CFMoto 800 Adventura Confirmed For North America!

[advrider]

As CFMoto continues its push into the North American motorcycle market, we now have confirmation the 800 Adventura is coming to our market—at least, to the US.

The bike itself is nothing new, although it is interesting. The 800 Adventura is one of the results of the collaboration between CFMoto and KTM, which has been common knowledge for years. Indeed, when KTM debuted the 790 series about five years back, there was considerable muttering that the bike was going to be built in China. Official company speaking points did little to deter that gossip (indeed, at some points they confirmed it). But the bikes sold in Western markets were still built in Austria, despite a Chinese production line being set up for that market.

Now, we see the made-in-China CFMoto Adventure coming to North America, or at least the US (Canada isn’t confirmed yet, but it seems likely). Our counterparts over at Motorcycle.com got to ride the bike at a recent CFMoto launch event, but we didn’t (sad horn!). However—John Burns has a great write-up at MO, which you should read here.

His findings: At a $9,499 MSRP for the road-oriented Street model, and $10,499 MSRP for the Terrain model with spoked wheels, this is a lot of bike for the money. Burns has lots of good thing to say about the motorcycle, although he doesn’t think it’s designed to be as off-road capable as its KTM counterpart, with less suspension and more weight. He summarizes below:

I only got to ride the 800 Adventura for 20 or 30 minutes around a mostly smooth “test track,” but the fueling and firm but supple suspension both felt perfectly first-world. So did the brakes and all of it; it’s easy to ride this one like a real sportbike. I’m generally bushed after a track session, but I pulled in giggling on the Terrain. (We were all beginning to go a bit too aggro for the riding jeans and enduro jackets we’d all packed.)

The ADV styling is definitely there, and I can see no obvious reason not to take either Adventura down a dirt road. Still, I’m going to guess that shorter-travel KYB stuff isn’t going to provide the real offroad ability of the longer-travel WP suspension KTM puts on its 890 Adventure. Maybe that matters to you, maybe it doesn’t.

Inexpensive, but not cheap

The crux of the biscuit is, at $9,499 and $10,499, these CFMOTOs are 3 or 4k less than the orange Austrian equivalent. But from where I sit (sat, for a brief while), the 800 Adventura Terrain felt every bit as capable and composed as the old 790 Adventure, while exhibiting none of the weird peccadilloes we’ve come to expect from other Chinese motorcycles over the years. In fact, in the fit and finish department – where some of Austria’s mid-priced bikes suffer a bit – I think the CF’s paint and aesthetics are actually a step above. Again, sorry for the lack of photos.

You can save all your comments about supporting our main geopolitical foe with American dollars; we went over all that in the comments after the last two CFMOTO reviews. The competing theory is, of course, that strong trade is what binds countries together and avoids conflict. All we have to do is come up with things to sell to China. How about a nice Sportster, maybe an Indian Scout?

You have a little time to think about it. Sounds like the 800 Adventuras won’t be in any of CFMOTO’s 550 US dealers before the end of the year. Something tells me they won’t linger there as long as some other Chinese brands.

Read the rest of the MO review here.

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