gday Daniel
Nathan here over in Perth, i have a RS Tornado, i know the bike, is it on bikepoint at the moment?, if so sounds like a good deal, especially with the Benelli sport pipe, on the forum are a few other aussies, Eugenia and Tax Tre and John O, Benelli Oz technical manger, especially handy :lol , sounds like a 04 model, should be fairly sorted, if it hasnt had all the factory issued fix ups, (clutch acuator) lastest map etc John should be able to list what you have to get done, I would recommend getting the frame and engine number and sending it to Johnny O and he will advise you of the things to look out for, apart from a few niggly items to be seen to i can say we all love our Tornado's, awesome sound and handling, they suffer from a few minor niggles, race cut gearbox so a knack is learnt in selecting neutral, the clock can sometimes be tempermental and really not to much else, once my Rs was run in its been great, apart from the clock issue, although using the handlebar mounted off button in the off postion while the bike is parked or stored, seems to help a lot. if you read though the previous post you will learn their character, early 03 model's seemed to have a few teething problems but the factory has issued free factory fix up to bring them up to scratch, honestly if you want a motorcycle that is truly unique i say go for it, Mines friggin awesome :hat
In regard to your questions
Tornado's in Oz are either the base, or Strada Tre, which came in either green/silver, very much sought after, or the solid red colour or a black silver. then their is the RS Tornado which only came to oz in the Red / Black colour scheme, (although their is a yellow black in Europe. Only eight RS models came to Australia, one became John's from Oz Benelli race bike and is now sold on, one was a press bike that a private owner now has and 6 others went to customers. I know that myself and another memeber of this forum in Melb had a RS and their is currently one on
www.bikesales.com.au for sale in Qld, its been for sale since last August and Ive watched the seller lower the price from 29K to 22K and the RS differs from a Strada Tre in 50mm front forks over the base 43mm, both have a extremeTech rear shock but the RS gets both high and low speed compression damping, carbon fibre gaurds front and rear, bigger valves, different cam's, oil cooler, radial brakes, forged OZ rims and an extra 4KW,
Their are no factory recalls for the RS, but some early Tre's did have factory supported fix up issued for some earlier Tre, mostly 2003 models, most 04's should only have a few minor items to be attended too.
the silver alloy clutch acuator arm for the cable clutch could distort making neutral selection harder, this gets replaced by a steel item. lastest map for the Tre ecu is a 6033 map for the stock silver "Tornado Tre" marked pipe, although their is the "Benelli Sport" branded Ti pipe that is road legal if you leave the stainless steel plug/insert in it soulds heaps better if you take it out and run the race map, the 6034.
I have heard stories about the cops over east being much harsher than cops here in WA when it comes to noise but i run the Benelli Sport on my RS and cops dont even quiz it
Some Tres are still outstanding in having the clutch basket replaced, some early 03 machines in Europe lost a tooth from their and lunched a engine :eek , although as far as i know this has never happened here in Oz, most of this machines have had theirs replaced under warranty, Johnny O has listed the machines that need this stil done in the tornado section, I will endevour to find it and will report it for you in the Tornado section.
My RS is superb and if you get it you will be getting a very unique bike, one that will become very sought after in the future if you hold on to it, like any italian bike they can suffer from a few niggly problems, after all itlaian factories dont enjoy multi million dollar R&D like japanese factories, but Benelli is under new management, they are pouring millions into R&D and they are actively looking after existing customers and do seen to be listening to current owners on ways to refine the bikes
Neutral selection due to the undercut gearbox, a common racing feature is enjoyed by many italian bikes, the key is to slip her into neutral just before you roll to a stop or once at a standstill is to "unload" the transmission by rolloing forward a few centimetres to unload the gears and just nudge the gearlever, slips in easy as pie
We all seem to think that the two battery cables need to be thicker to cut down in the resistance the thin wires offer, making starting less of a load on the battery, Tax Tre is soon to redo his and we should see the fruits of his testing soon in the Tornado forum, Tax is in NSW.
the deal you are speaking off sounds really good, go for it i say, or enquire about the RS if you can afford a bit more
RS click here
Seriously though, apart from a few minor issues that the factory has supported I doubt anyone on the forum hasnt found the Tre to be a awesome Bike
GO FOR IT
Christ, what a mission writing all that out...
:rollin
