New CFMoto 1250TR-G is supposed to be most powerful China bike, ever
CFMoto’s just dropped a bomb, in the form of the 1250TR-G tourer. Supposedly, it’s the most powerful motorcycle ever made in China, and it’s developed from older KTM technology.
If you’ve been paying close attention to the shell game of international motorcycle manufacturing, you’ll know KTM, along with its extensive partnership with Indian manufacturer Bajaj, also has a pretty big side deal with China’s CFMoto. You might also know CFMoto has the rights to use KTM’s LC8 V-twin design. The 1250TR-G engine was supposedly developed from the early ’00s 990 V-twin that KTM used in the 990 series. Reports from Asia indicate the new bike has 140 horsepower; while other Chinese bikes might have had large-capacity engines, none of them would have approached this output until the 1250 CFMoto engine came along (we saw an earlier version of the engine in a police bike, a few months back).
The rest of the 1250TR-G has some surprisingly high-spec bits. The brakes are from Brembo; we haven’t seen any indication of an ABS system, but if CFMoto plans to sell this in Europe, it’ll need to include antilock brakes. No problem–that technology is pretty much as off-the-shelf available as the Brembo hard parts themselves, these days.
Remember that hookup with KTM? New Atlas reports that’s also resulted in electronically-adjustable WP suspension, something that was sci-fi only a generation ago, and certainly unthinkable on a Chinese bike. BikeSocial also reports there’s heated grips, a heated seat, and electronically-adjustable windscreen.
There’s a JBL sound system, a TFT screen with info like fuel consumption details, suspension adjustments, navigation, and Bluetooth integration to your mobile device for communication and multimedia purposes. Of course, as this is a touring bike, there’s also a full hard luggage system.
CFMoto debuted this bike at the CIMA motor show in China, instead of the Euro show circuit (remember, EICMA and Intermot cancelled in-person shows this year). It’s only a concept bike now, but it’s expected to become a production machine in 2021. No doubt CFMoto would like to sell this machine in Europe, but it’s still going to have an uphill battle unless the price is silly-low. Remember that Chinese bikes aren’t just competing against brand-new machines from competitors, they’re also competing against used machines, which offer a lower buy-in to brands with established reliability.
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