Voge DS 900X Review: The Best Chinese Motorbike Yet?

Come on, Voge. I won’t continue with Madonna lyrics but it might be time to Open Your Heart to the Voge DS 900X. Papa - Don’t Preach! OK, I’ll stop. Anyway, everyone’s favourite country for producing literally everything we need (and didn’t know we needed) is smashing out large-capacity motorcycles that are really worth a test ride, and the Voge DS 900X is one of the best yet.

Voge is the premium brand of the Loncin company. Don’t know them? The firm builds 900cc parallel twins for BMW (among others) and its existing adventure and trail machines have been winning plenty of fans. And now Voge has released its own F 900 GS rival, absolutely stacked full of features as standard that - on paper - make the £8,999 price (plus on-the-road charges) seriously impressive.

Frame, engine and chassis

The DS 900X use a bridge-style frame housing a liquid-cooled 895cc parallel-twin. Thanks to that BMW connection, it's related to the engine used in the likes of the BMW F900 family of bikes, with the 270-degree crankshaft retained for an offset firing order. It produces 93.9bhp at 8,250rpm and 70.1lb ft of torque at 6,250rpm, and is fed by a 17-litre fuel tank.

In terms of suspension, there's a KYB fork providing 194mm of travel, with the rear monoshock delivering just shy of 200mm. There's a 21-inch front wheel and a 17-inch rear, both of the wired variety and shod in Pirelli Scorpion Trail tyres.

What’s it like to ride?

At a standstill, the Voge DS 900X isn’t ugly. Yes - it looks like a generic adventure bike, but there’s an air of quality. There are gold spoked wheels laced to the outside of the rims, full LED lighting, including auxiliary lights all round, and a three-piece, aluminium luggage kit (with proper locks) that looks expensive and has what feels like velvet liners. There are handguards, an adjustable screen, crash bars and the foot peg rubber can even be removed for extra grip when riding off-road.

And what of electronic gizmos? Controlled with the intuitive switch cube on the left bar, the big TFT display displays the status of the ride modes (Economy, Sport, Rain and Enduro). There are heated grips, a blind spot detection system, a collision warning system (flashes the hazards and brake lights when someone gets too close) and a front-facing high-definition safety camera (that can also take stills with the push of a button when connected with the dedicated smartphone app). Each side of the dash has charging points; 12v on the right and USB and USB-C on the left. Let’s not forget the keyless ignition. And all of this is as standard. There can’t be anything in the accessories catalogue for this bike, as everything you need is already on it. For less than £10k.

But what’s it like to ride? I’m 5’7” plus a bit more with bike boots on and I wouldn’t like the seat much higher for a standstill. With the light, cable clutch released and a load of revs introduced, the bike is smooth. I’m not surprised as the engine is well developed and there’s no snatchy fuel injection through slow town work. Thankfully the presence of the bike (even without the spotlights on) moves traffic out of the way. I forgot I had those wide boxes on…

Out of town and with the speed rising, the bike doesn’t feel like almost 100bhp, more like Suzuki’s 83.1bhp V-Strom 800. And I’m in Sport mode. Don’t get me wrong, it's plenty quick enough and the engine pulls down from really low revs when I intentionally labour It coming out of a tight hairpin. I’m exploring some incredible Lancashire backroads, but the bike is holding me back with every crest as the traction control is overzealous, even in sport mode. By switching it to Enduro, there’s no such interference as TC is off but that also removes the rear ABS.

With the traction sorted and with a fair lick on, this bike hustles for its size, 220kg weight and 21-inch front wheel. For those of you who remember the KTM 950 and 990 Adventure, it has that same surprising ability on the road but without the same lively engine. Speaking of the KTM, I reckon the brakes on this are from the same Brembo two-piston family that were fitted to the Austrian bike; loads of power and more importantly feel, and unlike the TC the ABS doesn’t chime in unless really needed.

I’m definitely overriding the bike as I haven’t got a pillion on the back or much in the panniers, but I’m having fun in the twisties and the Voge is showing me that it’s more than capable. It does ride well and the quality of the adjustable KYB suspension should remain that way for quite some time.

On a long stretch of dual carriageway, the bike is planted at speed, even with the three-piece luggage. I get a chance to play with the easily adjustable screen heights (I prefer it on the lowest) with the intuitive-to-use cruise control set. The blind spot warning radar in the mirrors is great. Having followed another Voge earlier on the ride, I know the rear proximity alert warning works well and it does make you notice with all the flashing lights!

One thing that’s bugging me is the indicator switch; it feels like a wobbly tooth - like early KTM 1190 Adventures. It bugs me every time I have to use it, but it’s a little gripe I know.

As for off-road riding, I did less than 10 miles of gentle green lanes and a water crossing (multiple times for pictures). The DS 900X feels natural when riding standing up and shrugging off some of the very big holes it was pointed at. With Enduro mode activated, the power delivery with the lack of traction control was manageable to drift and play around, and removing the footpeg rubbers would have further aided the connection with the bike.

Should you buy a Voge DS 900X?

The Chinese manufacturers are doing for motorcycling now what the Japanese did in the 1960s; bringing much cheaper motorcycles into the market that are actually very good. OK, so it’s not the extreme difference we enjoyed when the heavy British iron was replaced with the lighter, better machines, but at least it’s an alternative as wallets tighten.

What’s going for the Voge is that amazing spec, great ride and finish quality (indicator switch aside) and the real ace being that proven engine that is almost the same as that found in 900cc BMWs and built by the same factory that makes them for the Germans. To spec a 900 GS Adventure to anywhere near the same would cost thousands.

Voge bikes are imported by MotoGB, Britain’s largest, privately owned importer which handles the distribution of multiple motorcycle brands into the country as well as operating its own dealerships. They know what they’re doing and there will be available spares and someone to deal with any warranty issues should there be any.

The flip side is how well will this bike age and what will the residual values be like after a few years? I don’t doubt the hardware and software will be fine, and as the number of Voge dealers rises with an increasing product range, you won’t be far from trained mechanical help. But I doubt demand for second-hand bikes won’t be there when a new one is relatively cheap.

And then there’s the brand. A lot of people prefer to go with a company they know, trust or have at least heard of and won’t consider the Voge. But I think for those who do take a punt as an early adopter, they’ll enjoy a lot of bike for the money before demand rises along with the price. Our advice? Go and take a test ride before they sell out.