Benda Napoleon 250 revealed
By Ben Purvis
Benda is another of the many Chinese bike companies that are looking towards the global motorcycle market with exports to Europe and the USA, but it stands out from the competition thanks to innovative and unusual designs.
The brand came to prominence as the first Chinese bike maker to launch a four-cylinder machine a couple of years ago in the form of the LFC700 muscle-cruiser, followed swiftly by the more conventional LFS700, using the same engine. It followed those with the Dark Flag 500, the first Chinese bike to have its own homegrown V4 engine, and most recently impressed with the Napoleon 500, a V-twin bobber with exotic styling and a faux girder fork at the front.
Now there's the Napolean 250, also packing a V-twin and sporting bobber design cues, but with a smaller engine and yet more innovation in the form of unusual front and rear suspension designs.
Official specs are thin on the ground, but the bike has been type-approved in China, revealing a peak power of 19 kW (25.5 hp) from a Benda-built 249 cc V-twin. It sits in a steel frame with a relatively long 1,545 mm wheelbase and an all-in weight of 182 kg.
The styling follows the Napoleon 500, with a similar single-seat layout and retro-inspired proportions. However, where the larger bike uses upside-down telescopic forks hidden behind cowlings, giving the impression of pre-war girder suspension, the Napoleon 250's front end combines elements of both telescopics and girders. The main part of the front suspension is a pair of normal, right-way-up forks, but there's an additional casting mounted on the fork lowers, with extra external spring units on each side. Whether these are functional or simply cosmetic, like the larger Napoleon's fork cowls, remains unclear at this stage.
The rear suspension is also unconventional. The triangular swingarm matches the angle of the main frame's upper rails, giving the proportions of a hardtail, but there's a coil-over shock on each side connected to an unusual rising-rate linkage. Most cruisers in this capacity class make do with very simple twin-shock rear suspension, not to mention parallel twin engines rather than V-twins, so it's surprising to see something so sophisticated on such a small bike.
With other Benda models already available in several European countries, and NHTSA documents already filed in America, that indicate the company is entering the North American arena in 2024, there's a strong chance the Napoleon 250 will be a global model once it gets its full unveiling later this year.
