Benelli Motorcycles was founded in 1911 by Teresa Benelli. Recently widowed, she “invested all her family’s money to establish a workshop, hoping to ensure a stable job for her six sons, Giuseppe, Giovanni, Filippo, Francesco, Domenico and Antonio “Tonino” Benelli.” This started out as a service garage for all kinds of vehicles, but it wasn’t long before the brothers started assembling their own engines. The brothers had a few false starts in the early days of their tinkering, but they managed to produce their first real motorcycle in 1921. Benelli’s overview of the company’s history from 1911-1934 describes “The ‘Velomotore’, [as a] 98cc two-stroke lightweight bike presented in two models, Touring and Sport (125cc), followed in 1923 by a 147 cc version.”
Over a century later, Benelli is still making bikes. The company was eventually purchased by the owner of the Biesse Group, Giancarlo Selci, when the company fell on hard times as Japanese motorcycles dominated the market in the late eighties. It’s changed hands a few times since then, and it’s currently owned by the Qianjiang Group, which is based in the southeast coastal area of Zhejiang Province, China. This has been a point of contention among some riders. Benelli’s motorcycles are still designed in the Benelli R&D center in Pesaro, Italy, but it seems that they are now manufactured in China. According to the Benelli About Us page, “QJ produces over 1,200,000 vehicles per year at its super modern factory in Wenling, about 250 miles from Shanghai. With over 14,000 employees, the factory is as big as a city!” This has led many to no longer see Benelli as an Italian manufacturer at all.
