CFMoto is a Chinese brand that is celebrating its 35th year of existence and is becoming famous globally for stifling the stereotype of Chinese motorcycles. At present, 100 countries are stocking this brand, including Europe, the USA and Australia, and now they are up to 101 countries as South Africa ceremoniously joins the list.
To celebrate the early arrival of the first units, CFMoto South Africa hosted a day at the Formula K Circuit in Benoni for Dealers and Media to give their tyres a kick and take a little spin.
By Donovan Fourie.
The RideFast website is running a story with the entire range, but here we are with the two adventure models. In future, we will get hold of them again for a longer ride and some off-roading, but for now, here’s a quick perusal around the FK track out Benoni side.
CFMoto 450MT – R124,900
This might well prick up the ears of South African adventure aficionados who seek a motorcycle that is comfy on the long ride but has the off-road prowess to climb to the top of the Drakensberge and jump the summits.
We cannot for sure guarantee its Everest-worthiness based on our few laps of Formula K but the specs do look nonetheless encouraging.
It has a rally look to it with a near-vertical screen and minimal plastics. The dash has a TFT display that can connect to your phone, the bar buttons are easy enough to control and it comes with dual-channel ABS and traction control. Despite the stilted appearance, the seat is low and narrow enough for shorties like me to put their feet down.
The motor is a 449cc in-line twin, liquid-cooled, DOHC with its crankshaft shifted to 270º offering an irregular firing order. With that, the motor has a wonderful feel as it gurgles angrily onto the track. It pushes 41hp and 42Nm of torque which is pretty good, and while we never had the chance to open it up on a longer stretch it pulled nicely out of FK’s tight corners.
The wheels are spoked with 21 and 18-inch sizing while the suspension is from KYB and offers a decent 200mm of travel. The entire bike, ready to ride, weighs 185kg which is also not bad at all.
Despite the off-road credentials, it handled the tarred FK circuit rather well, the KYB suspension not getting out of sorts anywhere and the bike was light, nimble and comfortable.
I know that Glenn did find some dirt and he came back grinning: “It feels light, nimble, easy to ride and the suspension feels quite lekker! Lets grab one soon and take it for a proper trail ride.”
We look forward to getting hold of it again to try out some off-roading because, according to its CV, it should be a blast.
450 MT R124,900
D I S P L A C E M E N T 449cc
ENGINE TYPE: 2-Cylinder inline, liquid-cooled, DOHC
POWER: 32.5KW
TORQUE: 44Nm
TRANSMISSION: 6-Speed, wet multi-plate, slipper clutch
DIMENSIONS: 2210 x 870 x 1390mm
FUEL CAPACITY: 17.5L
GROUND CLEARANCE: 220mm
BOSCH TCS & ABS
CFMoto 800MT Explore – R219,900
Of the current CFMoto range, this is the big daddy adventure machine. It’s not primarily an off-roader like the 450, although it does have spoked wheels, with a 19-inch front and 17 in the rear, it’s more a long-distance traveller with soft off-roading capabilities, much like many adventure machines on the market.
It certainly is an adventure machine with protective scaffolding, a baseplate, an adventure screen and angry LED headlights. Like most of the CFMoto range, the dash is TFT and there’s an array of buttons and switches on the handlebars, controlling such things as cornering ABS, traction control, cruise control and four riding modes.
The seating position is your usual adventure setup with high bars, low pegs and a rather wide seat in between. Sadly, Formula K Circuit didn’t give us the opportunity to test the ergonomics in long-distance touring but it felt good in the little we did ride it.
If anything, for this tight kart circuit, the suspension – from KYB and offering 160 mm of travel – was a little soft leading us to think it’s more designed for touring comfort which is good.
The Explore weighs 231kg with all fluids including a full 19-litre fuel tank. That does make it a touch heavier than other bikes in this class but it doesn’t feel particularly heavy even when swapping between FK’s flick-flack bends.
The motor is a 799cc parallel-twin pushing 95hp and 77Nm of torque putting it pretty much in line with some opposition and outdoing some of the others which, again, is good.
The motor is smooth and effortless, and the two-way quick-shifter works beautifully.
Really, a machine like this needs a long ride to get the real feel out of it, but this initial ride is promising. What is interesting is the feeling that if someone had stuck, say, a BMW sticker on it and told me it was some new BMW model, I really would have believed them. It feels smooth, classy and well put together.
Now all we need is to get hold of it again and take it down the long road. We suspect it will impress.
800 MT EXPLORE R219,900
D I S P L A C E M E N T 799cc
ENGINE TYPE: 2-Cylinder inline, liquid-cooled, EFI, 8 valves, DOHC
POWER: 70KW
TORQUE: 77Nm
TRANSMISSION: Wet multi disc, sipper clutch
DIMENSIONS: 2234 x 853 x 1277mm
POWER MODE: Sport/Rain/Off-Road/All-Terrain
WHEELS: Tubeless spoked rims
SEAT HEIGHT: 825mm
FUEL CAPACITY: 19L
ABS
