Re: Benelli TNT 300 Ownership Experience

i spoke to Mark From Benelli Mumbai, he informed me that the 1st Service (Free) is done at 1000 kms the next service which is mentioned in the service schedule at 4000 kms is a checkup and not a service, and the actual 2nd service is done at 8000 kms only (Paid). The second service costs about Rs 6000 (Motul Fully Synthetic Oil 10w 50, Air filter if required, Brake Oil top up , coolant top up, oil filter etc)

Can any one confirm this ?

also any one tried the LSL Urban Headlight kit as i dont like the stock one.

Re: Benelli TNT 300 Ownership Experience

There are more characteristics of a motorcycle than just the sound, feel and effect on Police. There are some measurable/tangible items which are more interesting to know.

• how is the power delivery (initial, mid range and top end acceleration)?
• How it absorbs speed breakers and bad roads.
• Stability at higher speeds (Read north of 140 kmph)
• Behavior of engine at higher speeds, any vibrations/harshness
• Breaking at higher speeds, any lack of feedback from the front/rear brake
• How is the wind blast in higher speeds in highway?
• What is the lowest speed it can do in top gear without snatching?
• What is the rev limiter and max speed in each gear?
• 0-60 and 0-100 figures
• Handling and cornering
• Pillion comfort and touring abilities
• How is the instrument cluster?

There are numerous more important aspects which we can put emphasis on...

Not sure...love for N300 is playing tricks with my mind and heart !!!

Re: Benelli TNT 300 Ownership Experience

I have been using it to commute to work and all my riding (500 kms) so far has been in the city. Heavy to no traffic. Yes, the bike feels completely comfortable. Obviously it's not enjoyable to ride in traffic.

I have ridden non-stop for 90 to 120 mins in city traffic and never had any issues. These are my observations:

1. Seating is very comfortable.
2. Holding clutch was never tiring or painful. Some owners have found it to a bit on the harder side though.
3. I did feel some heat on the inside of my knees after riding for long periods but it wasn't bothersome.
4. The bike starts feeling a little heavy to me when crawling in 1st gear. I'm pretty light weight so that could be a factor.
5. The turning radius is wider and I have to be a little careful when making U-turns.

I'm not riding it to work anymore at-least until the engine break-in period is over. The traffic is mad and it's still pretty hot in Chennai. Also the manual instructs not to ride in slower speeds for longer periods in 1st and 2nd gear during the break-in period. (I will check the manual and quote the exact instructions.)

Re: Benelli TNT 300 Ownership Experience

Yes, I use this for daily commute, no issues at all.

My first service just got over yesterday and am not finding much difference maybe it's just me.
I feel that they would have changed the shocks since I feel the bad roads little now.
Earlier it was butter smooth. This is my observation.

I ride pillion to office hence I can tell you that at lower speeds sometimes it's a pain. I have been driving car for last 8 years and now 2 wheeler for last one month and certainly pissed off with 2 wheelers here in Bangalore.
Absolutely no sense of fellow commuter and most of them cut in between, however with the big bike I'm like "leave them" but I would say with last 1 month of ride am pretty satisfied.

Sorry can't answer your other questions as I have hit max of 80kms within city and on one empty stretch which is rare here.
I would agree with most of the other points with @dhawz


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Re: Benelli TNT 300 Ownership Experience

Please find my responses below.

Agree with Dhwaz29 and ironmarine comments completely. You can use it for daily commute but I wouldn't recommend a stop and go traffic of more than 30 mins. Reasons for that are

1. Clutch MIGHT feel heavy as the distance between handle and lever seems long to me even with my larger hands.
2. Heat can be an issue initially but you could get used to it.
3. Slightly jerky movements in 1st gear can be irritating after a while.
4. Pillion riding can be uncomfortable especially in slow moving traffic.
5. I felt the handle is light enough for a bike of this size and weight but it could be a slight mismatch in stop and go traffic as I was fiddling sometimes to keep it in a straight line.

Sorry I mentioned mostly negative points but if the traffic is moving at decent speeds, then you can ride easily in 2nd or 3rd gear.

Re: Benelli TNT 300 Ownership Experience

Agree with most of the points:

With Mumbai rains, even my daily commute to work was cut short, however, it is best not to ride in stop and go traffic regularly during the run in period.

On a separate note, have any of you guys faced a slight orangish rusty patch on the chain. This appeared on mine just some days back. I was not using it much and it was getting washed regularly by my cleaner. Can anyone throw light why such thing happened and what is the remedy, like should I grease the chain once in a week??

Re: Benelli TNT 300 Ownership Experience


I think that's formation of rust on the chain, but I am surprised being a new bike it has already started to, although you yourself have mentioned that you get it cleaned regularly, which I don't think is necessary for a bike unless its getting outright dirty because of rains, especially for a naked bike, as water tends to get into many places where our bare hands can't reach to wipe it off and helps in formation of rust, as I only clean my bike with just plain water once a week when I feel its dirty enough that you can't clean it with just a wet cloth, you can just keep separate microfiber cloth for your bike and just wet it and clean it over. Regarding the chain, to get the rust off, you need to lubricate them, you get a wide variety of lubricants nowadays, Motul is preferred one, you can do it yourself, once in 15 days or a month is enough is what I feel if your riding is not too high, you can also check out videos on how to do it in Youtube...

Re: Benelli TNT 300 Ownership Experience

Nice post [MENTION=77439]classic_86[/MENTION]

Hi [MENTION=77870]Ballistic[/MENTION] That doesn't sound good. Not sure what the reason could be. Riding in harsh wet weather?? Too much washing everyday? I dunno but I'm sure the bike is better than that. I haven't seen that in my bike. My riding has mostly been in dry weather with occasional 1-2 rides in rain.

Hi [MENTION=5691]kanth[/MENTION] I pretty much follow what you've mentioned here. I'm using a brush with plastic bristles to remove the dried mud stuck like chunky patches on rear mud guard, metal areas, wheels etc. Then use a normal wet cloth to wipe it and using microfiber cloth on paint areas.

Re: Benelli TNT 300 Ownership Experience


Will ask my cleaner, how he washes the bike everyday, hell even I was concerned to see the patches today, took out the bike after almost two weeks. Alternatively, would start greasing the chain to prevent further damage during the monsoons, I guess it was not properly greased and prepped up for monsoon time by the showroom guys, also will enquire with the Benelli showroom. I guess much is because of the amount of salt in the air where I live, Wadala, Mumbai. There are salt pans in the area. Below is the reference I found.



If this is the case then I have to regularly lube the chain. Any bike owners in Mumbai please provide feedback.

Benelli Break down

On 21st June, Sunday, during my weekend ride, my Benelli TNT 300 broke down on NH 48, 10 km from city of Hassan.

Around 11.15 AM as we rode past Hassan, my bike went dead completely. Thankfully I was riding at extremely low speeds.
We were unable to reach RSA on both their numbers as we were getting message of 'all executives are currently busy' for more than half an hour.
We ourseleves figured out that a 10amp fuse was blown. We replaced with spare one, and after a km of ride, that fuse also went off. Bike was dead.
With the help of my friend aravind.rrao I was able to reach Sunil, Bangalore service center manager. Sunil played an instrumental role in getting a response from RSA. Sunil has been of great help throughout.
RSA took about six hours to arrange for a towing vehicle. RSA did not inform properly about the option of custody. RSA were not willing to share the contact number of towing vehicle driver. They would rather conference the call with driver but not share his number with us. I don't know why.

[About this concept of custody. As part of RSA, Benelli are tied up with third parties who would send their person to location of break down. Rider/ owner can hand over the bike to custodian, get an acknowledgment and leave. Rest is Benelli's responsibility]

We were stranded around 9 km from Hassan, a major city on NH 48. But custodians were being arranged from small towns like Belur and channarayapatana (which are around 50 km from our location), and they were very reluctant to come over and one custodian from Belur who earlier cited the reason that their service was limited to 20 km radius from their location did not make it and we were told that he met with an accident! Another custodian said he would take around two hours to arrive. I had to tell him that I know very well about this route and it does not take two hours to cover 45 km on NH 48.

I spoke to three RSA executives and one of them even suggested that I could leave bike near any good hotel on NH and hand over key to manager and they would pick up from there. I was surprised at this. I asked why would manager of that hotel who has no ties with me or Benelli would take any responsibility of this bike in the event something goes wrong when it's parked there and would Benelli take full responsibility of this. RSA executive was blank.

Towing vehicle arrived at around 6 pm. Bike is in service center since then. I am told that faulty low beam bulb caused the issue and shorted and blew both fuses and also left burnt scars in the headlamp assembly. Spares are not immediately available and have to be procured from Pune and hence still waiting for the same. May get the bike by Saturday as per service center if spares arrive. Entire headlamp assembly will be replaced under warranty.

Concerns:

• Faulty electricals in less than two months of purchase of a new bike. I am trying to be as positive as possible thinking it's one off freak case. But still this puts a question mark on quality of product. I am little skeptical about riding long distances on this. Especially solo rides.
• Poor RSA. Worrisome part is RSA was not even reachable as all executives were busy for more than half an hour. Wonder how many Benellis were stranded.
• RSA did not even share the complaint number till we asked for it
• Towing vehicle driver did not give an acknowledgment as he was supposed to. Instead said he had run out of job sheets.
• Only one towing vehicle for Bangalore where Benelli have sold maximum. If this towing vehicle gets busy, then you would be stranded I don't know for how long.
• Six hours for RSA to arrive to a location
• Close to a week's time to fix the issue due to lack of spares. Wonder why they don't keep spares. Are they so confident that there would be no issues what so ever.

Positives:

• Sunil, Bangalore service center manager, who was very prompt and responsive especially when we were stranded, even though he was busy in an event in Mangalore that day. Special thanks to him. No denying the fact that he went out of his way to help us.
• My friends, Amith who was riding with me and was a super company throughout, and aravind.rrao who was my primary help point in Bangalore.
• All the Benelli owners who are part of Bangalore Benellians whatsapp group for their concern and suggestions

We got stuck on NH near a city which was fine. Can't imagine same happening in western ghats. Finally, I sincerely pray and wish that no one gets stranded anywhere no matter what bike one is riding.

Re: Benelli Break down

I understand that this may happen to all the bikes some time or another, but this, the over-engineering part, using rather low-grade components like brake pads, frame and DSK's history are really not at all confidence inspiring. I'm starting to think that this bike won my heart over cosmetics and sound than the real concerning things.


Oh man. I seriously hope this isn't frequent and as you said, a one-off case. Hope everything gets sorted out.

Re: Benelli TNT 300 Ownership Experience

[MENTION=49942]experimentalhead[/MENTION] Raghu, good you have been in touch with the Bangalore Benelli watsapp group. It's been days that I have requested and still waiting to be added.
Tomorrow I'm planning to visit the showroom to talk to Reddy and would clarify about the rsa. This is a horrifying experience.
You mentioned that the fuse was gone. How did you figure this out?
Also how were you able to source another spare?
With these concerns I would like to know from members like what are the spare equipments that we need to have in these kind of emergency.
I had not saved sunil's number but after this incident going to save it.
I think we should escalate about this situation to DSK higher ups and also Benelli higher ups.


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Re: Benelli TNT 300 Ownership Experience

[MENTION=76753]ironmarine[/MENTION] I guess someone referred, I reckon, your number to admin Syed who is the showroom manager couple of days ago. Not sure why you are not yet been added.
We could see that fuse wire was disconnected and spare was given with the bike in the fuse casing.
Sunil has been of great help.
I have already escalated on DSK Benelli facebook page.
It is concerning that a new bike is having these issues

Re: Benelli Break down

Damn! That is horrific. Glad to know that you are safe and had some company and got support from service center manager.

Do keep us updated [MENTION=49942]experimentalhead[/MENTION]

Re: Benelli TNT 300 Ownership Experience

[MENTION=76753]ironmarine[/MENTION] I have informed the group admin to add you to Bangalore Benellians whatsapp group. You should be added very soon. I, just now, saw that you had requested on FB as well. Sorry for the delay on behalf of the group.