Benelli 352S And Small-Capacity Harley-Davidson To Be Based On This New Bike

While the engine displacement from the TNT 300 has gone up, peak power has reduced

• The new 353cc engine seems to be a bored-out version of the old TNT 300’s motor.
• More importantly, it weighs significantly less than the TNT 300.
• Its styling is quite like the larger TNT 600.

We haven’t seen much activity from Benelli with its BS6 portfolio. The Italian firm has only brought in the Imperiale 400 to India, which comes at a shocking premium of Rs 20,000 over the old BS4 model. Benelli’s parent company, QJMotors, was working closely with Harley-Davidson on the latter’s small bike project, which was to be based on the Italian firm’s TNT 300. While we haven’t heard much from the American manufacturer, QJMotors has released a few images of the QJ350, a new motorcycle for its local market. And it comes with a larger 353cc engine.

Yeah, Harley and QJMotors were working on the motor front together and it seems the two settled on the 353cc displacement figure. It should meet the latest emission norms across the globe. Reports suggest the new engine makes 36PS, 2PS lower than the older 300cc mill. The loss of peak power shouldn’t dishearten you as the kerb weight of the QJ350 is 176kg, 20 kilos lighter than the TNT 300. 

And the QJ350 does look like it has shed a lot of weight. The bike now gets a slim face with sharp tank extensions. The tank looks smaller than the older one but still retains its chiselled look. The subframe seems to have been chopped and lightened too, giving it a very compressed look. All lighting systems on the bike seem to be LEDs and the dash is a new colour TFT unit. All in all, it looks like a scaled down version of the new TNT 600 launched in China.

The underpinnings of the bike seem to be unchanged. The suspension units -- a chunk USD fork and a preload- and rebound-adjustable monoshock -- might be retuned to suit the lighter naked. The same braking hardware is also adopted: a twin disc setup at the front and a single disc at the rear. 

Benelli could take over six months to a year to bring this updated 352S to our shores. And considering the Harley-QJMotor partnership might not see fruition (head here to know why), we might just end up waiting for this particular naked for a very long time.