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New motorcycle: impressed
Jan. 5th, 2023 09:58 amIn the last few years, I've owned several motorcycles; a Honda CTX700 (cruiser), a Suzuki VStrom 650, a Kawasaki Z400, and just this week bought a new CF Moto 700 CL/X.
The CF Moto is a Chinese bike, the manufacturer is new to the US market for motorcycles. They've been selling off-roaders like 4x4s and side by sides in the US for 20 years.
I took it on the road yesterday for the first time and the performance seemed pretty good, not amazing. Then I realized I was in ECO mode. I flipped it to sport mode and yeah it wanted to pull my arms out. I'm not complaining but I'll have to get used to it. It is nice having the ECO mode - it will also serve as a rain and off-road mode to cut power down as needed.
I just spent a half hour in the garage cracking open the side panels and peeking inside.
I gotta say, the build quality of the Chinese bike is as good or better than the Japanese bikes. ALL of the Japanese bikes I've owned have body panels that are partially or completely supported by flimsy plastic clips that tend to break easily when you go in for just normal maintenance like changing the air filter. The CF Moto side panels are pressed aluminum panels held in place by machined aluminum spools that slot into rubber gaskets that are set into welded steel hold-downs. One bolt and it slides off, and the air filter change is just behind that and just a few more screws.
In the back a single screw and the side panels pull off (they are held also by beefy plastic stakes that go into rubber gaskets - NOT going to break) and behind it are two very beefy mounting points for pannier and top racks. I'll be welding up some racks to go on there soon.
The CF Moto is a Chinese bike, the manufacturer is new to the US market for motorcycles. They've been selling off-roaders like 4x4s and side by sides in the US for 20 years.
I took it on the road yesterday for the first time and the performance seemed pretty good, not amazing. Then I realized I was in ECO mode. I flipped it to sport mode and yeah it wanted to pull my arms out. I'm not complaining but I'll have to get used to it. It is nice having the ECO mode - it will also serve as a rain and off-road mode to cut power down as needed.
I just spent a half hour in the garage cracking open the side panels and peeking inside.
I gotta say, the build quality of the Chinese bike is as good or better than the Japanese bikes. ALL of the Japanese bikes I've owned have body panels that are partially or completely supported by flimsy plastic clips that tend to break easily when you go in for just normal maintenance like changing the air filter. The CF Moto side panels are pressed aluminum panels held in place by machined aluminum spools that slot into rubber gaskets that are set into welded steel hold-downs. One bolt and it slides off, and the air filter change is just behind that and just a few more screws.
In the back a single screw and the side panels pull off (they are held also by beefy plastic stakes that go into rubber gaskets - NOT going to break) and behind it are two very beefy mounting points for pannier and top racks. I'll be welding up some racks to go on there soon.
