China Gets SERIOUS

It was inevitable. Just like products of the Japanese industry in the 1960s, Chinese motorcycles are no longer the cheap-but-not-always cheerful products they used to be only two decades ago, mainly built down to a price, often with shockingly poor durability, and non-existent spares backup

- Alan Cathcart

For that was then and this is now, with today's PTW products from the People's Republic ever more finely engineered, well made, and clothed in fresh and appealing styling. This year's Beijing International Motorcycle Trade Exhibition showcased more than 30 new models from local manufacturers, built to increasingly sophisticated specs.

But while industry giant Qianjiang has been a key player in moving this trend forward since it purchased Benelli in 2006, the true pathfinder in this process of engaging with overseas markets via a range of ever more appealing and well-made models is the much smaller CFMoto company - or CFMOTO as it now likes to be known, for maximum assertiveness!

Currently this has the largest share of any Chinese manufacturer in the European market for products sold under its own name and is well established in other export destinations like Australia and Asia.

CFMOTO was founded in 1989 by then-24-year-old entrepreneur Lai Guogui. In 2007 it opened a 150,000m² plant in Hangzhou, 125 miles south-west of Shanghai, and in 2009 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 first multi-cylinder motorcycles to be manufactured by a Chinese company.

The 650NK Naked model powered by this Kawasaki ER6-inspired powerplant was launched in China in 2011, and reached export markets one year later, since when there's been a proliferation of spin-off models which have sold well all around the world. This engine has been purchased by CFMOTO's close neighbours Zhongneng to power its range of Moto Morini models, and CFMOTO's own 650NK-TT racer has finished fourth in the Isle of Man TT, ridden by Gary Johnson.