Ayup everyone,
Almost 3 years ago now in the early days of the channel I spoke about how the industry was changing whether any of us liked it or not.
Since then we have seen some of the changes I talked about come to pass, and I think we are on the cusp of the period when that change will really start to become a global change.
The big 4 Japanese manufacturers and the various European brands have struggled to grow the industry in many western markets, but now we have had an influx of new models and new ideas that really are changing peoples perspective.
With every man and his BOB crawling the fields at the ABR Festival last week I thought I would look at how that sector of the industry in particular is changing.
So today I am going to look at 20 Adventure motorcycles and their many variants, that are offering customers alternatives that just weren’t there even 2 years ago.
Some you will know, others you may not.
They all face an uphill struggle to de-throne the established players, but some have already made a mark and going forward they may well begin to shake the market up in a way we haven’t seen since the arrival of Japanese motorcycles in the 60’s and 70’s.
It took many years for the Japanese to throw off the image of just being cheap imports and they have worked hard to maintain that image.
Now, many of the Chinese brands attempting the same thing are working just as hard to shake off a similar image, and all of them will face similar challenges.
Some will inevitably perish, but others will just as inevitably survive and even thrive.
I am going to do a deep dive into the Chinese Motorcycle industry as a whole, but for today, I am going to concentrate on 20 New Adventure Bikes that will change the market forever. Maybe not individually, but certainly as a whole, their impact will be felt as a tremor in the industry, that could in time lead to the sort of seismic change that happened in the 70’s.
Before I go on I have to say a big thanks for all the support, and especially to the BareBonesMC family on the Ko-Fi page.
You can find more videos there, and on the Rumble channel, as well as the back up channel here, but for now, grab a cuppa because this is a bit of an epic, and let us look at what are a new and exciting breed of Adventure Motorcycles coming in from China.
Watching to the end helps the channel a lot, but I know its a long one so I have included timestamps so you can watch it in parts.
CF Moto
The first and most obvious brand I have to look at are of course CF Moto. They are far from the biggest despite what you might think, but the massive investment in marketing they have focussed onto the Western markets has already sent waves through the industry and shaken the more established brands in a way that none of them seemed to be expecting.
CF Moto’s association with KTM has obviously had its good and bad points, but it has helped the company to present their range in a way which the western markets have lapped up so far.
I talked about the fact KTM had binned the 450cc twin project they were working on in a video years ago that I will link at the end. Little did they, or we, know at the time the impact that would have.
Because CF Moto obviously saw something in the project that the Austrians didn’t.
Maybe if KTM had built it they wouldn’t have ended up in the mess they got into, but that would be a different story.
What we know now, is the impact that the 450MT or the Ibex 450 as it is known in the States has had on the worlds market.
The Japanese had shied away from building a lighter smaller capacity Adventure bike with better off road manners, seeing it as a niche market product that could potentially steal sales from their bigger bikes, and they were right about that because it has, but by not building it themselves they lost those sales completely and I am sure in hindsight they are all kicking themselves now.
At 175kg or 385lbs dry with 41HP and 31ft/lbs of torque it might never set the world on fire in the performance stakes, but those figures put it just inside the A2 licence limits of the UK, Europe and Australia.
So as well as the older riders looking to downsize, it attracted new riders, unwilling to pay the extra for the bigger bikes they had to restrict to stay inside licence regs.
It hit the Asian markets like a sledgehammer too. Big enough to be aspirational but small enough to be practical it ticked many boxes for many riders in many countries, and still is.
It’s only real competitor at the time was the old air cooled Royal Enfield Himalayan, and it made the Himalayan look positively agricultural. Compared to the Honda CRF300 it was like riding a superbike and when compared to the Honda CB500X was both lighter and much more capable when the tarmac ran out.
So it really was in a league of its own, but that sector is hotting up now.
With a list price of £5,700 including taxes in the UK and an MSRP before taxes of $6,500 in the USA, it gave new riders a way into the world of bikes that they could afford much more easily.
It showed how much they had been listening to riders too. It might not be perfect, but the 21” front wheel, good long travel suspension and enough get up and go to take you anywhere you wanted, it carved a niche for itself that will help CF Moto massively in the coming years I think.
What it did mean, is that for many the older 650MT, based on the Kawasaki twin engine, became obsolete overnight. But the 650MT is a different bike and shouldn’t be dismissed.
Still available in many markets it is a much more road focussed bike that carries more weight and will pull 2 people and luggage along at the speed limit and beyond with more space and comfort for both.
At 220Kg or 485lbs it is significantly heavier, but with 60HP and over 40 ft/lbs of torque its overall performance is fairly comparable to its younger sibling the 450, and that Kawasaki engine will go on forever if treated well.
Now it is priced at £5,000 here and in the States it seems to have been discontinued, but the last MSRP I could find was around $6,800.
Lastly, although we have the MTX800 on the way, we have the 800MT.
Based around the notorious LC8C engine from the KTM 790 Adventure, You might think of it as a watered down KTM 790, but that’s not really true. 95HP and 56ft/lbs of torque doesn’t sound too shabby, but at 230kg, it is a serious heavyweight compared to the KTM.
The base model comes in at £6,800 in the UK and the Explore version has a significantly higher starting price of almost £12,000 which is a massive leap.
In the States the Ibex 800E has an MSRP of just over $10,000, so I imagine it is a slightly different spec again, but in either market, you can see it is not being sold as a budget bike like the 650 was.
Depending who you believe, CF Moto did at least try to do some redesign work to make the engine platform more stable. But the reputation of the LC8C engine for destroying itself has inevitably had an effect on global sales, and it is the 450 that has been the biggest success story for CF Moto so far.
Time will tell if the engine in the 800 is more consistently reliable than the KTM version, and the slightly lower state of tune should help that, but customers don’t seem to have jumped in the same way they did when the 450 was first arrived.
Together they give people 2 very valid motorcycles that have a spec sheet as good as many of the bikes coming out of Japan for a significantly smaller price.
Voge
The next brand I want to mention is Voge.
Voge seem to be trying to position themselves as the Honda of China.
Loncin, the parent company have a long relationship with both Honda and BMW, and they have used those relationships to help them create some motorcycles that do have a much more quality feel than many of their counterparts from across the globe.
Stand a Voge beside any other brand and you would struggle to say the fit and finish isn’t up to the same standard.
As a young company they still have a lot to prove, but they have been working hard to get the many influencers of the world to push the quality narrative they have chosen to follow.
But underneath the marketing is some sound and proven engineering.
Their first 500 twin was based very much on the CB500 engine and if you believe some of the influencers out there, it is a better version of the CB500X.
Now they have been developing the engine and indeed the whole platform more. The new 525 in several variants took the design on again and as an A2 entry level Adventure bike they make a lot of sense.
Now, they have moved on again and we have an all new 270 degree crank 600cc twin that has caused quite a stir already.
They are pushing it as a Vstrom 650 beater and it has some very nice touches in the design, but you know I love my Vstrom and so it has set itself a hard target to challenge for.
Personally, the bike I prefer is now the one with the biggest discounts as it is seen as old tech besides the others, but the DSX650 is powered by the same trusty old Rotax single that has taken many BMW F650GS’s across many continents.
I like the simplicity of the 650 and at the prices they are being sold at the moment, they are a serious contender for bargain of the year.
They are bigger physically than the 500, and 600cc twins, but they carry the weight well, and for anyone who rides 2 up more often they are a plusher more roomy motorcycle.
But that isn’t it. Now they have 2 versions of the smaller BMW GS called the DS800X and DS900X.
Both are based around the bigger Rotax twin engine that has served BMW for so long.
Now redesigned again, it is another 270 degree crank engine and pumps out almost the same 95HP as the big CF Moto, without the worry of the LC8C engines flaws. The DS800X Rally comes in a whole 20Kg or 44lbs lighter than the CF Moto 800 too.
Even the more expensive, higher specced DS900X, which I might add produces masses more torque than any of its competition, still weighs less than the CF Moto. .
The spec sheet reads as good as anything on the market, and the prices seem a bit ridiculous right now which does make me wonder, but I figured out a long while ago that you don’t always get what you pay for, and the excessive prices that plague the industry do make it possible for anyone who wants to, to undercut prices without hurting quality.
The big players have just got greedy over the years and maybe Loncin are playing the long game with Voge.
Just as the Japanese did, they could be running at very tight margins to increase their market share with the idea that they can cash in further down the line when they have made a bigger name for themselves.
What it means, is that we have a wide range of alternative bikes to suit various riders all within the same brand.
The fast development is great to see, but it could make the models that have been replaced more difficult to get parts for long term.
Loncin are one of the big players in the world market, far bigger than CF Moto, and if they are playing the long game to establish themselves in western markets, then I see no reason they can’t succeed.
At present the DS650 is priced here at just £5,000, the DS525X at £5,500, the DS625X at £6,000, and the DS800X Rally at £7,000.
Topping out the range the fully equipped DS900X sits at £8,500, compared to the BMW F800GS Adventure at around £15,000, that is one hell of a bargain price.
For those of you in the States I know you are yet to get them, and with tariff wars it may take time, but they are a company to watch for sure and I have seen some presence in the Australian market, so they are on the march.
Kove
Next we have our old friends at Kove, and I am sure some of you will remember when I first talked about this small unknown company that were taking on the Dakar for the first time.
Obviously a lot has happened since then, and I can’t link all the videos I have done, but I will link that first one, and if you do a search for Kove on the channel you will see all the videos I have done.
Despite the loss of Zhang Xue, the company has continued to make inroads into western markets, and their march shows no signs of stopping. They aren’t faultless and still have a long way to go, but for such a small company they have made a big splash and so far have delivered 2 bikes that stand apart from the rest.
They have set a new standard for what is expected from any of the other Chinese companies too.
The 450 Rally has few competitors outside of the Rally arena, and as a lightweight, long distance adventure bike only the AJP PR7 comes close really.
A production line version of the race bike we have watched Mason Klein ring the neck of, for all but the fastest riders, this bike is a cut above what most could afford, at a price no one thought possible.
It might not have won the Dakar yet, and without their inspirational leader they might not, but it has proven that Chinese motorcycles can be far from the cheap nasty offerings that were once all we saw.
The march of the 450 continues, but it would always be a niche bike, built for a purpose. Where they went next was always going to be the interesting question and the 800X Super Adventure, despite its LC8C derived engine, has won many fans.
In my opinion, in many ways it is a superior motorcycle than many of the bikes we get from more established manufacturers, and with prices from £8,500 in the UK and $10,500 in the US, depending on the variants you choose, they have chosen the push the boundaries of what we will pay for a Chinese bike to the limit.
Just as with CF Moto, they are tight lipped about the changes they have made to the engine, but again it appears that so far, the problems are less obvious than they seemed to be with the big orange machines.
Just as Loncin have positioned Voge as the Honda of the Chinese manufacturers, obviously Kove are aiming their sights very much at the KTM market. They have taken their first bites and are now in a good position to eat further into that market.
So far, the exit of Zhang Xue has had little external effect, but we haven’t seen any new ideas since, and without his vision, no one knows what will come next.
I had heard rumours they were pulling out of racing, but have seen no evidence of that yet, but I guess we will know by the time the Dakar comes around again.
As with all of the brands here, only time will tell, but with the multiple variants of the 2 bikes I have mentioned already on the market, ignoring them would be silly.
Benelli
Next on my list today is a name that runs deep through the history of the motorcycle industry, but without the Chinese, Benelli would have been lost to us.
They were the first to coin the phrase “Chinese manufacturing and Italian Design”.
Now owned by the Qianjiang Motorcycle company, or QJ Motors.
They are another one of the bigger and more established players on the world stage.
They were the first of the new breed of Chinese bikes in many ways and despite the designed in Italy banner they have always had mixed reviews, but no one can deny the fact they quickly became the number 1 selling Adventure bike in Italy above Moto Guzzi, Aprilia and Ducati, and they are a capable range of bikes.
It has all got a bit complicated at times with some models that in my opinion were too close to each other to collect different sectors of the market.
The first TRK502 was a roomy but heavier version of the Honda CB500X in some ways, but it was a bigger bike all around.
That meant it won on comfort but lost on performance, so it was a choice, and it was a choice that generated a good amount of sales.
Quality of the finish and some parts have been called into question at times, but let us be fair, in the same period, so has the finish and quality of the parts many other manufacturers use.
Roll on a few years and we have been bombarded by marketing about the TRK 800X and the TRK 702X and I think much of it could be called phishing, to see what the market reacted best to.
One was based around the original Benelli 752 engine design and the other was a new version of the water cooled Kawasaki twin engine built on licence.
Both had their good points and in the end, for most markets, it seems that the 702X is the bike that has been chosen to head the line up. It isn’t the highest spec or the lightest or indeed the best fit and finish, but by all accounts they are a solid bike that is fantastic value for the money.
In the UK it sits in showrooms at just £6,800, and in the States the MSRP looks to be around $8,500.
For that, you get a strong, capable 70HP 700cc twin that churns out masses of torque.
It wont break any records at the drag strip but that isn’t what it was built for.
At 222Kg it is no lightweight, but where that is a pain off road, it can be an advantage on the highway.
It is a stable and comfortable steed that is a step up from the 502X for both customers and the company, how big of a market share it gathers in this crowded sector is yet to be seen.
Not as light as the Kove, Not as high power as the bigger bikes and not as cheap as the smaller Voge bikes, they have a challenging time ahead I think, and that gets even more complicated now that QJ Motors are entering the UK and other markets with their own brand bikes.
QJ Motors
QJ Motors are due to arrive in the UK around September and if the present prices being touted are right, the market is going to get very interesting.
They have a huge range of bikes and I am not sure we will see all of them, but the SRT 600 is a 600cc parallel twin that comes in 3 variants, then there is a V twin 650, a 700cc parallel twin that has 2 variants, an 800 parallel twin that’s actually only 750cc in some of the 5 variants, and a single 900cc parallel twin that is available as a solo bike or an ADV sidecar outfit, so you will be spoiled for choice, with 12 different mid sized Adventure Bikes.
The S and SX variants of the 800 produce almost the same power as the bigger 900, but the 900 does give you significantly more torque, which it would need to pull that sidecar along.
Across the range we have a standard version, an “S” model, an “X” model and an “SX” model, Most are big heavy bikes, but the 800cc variant also comes in a lighter weight “RX” version set to take on the Kove 800X.
All the small differences in spec would take a whole video, and I do wonder if they will all be bought to the UK, but the term market cannibalization is real, and I hope they have thought things through so they don’t just end up fighting with themselves from model to model, as well as fighting over the same customers as Benelli.
I have heard some people complain about the quality of the QJ Motors bikes, but I will save my judgement until we see them here properly.
The salt laden roads of the UK winter can destroy the best of motorcycles, so one way or another it won’t take too long to see where they intend to place themselves within the market.
Moto Morini
Next we have another historic name that begins in Italy and end in China.
Moto Morini, now owned by ZNEN or the Zhongneng Vehicle Group aren’t a particularly big player in China but outside they have been steadily climbing the sales ladder and are another company who seem to have begun to collect a growing following.
The Moto Morini 650 X-Cape has been around for a while now and although subjective, I think it is one of the better looking bikes here. Built around that 650cc Kawasaki twin engine that has a long and distinguished history, it is another bike that screams “Italian Design”
They do now finally seem to be extending the range too.
Along with many other models we will soon be getting the biggest Adventure bike to come out of China so far, with the X-Cape 1200.
They boast it is an all new engine, but it is developed from the old 87 degree 1187cc V twin Bialbero Corsacorta engines of the early 2000’s. They have a 750 V twin too, so you can expect that in another bike I am sure.
Producing 125HP and weighing in at 245Kg it is no lightweight, but it will be the boss of the Chinese ADV bikes from a power perspective when it arrives.
Less talked about is yet another 450cc parallel twin called the Alltrhike too.
We will have to wait and see how the new models perform in the real world, but Moto Morini are gaining momentum and a choice of V twins has to be good.
And we have another one next.
Morbidelli
This is a bike that won’t be for everyone as it is another serious heavyweight.
Originally branded as MVS, Now the Keeway group have taken on the name of Morbidelli for the brand and it is another bikes that boasts Italian design as well as an Italian name.
They didn’t do very well under the MVS banner, but Keeway group are another one of the big players and now the Morbidelli branded T1002V is in showrooms ready to ride away.
It is a big, brute of a bike and Keeway are one of the bigger players. They have gone the route of a high torque 80 degree V Twin in a fairly low state of tune, and max torque of around 66 ft/lbs or 90Nm is produced at just over 5,000 rpm with max power of around the 90 HP coming in at nearly 8,000 rpm. That gives you a wide power band to play with and it is a lazy motor compared to many of today’s bikes, and again I applaud the fact they have gone their own way with the engine.
It is a heavyweight coming in at 265Kg or 584 lbs though.
Having said that, you get a lot of bike, with heated seats and grips as standard and an electronics suite that is pretty comprehensive.
The fit and finish are very good and the bike is very solid looking. It isn’t a bike for me, but it will be stable on highways with all that weight, and the low revving V Twin has a nice throb. It’s wide power band will make for a relaxed, lazy ride too.
There is none of the clicking up and down the gearbox of the higher revving twins with this bike, and it will suit someone doing a lot of motorway miles with luggage, who isn’t so bothered about off road performance.
KYB are recognised as one of the better suspension manufacturers and the fully adjustable front and rear suspension is better than you get on many Japanese bikes. The Spanish J Juan brakes are strong too, and make a good combination with the suspension.
Price is £8,000 on the road in the UK and I am not sure they have made it to the States yet, but they will I am sure.
Don’t expect to be doing Pol Tarres style tricks, and you won’t be disappointed, but they are another company who are following on the heels of the first wave of Chinese manufacturers and they do have some catching up to do.
Lastly today I do want to mention what I think is the start of the next wave.
Zontes
Leading that wave are Zontes, who are owned by the Guangdong Tayo Motorcycle Technology Co. They are the first to market with a new breed of 700cc triple engines that are coming out of China.
The Zontes ZT703F is a striking new design and some will love it and others hate it, but Zontes have established themselves at the smaller end of the market and are now set to push up into the middleweight sector.
Zontes have been recognised for their comprehensive electronics suites and the ZT703 comes equipped with a lot of bells and whistles although they didn’t get the memo re cruise control, which may be an oversight, but it should be easy to add at a later date if the market shouts loud enough.
It is a high revving triple with max power of 96HP not hitting until 10,000 rpm, and max torque of 76Nm or 56 ft/lbs comes in at 7,500 rpm.
The Triumph 900 is the obvious target with this bike and to be honest, stood side by side the fit finish on the Zontes, I would say is better in some ways and certainly doesn’t look cheap.
Triumph probably have the edge on paint, but the Zontes has some nice little design touches and is as different visually as the Kove 450 Rally was when it arrived, which I like. It is nice to see something different and the bike has a profile and silhouette that is very distinct whether you like it or not.
This is Chinese design and certainly isn’t trying to copy the style of anyone else.
At 215 Kg dry it is fairly comparable to the Tiger 900 and most of the other middleweight ADV bikes coming out of Japan and the triple engine is both lively and usable with its own distinct sound, revving just that bit harder than the Triumph.
At just £7,000 it is pretty much half the price of the Triumph and remember, Triumph don’t pay UK prices for labour on most of their bikes, so what is the real reason for that price difference? And let us be real, Zontes can’t be any worse than triumph for parts and servicing.
Yes the Triumph engine is bigger and stronger, and the Zontes is a bit heavier, But is the Triumph really twice the bike that the Zontes is?
Final Thoughts
There are other Triples coming too. CF Moto have a 675 that I can see being transplanted into another ADV bike soon, and Zhang Xue, the enigmatic engineer who took Kove into the Dakar has a 800cc triple in the pipeline built by his new company too.
The weight of 175 Kg dry he is aiming for with his new 800cc triple sounds impossible, but he is the man who designed the 450 Rally and 800X Super Adventure for Kove so he has real credibility.
So, even though I’ve listed many bikes here I am still only scratching the surface of what is a huge industry in China, and I will be doing a deep dive into the Chinese industry as a whole soon, to look at who the big players really are, and I hope you will be back for that.
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What are your thoughts on the new breed of bikes coming out of China?
As I said 3 years ago, the industry is changing, like it or not, and many of the bikes coming out of China now bear no resemblance to the cheap throw away Ali Baba bikes that once fuelled our comments about the poor quality of Chinese bikes, just as they did our comments about Jap Crap in the 1970’s.
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