The Benda Asura 400 May Look Intimidating, But Lacks the Fangs

Back in February last year, Chinese manufacturer Benda unveiled the radical-looking Asura 400 concept. The production version of the bike was launched at 27,800 Chinese Yuan for the base variant and 29,800 Chinese Yuan for the top end variant. This translates to around Rs 3 lakh and Rs 3.22 lakh respectively. So how did the brand manage to price the bike so competitively despite packing a parallel-twin motor, a single-sided swingarm and sophisticated underpinnings? Well, the manufacturer has now revealed the specifications of the Asura 400, giving us a fair idea.

The bike is powered by a 389cc liquid-cooled parallel twin motor which churns out 36.7PS and 32Nm. In comparison, the concept version was shown with a 399cc parallel-twin motor that was said to produce 43.5PS of power. If you pit the production version of the Asura 400 against the Kawasaki Z400, the Chinese bike lags behind by 8.3PS and 5.9Nm. But despite this, the Benda Asura 400 is still reasonably powerful. The bike is claimed to accelerate from 0-100kmph in 7 seconds and top speed is rated at 160kmph. More importantly, it is pretty fuel efficient too. Benda claims the motorcycle can return a mileage of 32.2kmpl, which is impressive for a twin-cylinder motor.

The lack of outright performance figures has been compensated by retaining the concept version’s underpinnings, features and even the design. The Asura 400 gets an inverted front fork and rear monoshock with a fat, single-sided aluminium swingarm. The motorcycle also features twin disc brakes with radial calipers at the front and a disc brake at the rear. Dual-channel ABS is also offered for optimum safety.

As far as the feature list is concerned, it gets an all-LED lighting system and a full-colour TFT screen like the one senn on the concept version. The production version even retains the ridiculously high-set, short pillion seat which looks more like an ornamental feature rather than something practical. At best, it is suited only for short distance rides. A motorcycle like this, with the same kind of features and design, is unlikely to be launched in India as it will be way too expensive in its segment.