CF Moto to Enter Isle of Man TT 2013 with WK650i

I thought it would be of interest to MCM people to know that CF Moto will be the first Chinese company ever to enter the Isle of Man TT coming up at the end of May beginning of June this year. It will be prepared and built by WK Bikes in Hampshire in the UK, who are already selling CF Moto bikes, and it will be entering the Lightweight TT class. It will be extremely interesting to follow this one on what is revered as being one of the most testing and unforgiving courses anywhere in the World.

Also, very interesting, here is a link to a review of one of the CF Moto 650NK's by MCN Australia. Certainly more praise than any other Chinese Bike I have ever read a review of!

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http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...on-Isle-of-Man

Sorry, it's a cool post but it's all old information.

It seems that the bike of choice for that race is a Kawasaki 650 twin, the majority of riders out of 60 applications are or will be on a Kawasaki 650. So it is a test of the bike against like bikes.

I wonder if the changes made to the 2013 Kawasaki are more then cosmetic, the NK650 looks to be the same as the 2007-8 version, the 2009 Kawasaki has a different swing arm and then it changed again for 2013.

There are allot of underlying issue with a Chinese manufacturer introducing a significant model that is so significantly like an existing production model of another manufacturer. If I was a Kawasaki dealer I would study the agreement closely and be looking for language that allows Kawasaki to sell through others their technology. The bike is not that threatening to sales of the Kawasaki 650’s but at the dealer level that could vary in local markets and before a dealer thinks they have been violated and have any legal recourse they need to consider that Kawasaki may in fact have sold the designs and the contract they have with each dealer may actually allow them to do that, if so then Kawasaki dealers may want to consider selling the bikes or they will be undercut by those that do sell them in their local markets.

Tom. Thanks for that post. It is new information to me. I do other things apart from breathe motorcycles. Also it is not surprising they are entering the Manx TT. The bikes they make are actually almost as good as anything you can get in the west. The Road bikes and tourers are way too small for me but I have been riding the 250Jetmax for over two years now and I can only say "very good." Can't say excellent for a number of reasons.. mainly because it's a scooter.. There is a bit too much flex in the frame for my liking but for something made in china and sold in China it is really very very good. Chrome is good, components are good and the supply of parts is very good. The let down is their service engineers who are usually rather bad, but at least they must attend training courses with CF before they can officially start fixing bikes on CF's behalf.
So in over 2 years not a single complaint and I really have treated this bike with zero respect. Now I am starting to respect it. It has earned it. So on behalf of all other out of touch bikers here in China, thanks Tom for your information and I wish CF a lot of luck on the circuit. They will become one of the respected marques in the future.

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Originally Posted by tombaxers

I thought it would be of interest to MCM people to know that CF Moto will be the first Chinese company ever to enter the Isle of Man TT coming up at the end of May beginning of June this year. It will be prepared and built by WK Bikes in Hampshire in the UK, who are already selling CF Moto bikes, and it will be entering the Lightweight TT class. It will be extremely interesting to follow this one on what is revered as being one of the most testing and unforgiving courses anywhere in the World.

Also, very interesting, here is a link to a review of one of the CF Moto 650NK's by MCN Australia. Certainly more praise than any other Chinese Bike I have ever read a review of!

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I'm curious to know more about WKBikes and their relationship with CFMoto. Is this an equity partnership? Has CFMoto invested in a UK maker? Also, is there anything on this rebadged 650NK that indicates its Chinese origins? Does CFMoto share in the branding? Does the WKBikes website celebrate the bike's CFMoto/China pedigree, or conceal it?

Benelli, which as we know was purchased by Qianjiang of China a few years ago, seems to be struggling with this question as well -- whether to cling to Benelli's Italian pedigree, thus possibly deceiving purchasers of the China-made models, or to come clean and celebrate the China connection and the potential this holds for elevating the quality of a Chinese motorcycle brand.

thanks!

Mike Hinkley is the website administrative contact listed for WK according to network solutions.
http://www.networksolutions.com/whoi...ch/wkbikes.com
The phone numbers are the same for the sites registration and the actual contact on the WK website.

WK is not claiming they manufacture the CF650NK, they are importing them and distributing them to dealers, nothing new in that process. They also are importing and selling models manufactured by Xinyuan (Shineray) and it looks like some other manufacturers models as well.

You can apply online to enter the TT Isle of Manx race, WK looks like they bolted on the fairing from a Ninja 650 to make their 650NK and they likely did some tuning to it. I would like to see them win, it make the scenario most interesting for me.

The 650NK shares allot with the ER6-n and the QJ shares a frame with an Aprilla and engine with Yamaha. I do not know how these designs transfer, but I enjoy pointing out that they did one way or another. I suppose that some do not have the stomach to open that box of slithering snakes? Not me I am like a weasel when it comes to snakes.

WK has the bike retailing at a 30% discount to the retail price of the ER6-n, if the bikes holds up it be a logical choice on price, the 30% initial savings gets lost particularly if ever resold.

Honda is not offering the 500 twins in the UK yet, they are in the usa and that really put a price restrictions on the NK here. The 500 Honda models are all retail priced under $6,000.00 USD here.

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Originally Posted by MJH

...I suppose that some do not have the stomach to open that box of slithering snakes? Not me I am like a weasel when it comes to snakes.

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Dear MJH,

Hands down, you win today's Pullet Surprise for wry prose! Keep it coming!!!!

cheers!