The burgeoning Chinese bike maker, Benda, is preparing to launch another interesting-looking model, with concept patents revealing the BD250-3B boxer.
The Benda BD250-3B
The images come from the Chinese Patent Office, and while the styling of the bike is striking, what is also drawing attention is the engine. Boxer twins are a BMW speciality, although they don’t normally delve into the 250cc capacity point (the smallest I can recall is the 473cc R45 from the 1980s). Benda isn’t letting that stop it, though, and as the patent images suggest, it’s not a million miles from going into production.
The Benda BD250-3B
Making the bike even more intriguing is the use of water-cooling on the engine, no mean feat on a motor of this capacity. Joining that are shrouded forks (which look like dressed-up cartridge items), an innovative beam frame with the engine as a stressed member, and funky rear shock placement. It also has a chain drive which seems to loop up from the output shaft of the gearbox and over the swingarm pivot, thanks to some hidden away transfer system.
The Benda BD250-3B
The use of water cooling should, if reports are to be believed, allow the dinky twin-pot to make between 25 and 35bhp, meaning it should fall sweetly inside Europe and the UK’s A2 licence requirements. Despite there clearly being a lot of work having gone into this project, there is no official word on when the bike will be officially revealed. With that in mind, we can only speculate as to what the price would be. Should it land, in the UK, it would have bikes like the £5,599 CFMoto 450CL-C, and the £4,599 Benelli Leoncino 500 to contend with. We’d expect it to be priced competitively.
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