After the First World War the company started motorcycle production with the introduction of lightweight motorcycles of 98cc soon increased to 150cc. Giovanni and Guiseppe were the engineers, Filipo and Domenico the accountants, Tonino was the racer, Francesco concentrated on his car business.
Tonino started racing on a tuned version of the firm's 150cc model and gained many successes. In 1927 the firm built a 175cc overhead cam racer for Tonino which proved to be unbeatable. In 1932 a double overhead cam version was produced, machines based on this design were to race into the 1960's. A bad crash in 1932 was to end Tonino's racing career. He continued as a factory test rider until his death, on a test run, in 1937.
By the mid 1930's Benelli was one of the top five Italian motorcycle manufacturers.
In 1938, a supercharged 250 four cylinder, water cooled bike was developed, producing 62 bhp. Unfortunately this was never raced due to the start of WW2.

During World War Two the factory started making parts for the military. After the war many small capacity machines were made and of note were the two and four stroke versions of the Leoncino 125.

The Motobi marque emerged in 1950 as a seperate concern when Giuseppe left to form his own company (moto is the Italian word for motorcycle, B was for Benelli, Moto-B). Motobi produced a range of two stroke lightweight motorcycles with horizontal engines, and then the familiar horizontal (egg-shaped) four stroke engines which remained in production for almost twenty years.

Meanwhile Benelli, and to a lesser extent Motobi, were very active on the racing scene and famous riders include Renzo Pasolini, Mike Hailwood, Tarquino Provini, Silvio Grassetti and the Benelli 250cc World champion in 1969, Kel Carruthers.

During the 1960's, Benelli, who by now had the Motobi marque back with them, started exporting considerable numbers of machines to the USA, namely the 250 Motobi inspired singles, also vertical singles in 2 and 4 stroke versions, and finally what many regard as the last real Benelli before the Tomaso takeover, the 650cc Tornado.

As the Seventies dawned the Argentinian Alejandro De Tomaso bought Benelli and also Moto Guzzi who were both in financial trouble. A range of 4 and 6 cylinder bikes were produced to supplement the existing range of smaller bikes, these ranged from the 4 cylinder 250 to the mighty 750cc and 900cc 6 cylinder models. This range continued until the late '80s when the exciting 125cc Jarno street racer was produced amid financial turmoil.

Andrea Merloni

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