There’s been a lot of noise around the CFMOTO brand in the recent past and that noise is justified. Last week you’ll have seen that we went across to Portimao to meet the team and an entire range of new CFMOTO Machines and you’ll read in RideFast about their newest road bikes.
In SA, CFMOTO has established itself as a player with their range of cost effective Quads and Side By Sides. In Portugal, they unveiled some new ones in the form of the CFORCE 1000 Quad which included a mud-monster with massive wheels, The turbo charged 998 triple cylinder Z10 Side By Side (Complete with Fox Suspension) and the U6 Electric utility Side By Side…
But we didn’t get to ride those. Those were reserved, mostly for the dealers present, while we were introduced to the new 800MT-X Adventure bike.
But wait!
There were other brand new bikes there too in the form of the 700MT adventure tourer and the little CF-Lite 250 farm bike. Hopefully, over the next few months as the bikes hit SA, we’ll be able to scrag them and get some riding in.
So many bikes, hordes of curious journalistic type people – and simply not enough time to ride ‘em all.
We did get to know the 800MT-X pretty well, despite the fact that the weather had other ideas about us blasting the bike through the Portuguese bushveld.
On the day that we were riding the road bikes, a group of riders got to take the bikes through some fairly beautiful, rugged terrain from what we understand.
Some ended up stuck in the mud, some fell over, one guy even slid off the side and ended up hooked in a tree looking for his bike…
Chatting to some of the riders on the bus home, we felt better that we’d only packed ADV gear for the trip. Full race leathers were the order of the day for some of the adventure group, with some never having ever ridden on the dirt!
All things considered, they did really bloody well and when we got the bikes they looked none the worse for wear..
We asked for pictures of their adventures, but none are forthcoming.
On our chosen day for the ADV ride, the skies opened. By the time that we got to the amazing restaurant huddled on the cliffs near Praia Da Amoreira the group was literally soaked to the bone by the torrential rain.
There were no complaints, just broad smiles as we discussed the fun we’d had riding up into the mountains along narrow winding mountain passes and ancient cobbled roads through the villages and hamlets that dot the surrounding countryside.
We South Africans are not accustomed to such winding roads, so, for our lot anyway, it was a real treat – all the while on the wrong side of the road. A bigger treat was seeing the look from my Aussie mate when I managed to wangle a steak egg and chips instead of the seafood stew that he was served… Priceless.
It’s a great pity that launches are always kind of rushed.
We saw places where you’d like to stop and take it all in – old castles, ancient ruins, even abandoned farmhouses and such – but there’s never enough time.
It just gives you wanderlust – Portugal is one place that we’ll need to visit soon.
What’s this story about again?
Oh yes, the bikes!
Well that’s pretty easy, the new 800MT-X really is a lot of fun.
Fast, comfortable, powerful, did we mention that it looks nice too.
What do you think of the striking Blue and pink Colour scheme? It works huh!
Oh you want more detail?
Here goes…
We were greeted by a sea of machines when we arrived at the Portimao track before the sunrise did on the day of the ride. It’s pretty mind boggling really – this upstart brand really put on a great show.
We were hustled along for a quick briefing, all the while with the guides glancing nervously at the sky… Move it! Was the theme for the day.
We were allocated our ride and had a little bit of time to get familiar with it all – and familiar is the correct description. It’s clear to us that CFMOTO has taken full advantage of their technical partnerships with other mainline brands.
The 21/18 tubeless wheel combo are shod in now familiar CST rubber. Brakes are by J-Juan. Fully adjustable suspension by KYB.
Nice!
You notice details like the wide footpegs and the low-slung fuel tanks.
There’s a neat carrier out back, an adjustable screen up front – and a TFT display that ‘Skriks vir niks!’
Climbing aboard, the firm seat is not overly wide. The bars are wide, controls all logically placed.
3 rider modes. Quickshifter as standard.
Again – Noice!
Tickle the starter and the fuel injected parallel twin burbles to life. We know these engines.
CFMOTO has a deal with Akarapovic for aftermarket pipes. The stock pipe is really good, but a nice Akarapovic… mmmm.
Hydraulic clutch in, first gear engaged and off we went.
Familiar. Quality. The first words that came to mind as we powered through the tunnel out of the Portimao track. A Sho’t left onto a short gravel road – sadly, the only gravel we’d see for the day. Did the tyre feel a bit slippery?
Can’t say for sure. And off we went on the aforementioned ride.
The bike is tall and affords the rider a commanding view of the surrounding countryside. It’s comfortable, powerful – everything that an adv machine should be. We could not fault the handling through all the twisties and acceleration out of the corners is a lot of fun.
On the tarmac, we had no complaints with either the brakes or tyres and the suspension soaked it all up effortlessly. Despite our guide’s best requests, some of the riders present spent a lot of the time on the back wheel.
Portugal is so cool. This is a little stop in the village. Note the TFT display. Aljezur castle. Abandoned in the 15th century.
Did we play with rider modes? Well yes!
And those are all clearly displayed on the very legible TFT screen.
It poured with rain you see, so from lunch we switched from sports mode to rain mode – and that’s a simple one button affair. Rain mode is a wonderful thing in conditions like that, it limits the power and stops the rear from spinning out in the slippery stuff and embarrassing yourself on the mud that was often washed across the tar roads.
We did find a small patch of dry ish gravel where we had to wait for the photogs to get images of our brilliance. There some of the guys found a small rock which they used as a jump – just to “Test the suspension” No bottoming out – KYB is good stuff!
When we hit the freeway back home – it was back into sports mode. Fall back, back, back – a section of open road and open up!
We got a few scowls for exceeding the national speed limits – a speeding fine in Euro’s is probably no joke.
After that, we engaged cruise control and just followed the pack back to the track.
Conclusions:
Despite the fact that we did not actually get to ride the bike on any gravel or off-road trails, we had a seriously good time on a seriously good bike on some seriously cool roads.
This bike is impressive. If you could ride with a blindfold on, you’d never say that motorcycles were a newish line for CFMOTO.
Judging by the feel and handling on those often very slippery roads, indications are that the new 800MT-X will be great in the dirt – especially with slightly more aggressive tyres.
That’s something that we are looking forward to.
Pricing will be a decider – and judging by CFMOTO’s 450, this one will be priced right for the SA market.
The bikes are on the water and will be at your CFMOTO dealership soon.
In the interim, we caught up with CFMOTO’s Doug Farrell and had a chat around the company’s plans for the SA market. Have a watch.
And – believe us when we say that the moment this bike becomes available in SA, we’ll be heading out to find some dirt…
