• Using Ducati streetfighter master cylinder makes sourcing aftermarket levers much easier. The cable operated clutch lever on other/ earlier bikes made the choice limited.
• From next year (2012 spec motorcycle) get clear front indicators as opposed to the R160’s amber lens’s, also will be called TnT 1130R instead.
• It’s a 100-year anniversary model J.

Cons:

• Rear guard just in front of rear tyre isn’t carbon, its plastic with a carbon sticker down the middle, no biggy, as Benelli don’t claim it is carbon.
• Pity the dash doesn’t have a gear indicator.
• You cant cycle though the trip, lap timer and clock functions unless the motor is running, as you use to starter button to access the dash function, the RS was better is this respect. But in saying that, the actual button location of both L and RH switch blocks is much better than the RS/Tornado layout.
• The rear seating replacement cowling really is required to set off the bikes looks IMHO, but as a optional extra costing $1000 AUD its prohibitively expensive, source a second-hand Café Racer factory unit or a fibreglass copy with CF inserts from Europe for a quarter of the price.
• The front brake hose can rub on the dash casting and RH fork on full lock, to avoid and rubbing and dulling of the affected pieces finish I’ll be putting a soft foam sleeve around that section of brake line.
• The owner’s manual has quite a few flawed pieces of information. And lacks some key information all together.
• Nothing in the manual at all about the rear compression damping setting for both hi and low speed.

Some cost cutting?:

• The pilots seat used to have a red rear section with TnT moulded in. Its no longer fitted, although the seat itself has a nicer looking stitched cover and pseudo CF cloth where the red section was.
• The quick release handlebar clamp not longer has the raised letters “TnT” moulded into it, and is now plain, why the change was made I don’t know, but it was a nice touch when it was there, I’ll be sourcing a older one to retro fit in the future.
• The gear change linkage rod and associated rose joint bearing no longer allow for quick adjustment of the lever height, as the rose joint bearing are both RH thread, so a quick twirl of the loosened linkage rod doesn’t adjust the lever height, the only was to adjust height is via relocating it on the splines of the gear shaft, with limited suitable positions, or disconnecting the rose joint, manual winding them further out, and refitted them. Not to much of a issue as I will be fitting some Robby Moto Engineering “Sport” rear sets anyhow.
• The Extreme-Tech RS/Sport Evo rear shock was more impressive than the R160’s Sachs unit. The Sachs rear shock is said to have both high and low compression damping, pity the manual makes no mention, or indeed shows a picture, of which adjustment screw is what?
• For some reason I can only guess at, the Power button on the dash now says “Benelli” as opposed to the originals “TnT”, boo!
• I preferred the “TnT” logo on the dash as opposed to the small word “Benelli” in the lower RH corner of the tachometer. ??? Why did it change?
• The original R160 shown in November 2009 at EICMA has the letters “TnT” moulded into the carbon fibre clutch cover, production bikes just have a Benelli sticker instead.
• The gearshift linkage rod rose bearings no longer have those little rubber boots enclosing the bearings to keep road grit out, pity. I’ll be chasing some up from the wrecker or something ASAP.

More to come:

I’ll add to this as I work on the motorcycle and get some more kays on her in the coming weeks. So far the biggest impression on my is the the weird feeling of coming from a crouched over sports bikes and on the TnT sitting straight upright and feeling a serious amount of power pushing you forward. Its pretty impressive J.

[Waikikablukar]

nice write up Nath! Still want to see her in the flesh and go over it with you

[Deej]

heres 1, more to follow later today if i get a chance, and can work out some decent settings for the wifes camera :-)
have a bit on today, but will try for a ride today if possible, waiting for the neighbours to wake up so i can start it!
Attachment 67034

Magnificent.

[R160]

Anytime is fine for a catch up, welcome to swing by and sus it out over at my place.

[R160]

Damn it!!!! The day i fly back to work its at the shop. Can't wait to see some good pics of it mate. And you need to let me know how it goes these first few months especially the fueling. I want to know if it has a useful range in the country or if it is like the 130kms you got out of the CR....

actually managed to note down some fuel figures and odo #'s to do my first fuel consumption figures, over 170 kays of mixed hilss riding, some urban tottling and 140 blasts in the hils, with 50% in low power, and the other half in full power mode i got 13.6 km's per litre. I'll start carrying a little note pad around to further see how it goes over the next few weeks. with 16L tank and keeping her in low power mode ( 130-140hp at the crank instead of 160)
i figure you'll get around 220 maybe 230 out of a tank on open cruising.

so far I'm very happy with the mapping, the throttle response is also to crisp in full power mode at low runs. exhaust smells clean, no unburnt odour. clocked about 500 kms on her, about to give her her 1st oil change. will run mineral to 1500 then go full synth.

[Waikikablukar]

thanks for the update Nathan! Thats heaps better than I was getting on the CR... Just as i was starting to consider keeping the CBR and not spending the extra $$ too this makes it a little harder

[Groz]

Omg.. the Cafe Racer..it's so beautiful! i want it

[D'Artagnan]

Omg.. the Cafe Racer..it's so beautiful! i want it

^^ WHS...oh wait...(I want an R160 though)..

[Groz]

^^ WHS...oh wait...(I want an R160 though)..

I saw the R160, i wanted it.. Until i saw that Cafe Racer..Seriously looks like the bumble bee of bikes.. i want it so bad.. It's now on the top of my list of bikes i have to try for my big bike...where to try one though

[R160]

just get the R160 spec Cafe racer available on special order for 2k more than the $19,990 the R160 goes for.

Another few months and mine will essentially be a pearl white one :-)

[D'Artagnan]

just get the R160 spec Cafe racer available on special order for 2k more than the $19,990 the R160 goes for.

Another few months and mine will essentially be a pearl white one :-)

Hmmmm....

[ReCon]

WTF is this thing coming down to Mandurah for a run? [bring your own food , coffee and fuel. ]

[R160]

whats on at mandurah?