Benelli Tornado

The Benelli 650 Tornado is a parallel twin produced from 1970 to 1975, developed by the Italian manufacturer to compete with British big twins on the American market. The air-cooled 642 cc OHV twin produces around 37 kW (50 hp) at 7,000 rpm. By the time the model launched the market had already shifted to multi-cylinder Japanese bikes like the Honda CB750. Around 3,000 Tornados were built, roughly half of them sold in Italy. Some were also badged as Motobi, Benelli's sister brand.

Today the Tornado is mainly a collector's bike. The riding experience is pure 1970s: vibrating parallel twin, drum brakes front and rear, telescopic forks and twin-shock swingarm. Parts are scarce and often expensive, so any potential buy should be checked thoroughly for completeness and originality. The Tornado name has been reused on the later Tornado Tre 900 triple and on more recent TNT/Tornado naked models, so confirm which generation an ad refers to before viewing.