QJ Motor Sai 350 gets a fairly simple yet aggressive design which broke covers at the Beijing Motor Show earlier this year for the first time
Benelli’s parent company, QJ Motor has started dispatching its upcoming faired motorcycle Sai 350 to dealerships across China. A pre-production Concept of the same was first revealed at the Beijing Motor Show earlier this year. Additionally, a couple of months earlier, a leaked patent image of the upcoming superbike was floating around the internet.
The design leaked in the patent image and showcased at the Beijing Motor Show is in line with the final production-spec model which has arrived at dealerships. From the looks of it, the styling of Sai 350 is reminiscent of its Japanese supersport counterparts.
Sporty Design
Upfront the bike gets a sharp fascia complemented by a short visor and vertical LED strip in between. The twin-beam LED headlamp gives the bike an aggressive appeal commonly seen in contemporary sports bikes. It further gets accentuated with a muscular fuel tank and extended shrouds. The front end is reminiscent of BMW S 1000 RR whereas its point tail section with high-set scooped panels resembles Yamaha R15 V3.0.
Air scoops at both front and rear ends of the motorcycle make it aerodynamically enhanced. The bike sports contrasting body panels that extend from the rear edges of the headlights to divide the fairing into distinct upper and lower sections. The aggressive styling of the bike is complemented by a committed riding posture with a clip-on handlebar and rear-set footpegs. Overall, the motorcycle looks like a proper sports bike.
Well Equipped
Like most other sports bikes in this space, Sai 350 is fairly well-kitted. It features an all-LED lighting setup, backlit switchgear, a USB charging port and a hazard light switch. The bike also flaunts a fully coloured digital instrument console which comes with two light-sensing display modes, a tyre pressure display function and Bluetooth connectivity with smartphone screen projection function.
Engine & Hardware Specifcations
Coming to its specifications, Sai 350 is powered by a 353cc twin-cylinder which kicks out 36.7 bhp at 9000rpm and 31 Nm at 7000rpm. In comparison, TVS Apache RR 310 is just 3 horses and 4 Nm shorter than the Chinese counterpart despite being less in displacement and a single-cylinder motor. However, Sai 350 misses out on multiple riding models unlike RR 310.
Hardware configurations of Sai 350 feature a suspension setup comprising a chunky USD fork at front and a mono-shock at rear attached to an aluminium swingarm. Braking duties are handled by twin 250mm discs up front with axial calipers, and a single 240mm disc at rear. These are assisted by a dual-channel ABS as standard.
It is well known that premium motorcycles from QJ Motor are rebranded as Benelli for international markets. The same might not be the case with new Sai 350. In India, Benelli has plans to launch the new 302R instead.