[Moto] Test Ride: CFMoto 800MT Touring

[#Wittels-]

Before starting to write to me, I took the trouble to read the comments of all the publications we have made about this motorcycle, and this brand, in the last 2 years. There are many. It makes sense, CFMoto is one of the brands that has had the most movement globally in terms of news and launches. But I am going to stay with a comment that, I think, summarizes the essence of the collective thought of motorcycle users, at least in our country: If this is premium, what is left for the GS, Africa, V-Strom? Are they from another planet?

Beyond the distortion and madness of the prices of motorcycles in our market, the constant on this particular motorcycle was that the water has already covered us, you cannot pay x peas for a Chinese motorcycle. Let's see, many things still need to be evaluated regarding the brand, and everything is in the future, so we are going to limit ourselves to talking purely and exclusively about the product based on the experience we had during the 1000 kilometers we did on our expedition to Tandil last week. And I think we are in a position to inform you that high-end motorcycles are already being manufactured in China. No buts, no jokes and no counting the ribs.

The CFMoto 800MT is, in our opinion, the first motorcycle to achieve a position in this category. And yes, at international prices, the brand has come out to compete with a product that wants to fight equally and with a price that is on par with, and even above, those of its traditional competitors. This 800MT Touring costs more than a Transalp 750, Ténéré 700, V-Strom 800, or V85TT, and is close to the value of an F850GS, 890 Adventure, or Triumph Tiger 900GT. In our market it has an advantage, it came out with a price that, in some cases, reaches 50% of some of the models mentioned above.

 

Before the launch, I am not very clear about how much it was going to cost, but we do anticipate a very ambitious plan by the brand. While we were spying on the previous movements, the volume of operations, or kits, caught our attention, since it is a locally produced model, which they had at the time they started. We are talking about more than 750 units of the 800MT between the different versions that will be marketed. At the moment, only this Touring version will be available at dealerships, but during the year the line will be completed with the Sport and Explore Edition versions.

I suppose that at this point there must be a large number of skeptics who do not agree that the motorcycle is CFMoto. That it has no history, that it is Chinese, that it is not Japanese, Italian, Austrian or German and all the ña ña ña that we usually hear from the most purist guardians of the doctrine and the status quo of two wheels. But we will address that issue later. Perhaps it is a good time to repair the list of equipment that this motorcycle offers as standard and that in other brands are optional, especially in the top top, or you have to go out and look for it in the aftermarket.

Ride by wire electronic accelerator, with two driving modes -sport and rain-, grip warmer and seat warmer -only for the pilot- with three temperature levels, adjustable windshield, up&down quickshifter, auxiliary headlights, full LED lighting with DRL, turns autocancellable, automatic activation of beacons in case of emergency braking, cornering ABS, slipper clutch, side cases and top-case, 7″ TFT color screen with Bluetooth connection and navigation through the CFMoto Ride app, high fenders and lowers, skid plate, Akront spoked rims for tubeless use, tire pressure and temperature sensors, steering damper, fully adjustable KYB inverted tubes at the front and adjustable preload and rebound monoshock at the rear, double 320 mm floating disc at the front with J.Juan 4-piston radial calipers, grip covers, 2 USB ports, a 12v socket and a large number of extra functions in the instrumentation. We have probably forgotten something, and it is striking that among so much equipment, what stands out the most is the lack of traction control and the possibility of disconnecting the ABS on the rear wheel.

Special section for the CFMoto Ride application. Thanks to the fact that the motorcycle comes with the T-Box installed, it allows obtaining a lot of information about the motorcycle, starting with the possibility of locating where our unit is located, the kilometers it has, the general average consumption, the fuel level and the battery voltage. On the other hand, problems can be reported, both with the vehicle and with the application, describing what happened and uploading photos to send to the manufacturer. Suggestions can also be made. And as for the data on the use of the motorcycle, you can see day by day the km traveled, the total time of use, the maximum speed and the number of fast accelerations, strong braking and inclinations of the motorcycle. You can see history of routes and generate a fence that notifies us if the motorcycle left the area that we delimited. Speaking of notifications, you can also receive alerts if any movement is detected while leaving the bike parked, if you're low on fuel, you can set a fatigue reminder to alert you to the instrument after x number of hours of continuous use, reminders if the vehicle has not been used for the amount of time we determine, notifications of high engine rpm and overheating should it occur. And you can also use the navigation function, which will give us turn-by-turn instructions on the TFT screen. In short, the list is endless and updates can even be installed in the system.

We took two days to test the motorcycle on a round trip to Tandil, leaving from the Obelisco, where the CFMoto Centro dealership is located, which gave us one of the two units, traveling on highways, highways and routes to learn about the travel skills of this adventure turning and with some good exits off the asphalt once we reached the destination, thanks to our local guide and friend Agustín Chiche Salanueva, to whom we also lent the motorcycle for a while so that he could test it. Bearing in mind that the 800MT has a combination of 17″-19″ wheels and a fairly contained suspension travel -150/160mm- we focused on riding hard on gravel in good condition, although we had a share of somewhat broken trails with unevenness and stones to take it a little further. But to talk about all this, they will have to go see the video that we prepared for this test ride, where they will be able to see the bike in action, in detail, and we will review it from start to finish.

The Chinese industry reached a motorcycle level that, honestly, we did not know when it would be embodied in a product. It was not long ago that this category of products was fully compensated. And suddenly motorcycles of the category of the 700 CL-X, of the Benelli 752S began to appear, which increased to raise the bar in terms of quality, performance and refinement of mechanics and components. On the horizon are products such as the Moto Morini X-Cape 650, Benelli Leoncino and TRK 800, and even Voge has a trail 900 on his hands. Although all of this remains to be seen and they are not products that we have tested, it is more than clear that Important things are coming from China.

What we can affirm from experience is that up to now we had not seen or tested anything, with this provenance, it looks like this CFMoto 800MT. And by this we mean the level of product, manufacturing quality and the benefits it offers from mechanics, cycling and comfort. Surely we also approach the product with a certain prejudice for being from such a brand and such an origin, but it doesn't take many kilometers to realize what a piece of motorcycle it really is and prejudices are falling one by one.

Yes, you can find things to improve. The accelerator could be more precise in some situations, the quickshifter has its moments, the design of the instrument interface, the precision of the on-board computer, the cruise control cannot be deactivated with the accelerator and the mechanism to regulate the the height of the windshield could be operated with one hand -although it is very good-, but the quality standard that this motorcycle has set, the level of design and equipment it has and what it offers the user on the road and off it, the It puts it well above what we have managed up to now from Mao Tse Tung's payments.

Many will think that it is a compendium of components from other manufacturers, and perhaps it is to some extent, but with no less detail: it is with the permission of those other manufacturers. And there is something that CFMoto seems to be very clear about: to compete with the first level, you have to do it with the same weapons. That's why they went to Kiska Design, not only to design products like this one, but to completely redesign the brand and its global expansion strategy. world brand. Chinese heart is the motto, with no intention of hiding its identity. And from there its agreements with brands such as KTM, J.Juan, Bosch, Dell'Orto, KYB, Michelin and Akront among others.

The fact that it continues to be marketed in our market under other local brands was unsustainable at the time, and this 800MT was the perfect excuse for CFMoto to finally begin to follow its own path in Argentina, something that came hand in hand with a network of dealers. exclusive and a quite demanding brand manual by which everyone, from its representative to its dealers, must be handled. Perhaps this is not the easiest year to land in a country like ours, but all those behind CFMoto have a level of enthusiasm that makes us think that they are above what may happen at the local level. That what they have in hand, and what is coming, is better than everyone thinks. And this bike is just a sample of all that.

And all this is good for several reasons. Firstly, because it makes better products available to a larger market, and then it will make those who used to look down from above no longer feel so comfortable. In everyday life we said something that some misunderstood: this motorcycle came to rob the rich, not the poor. Some susceptible wanted to take her to another terrain, but the majority understood this unfortunate statement. And at times we feel that the fact that it does not have a 21″ wheel in front, and being able to offer a full adventure motorcycle, was part of the terms and conditions for the development to be possible.

Ultimately, if the other Chinese manufacturers that have 700, 800 and 900cc bikes on their hands plan to compete in the same way at this price level of bike, they are going to have to make a significant effort. We hope they do, because in the end everything will result in more and better motorcycles for motorcyclists.

In response to the comment in the first paragraph, I think the answer is that premium bikes like the ones mentioned are not going to drop in level, in fact they improve year by year, so they will continue to be just that: one of the best bikes that money can buy. But we must not minimize the enormous improvement of brands like this one, which until recently were not even on the radar, because they are getting closer, because they want to and, above all, because they have the wallet.

It was not easy to analyze this bike without taking into account everything behind it, it is what happens when a product appears that marks a break, a leap in quality within a brand. And we will have to be attentive to everything that comes after. Now yes, we leave you with the test ride of this CFMoto 800MT Touring, the motorcycle that marked the relaunch of the brand in Argentina. We hope you like it and see you in the comments.

What we liked the most

MOTHER:
+ The overall quality of the bike. Difficult to stay with only 3 things on a bike that has so much to highlight and that, for me, marks a break within the brand. If the new developments -of 800 and 450- that they have in hand are going to be at this level, CFMoto is going to be a big problem for many.
+ The mechanics they chose. A big part of what this bike is is because the Austrians let them use the 790 engine, and not a copy. You get on a top-level motorcycle.
+ Without going into so much detail, because we already mentioned everything before, the level of equipment and comfort of this motorcycle is on a par with the most expensive motorcycles on the market. And a more equipped version is still missing.

FM:
+ The engine. It's the KTM one and it rides incredible.
+ Suspension adjustment level surprises for an adventure touring motorcycle and the segment it targets
+ The equipment is amazing. Above all, and at this time of year, the heating.

What we liked least

MOTHER:
– It seems absurd to me that having the latest in electronics the package is so restricted. There's no traction control, there are only two riding modes, and you can't turn off ABS.
– I don't like that you can't disengage the cruise control with the accelerator.
– The precision of the on-board computer regarding the consumption of the motorcycle is to be improved. And it also seems to me that they could take much more advantage of that 7″ screen with a better interface design.

FM:
– should have control of a motorcycle with this level of performance
– ABS should be able to be switched off, off road it is safer and more useful.
– You need…reverse? (Sorry, I ran out of ideas)

 

Link: https://motoblog.com/test-ride-cfmoto-800mt-touring/