It feels like every other week there’s a new motorcycle company in town.
After the glut of EV start-ups from a few years back, we’re now seeing a whole raft of Chinese brands emerging on these shores, delivering conventional ICE motorcycles with big specs and small price tags.
Often tied in with established European manufacturers, home grown brands (and we use that term because they’re usually products from much larger manufacturing companies with multiple marques in their portfolio) including CF Moto, Kove and Voge are starting to appear on British roads, while classic Italian brands like Benelli, Morbidelli and Moto Morini are also being reborn in the Far East.
Now this month’s new-to-us Chinese motorcycle company is the memorably monikered Benda. They’ve got a range of three interestingly named models going on sale in the UK, priced from £5699, so we figured we’d better dig a bit deeper and see what Benda’s all about.
First things first, Benda aren’t all that new. The author remembers seeing them at the big European trade shows just under a decade ago (a quirky name like that certainly sticks in the memory banks) and the story actually goes back to 2016, when the Hangzhou Saturn Power Technology Co. Ltd. company was formed.
Figuring that Hangzhou Saturn Power Technology Co. Ltd. probably wouldn’t trip off buyer’s tongues, they decided on the more appealing name of BENDA (note all capitals, even though we’re writing it as the more aesthetically pleasing ‘Benda’) to adorn the tanks of their bikes.
R&D started in 2017, with facilities in Austria as well as China, and a range of bikes with inhouse designs was developed. This marked a difference between Benda and many of the other Chinese manufacturers, who used engine designs from manufacturers like BMW, KTM, Honda and Kawasaki as their base.
In 2019 Benda showcased its products at EICMA, the big trade fair held annually in Milan, with a modern looking 400cc roadster and some fairly traditional (albeit a bit cliched) cruisers for company. Over the past few years Benda has been growing its global presence and now claims to do business in almost 80 countries, with a full range of 10 motorcycles supplemented with quads and side-by-sides.
Now MotoGB, a Chorley-based motorcycle distribution company which has been importing motorcycles since the 1990s, is bringing Bendas to Britain – debuting with two exotically named V-twin custom bikes and a rather adventurous four-cylinder power cruiser.
The latter is the range topping model named the LFC700. It is powered by Benda’s own 677cc inline four motor, which is good for a claimed 85bhp. It’s a muscular machine alright, with a low seat, a long wheelbase and massive wheels – just check out that super low profile 310-section rear tyre! It looks like nothing else and costs £9199. It reminds us a bit of the old Kawasaki Eliminators from the 1980s, and it will be interesting to see how it goes down with the British bike buying public. Just check out those cool side exit exhausts!
Benda’s 47bhp, 476cc, V-twin mill powers the fruitily named Chinchilla 500 and Napoleonbob 500. As the name suggests, the Napoleonbob is a classic pared back bobber styled machine with pretty much every bobber cliché thrown at it (including a ‘floating’ saddle and a front end designed to look like old fashioned girder forks) while the Chinchilla is just a straight up cruiser.
Both feature a belt final drive and have pretty decent looking spec sheets, made even more impressive by the bargain basement price tags. You could be taking home a Chinchilla for £5499, with the Napoleonbob costing £200 more.
The bikes will be available through MotoGB’s 20-strong network of Keeway dealers. They’ve got two-year warranties and certainly bring something different to today’s motorcycling landscape.
Whether it’s what the biking public is looking for remains to be seen, especially in a market sector where image and the name on the tank means as much – if not more – than the product itself, but there’s no doubt that Benda (or should that be BENDA) is an interesting addition to 2025’s motorcycling landscape.
