Times they are a-changing

Many folk are still very much of the opinion that bikes built in China are cheap, and not especially well-built. Those people are wrong, and CFMOTO is on a mission to prove that!

- Dave Manning

CFMOTO range

One must remember that the insults being hurled at vehicles produced behind the real Red Wall (i.e., not the one referred to by the British media with reference to current political happenings in Blighty) are nearidentical to those that were levelled at bikes being built in Japan nigh on 50 years ago. And we all know what happened there. It’s happening again with Chinese-built vehicles, and CFMOTO (yes, the name is fully capitalised) are a prime example in how developed they have become over the last few years. To get a full understanding of the depth and variety of models available now, we took a trip away from the cold and damp of Lincolnshire in March to try out some of CFMOTO’s 2023 range.

While CFMOTO has used its own version of what was Kawasaki’s ER-6 engine in a number of its products – and it’s not the only manufacturer to do so, as an example Moto Morini also use the CFMOTO water-cooled parallel twin in its Seimmezzo and X-Cape models – it has also made its own developments with the engine, to create the 700 engine that it also uses in the range, to great effect with models like the CL-X Heritage. Additionally, the connection that now lies between CFMOTO and KTM with a reciprocal marketing and importation role between the companies in Europe and Asia, means that the newest of the CFMOTO bikes uses a KTM parallel twin of 799cc capacity, and the design work is thanks to KTM’s pet styling house, Kiska Design.

That link also means that spare parts will be housed at the KTM facility in Mattighofen, and potential buyers can be comforted by the four-year warranty offered on all models.

More details can be found at www.cfmotomotorcycle.eu/uk/en

300SR