Fine China?

[old blue]

Long story short;

I ran into a guy at a bike expo a few weeks ago. His shop sells Chinese CFMoto 650NK's, a parallel twin knock-off (in many ways) of the Kawa ER-6.

I suggested that his bike would fit into a couple of race classes, and that if he wanted to prove its reliability, he should take it to the track. He offered me the bike on the spot.

Fast forward to last weekend (does that make sense?) and I find myself racing the bike in Bracket 2, while wearing a Santa suit. The bike held up perfectly...the suit less so.

My race club has since purchased the pic to use for Christmas cards...thought this shot might give you all a chuckle.


O.B

[stickem189]

have any better pictures of the bike so we can see what she looks like?

[old blue]

Here she is on the trailer.






O.B

[nthngwthout]

Interesting... forks aren't inverted. There seems to be some discrepancy about whether it is 45kw or 52kw (60 or 70hp). About 41ft-lbs of torque. Definitely looks better with the girl in leathers on the back... So are you allowed to give a recap on the bike's riding characteristics?

And that is a good pic for a Christmas card. How long before the knees were completely torn through?

Edit: My specs reference - http://www.cfmoto-us.com/onroad/deta...x?productId=31

[old blue]

Originally Posted by nthngwthout

Interesting... forks aren't inverted. There seems to be some discrepancy about whether it is 45kw or 52kw (60 or 70hp). About 41ft-lbs of torque. Definitely looks better with the girl in leathers on the back... So are you allowed to give a recap on the bike's riding characteristics?

And that is a good pic for a Christmas card. How long before the knees were completely torn through?

Edit: My specs reference - http://www.cfmoto-us.com/onroad/deta...x?productId=31

Knees on the suit were gone by end of Lap 1. Pretty sure the pic must have been taken during the first lap - the pants were actually in tatters by the end of that race. I had to get special dispensation from the Clerk of the Course to race with the suit over my leathers.

The bike surprised me. I was half expecting a hopeless bouncy castle with no brakes, but it was much better than that.

Definitely closer to 60 or 70bhp, having jumped straight off my race SV onto this bike. It's no slug, but it doesn't have the torque of the SV. Revs out nicely, though.

Suspension is a bit soft - especially at the front - but by no means a disaster. The strong points of the bike are it's chassis geometry - beautifully stable and trustworthy - and decent front brakes that simply refuse to fade, even after many racing pace laps.

I actually had a ball on the bike, and I thought it was surprisingly capable for a bog-standard Chinese road bike. I had fears the brakes would go away or the engine would overheat, but the bike raced hard all weekend without missing a beat.

Over here they cost $5,900 brand new. I imagine that stateside they'd cost a fraction of that price. An interesting little package.




O.B

[Smoke]

I see a sponsorship in your future

[stickem189]

I actually like the way it looks.

[old blue]

Originally Posted by stickem189

I actually like the way it looks.

Wanna know something weird?

Over the two days at the track a lot of people commented and said that they liked the look of the bike. Stripped down, it has a kinda purposeful, front-heavy pitbull look to it.

I reckon that with a USD front end and a few little tweaks it'd look pretty good.




O.B