Motorcycle Sport & Leisure

BEAST FROM THE EAST

Really, it was inevitable. Just like products of the Japanese industry half a century ago, Chinese motorcycles are increasingly no longer the cheap but not always cheerful products they used to be, predominantly built down to a price, often with shockingly poor durability, and non-existent spares backup.

For that was then and this is now, with products of the People’s Republic increasingly well-engineered and soundly constructed, with ever more attractive styling that’s no longer so frequently derivative, as a pastiche of Western design. But while industry giant Qianjiang has been a key player in moving this trend forward via its Italian Benelli subsidiary, the true pathfinder in this process of engaging with overseas markets via a range of ever more appealing and well-made middleweight models, is the much smaller CFMoto company.

CFMoto was founded in 1989 by then 24-year old entrepreneur Lai Guogui. In 2007 it opened its present plant in Hangzhou, 125 miles southwest of Shanghai, with its

1,500-strong workforce steadily ramping up production not only of bikes and scooters, but especially ATVs, in which CFMoto is a global market leader. In 2009 the company began development entirely in-house of its own liquid-cooled dohc 650cc parallel-twin engine as a platform for a range of different middleweight models. The 650NK Naked version was the first of these to be launched in China in 2011, reaching export markets one year later. The 650TK bagger Tourer came next, with export sales commencing in 2014, and 2017 saw the 650MT adventure tourer sold worldwide. Now it’s the turn of the 650GT, which uses the same tubular steel diamond

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Motorcycle Sport & Leisure

Motorcycle Sport & Leisure2 min read
News
You’re all clever folk out there, so probably noticed this already. But middleweight ‘light’ sports bikes have been having a real renaissance over the past few years. A class which used to be controlled by just two bikes – the venerable Kawasaki ER-6
Motorcycle Sport & Leisure5 min read
Northern Spain And The Picos
I’ll start in Spain, as we all do mostly the same thing to get here – for me a long, tedious ride in the rain to get the 27-hour ferry, so I’ll not bore you with this … My wife flew into Madrid, and I was meeting her at our friend’s house in San Lore
Motorcycle Sport & Leisure9 min read
Letters
This month’s Star Letter wins a pair of Weise Wave 2.0 gloves. Head out and explore with total confidence. Wave 2.0 is a waterproof glove, with mcFit™ technology lining fixture system and touchscreen compatible digits. RRP £99.99. Find out more at ww

Related Books & Audiobooks