New CFMoto 400GT sporty touring thing

WHEN IT comes to Chinese bike firms CFMoto has a level of credibility and design that the rest struggle to match. And this new machine – the 400GT – adds another weapon to its increasingly impressive armoury.

Revealed in China over the weekend, the 400GT features the same 400.4cc DOHC parallel twin that’s already used in the firm’s 400NK. And since it’s a sleeved-down, short-stroke version of the firm’s existing 649.3cc twin, as used in various bikes including the 650NK and the basis of its Lightweight TT racer, it’s virtually certain that when the 400GT reaches the international market there will be a 650GT version on offer as well.

Just as the CFMoto 650 twin is a close copy of Kawasaki’s ER6/Ninja 650 parallel twin, so the 400cc derivative takes its cue from the Japanese-market ER4’s internal dimensions. Its 68.4mm bore and 54.5mm stroke are identical to those of the ER4, and the 650’s larger 83mm x 60mm internal dimensions are the same as the Kawasaki ER6’s. But this engine has been CFMoto’s centrepiece for years, and in recent times the firm has moved away from that sort of straight copying of rival machinery.

These days CFMoto has a tie-in with KTM, manufacturing the Austrian firm’s bikes in China, and uses the same Kiska design group favoured by KTM to style its machines. Indeed, last year it showed the impressive V.02-NK concept, using a derivative of KTM’s LC8 V-twin engine and likely to become the basis of a new production bike in the future.

In the meantime, though, the new 400GT stands as a distinctive-looking sports-tourer. While the 31.5kW (42.2hp) output isn’t huge, it’s not bad for a 400-class machine – Kawasaki’s all-new Ninja 400 manages just 2.5hp more despite a revvier, shorter-stroke (70mm x 51.8mm) engine design. When the inevitable 650cc version of the new CFMoto breaks cover, its performance should match the 650NK, with 45kW/60hp.

The styling shares a clear family resemblance to the CFMoto 650MT adventure-tourer, but with a more conventional sport-touring twist. The front bodywork is wider, with twin headlight units, each made up of two stacked lamps split by a horizontal slash of LEDs. Unlike the MT, the mirrors are mounted on the fairing rather than the bars, and there’s a new all-digital, full-colour instrument pack that’s also being spread to other models in CFMoto’s Chinese range, including the 400NK.

In the UK, CFMoto’s machines are sold under the WKBikes brand, so expect to see a version of the new 400GT – probably in 650cc form for our market – appear under that banner in the near future.