Benelli Ride Experience

Benelli TNT 600 i and TNT 899 Ride Experience: Polar Opposites

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Spring in my feet, as I walked into the DSK showroom in Pune, what caught my immediate attention were the two Italian machines that were to be my date for the day. As my vision adjusted itself and I focused to admire the Benelli TNT 600 i and the TNT 899, something inside melted and I knew, today will be a good day. After 23 hard minutes of veiling my excitement and trying to look as professional as I could, Saeed (my colleague) and I were ready to take off from the showroom. Similar to the experience when you are about to utter those first words to a magnificent woman you’ve just come across, my palms were sweaty, my heart was pounding and my throat almost parched. However, a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. So as I pushed the ignition button, what happened next, filled the atmosphere with glorious, eargasmic sounds, grabbing the attention of every living soul around us. The Italian Stallions managed to drown out all other noises around us, as my colleague and me were grinning at each other.

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We puttered out of the showroom, realizing that it will be a long wait before we could test the real potential of these machines, thanks to the crawling Pune traffic, degraded further by a bottleneck created by some civil construction activities on the road. But that was particularly a good thing to happen as we could experience the motorcycles in clogged city environs which is bound to happen every now and then with a potential owner. While I was having an easy time on the TNT 600 i, I could see my colleague struggling a tad bit controlling the slightly more powerful TNT 899 and that is the major difference between these two motorcycles. The TNT 600 i is a versatile motorcycle which is at home in traffic and open roads alike, akin to an Italian supermodel, who is equally an alpha woman when it comes to handling mundane duties. Whereas, like a typical supermodel with a monumental body, the TNT 899 has a more edgy character and is only happy when the rev counter crosses 5000 rpm.

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Luckily though, things started to fall in place. After spending nearly an hour in city traffic, open roads started to embrace the Benelli duo and this is where we could feel the sheer performance both the motorcycles had to offer. As the rpm needle of the TNT 600 i climbed up the rev range, the scenery began to blur and we started experiencing time warp. A glimpse at the speedometer made me realise that I was already propelling my body at three digit speeds, before better sense prevailed and I tapped the brakes before slapping myself flat into the boot of a slow moving car, or a railing, or a stray animal! The brutal manner in which the TNT 600 i accelerated made the so called “performance motorcycles” made in India (One of which I own) seem like a coal-powered locomotive in comparison to these Bullet trains. This on and off volatile rush continued for a little while before we had make a pit stop, this time to capture the Benellis through our lenses for the review. So after a brief break of about an hour for photography, we continued on our joyride to Lavasa to test the handling prowess of these motorcycles, but not before switching rides.

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After spending time aboard the TNT 600 i for a good 25-30 kilometers, I got a chance to swing my leg over the more powerful yet surprisingly lightweight TNT 899 and take my word for it – the character was worlds apart from the TNT 600 i. I finally understood what my colleague was going through. The motorcycle craves for continuous revving, challenging you every moment to work up to its limits. And boy, what a feeling that was! One thing’s for sure, the TNT 899 is not for the faint hearted. It will either bring out the best in you or show you where you belong, as when the needle passes the 5000 rpm mark the motorcycle starts to get into its true character. It pulls like a missile while you hang on for dear life, trying to scare yourself. But hey, it’s a compliment!

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2 thoughts on “Benelli TNT 600 i and TNT 899 Ride Experience: Polar Opposites”

  1. Santosh Ghosalkar

    Hi.. I need to book 600 i…can u put on with the right person in pune. my no is 9870404000.

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