CFMOTO 650GT China Competes

Exclusive first test by any journalist of CFMoto’s 650GT twin-cylinder sport touring model launched at EICMA 2018 with detachable panniers, replacing the 650TK touring bagger

- Alan Cathcart

Really, it was inevitable. Just like products of the Japanese industry half a century ago, Chinese motorcycles are increasingly no longer the cheap but not always cheerful products they used to be, predominantly built down to a price, often with shockingly poor durability, and non-existent spares backup.

For that was then and this is now, with products of the People’s Republic increasingly well-engineered and soundly constructed, with ever more attractive styling that’s no longer so frequently derivative, as a pastiche of Western design. But while industry giant Qianjiang has been a key player in moving this trend forward via its Italian Benelli subsidiary, the true pathfinder in this process of engaging with overseas markets via a range of ever more appealing and well-made middleweight models, is the much smaller CFMoto company.