Steve's CFMoto 650 NK（春风 650 NK）

I cant see how the operating temp of that little 650 is going to be much affected by the weather. I just keep the coolant above the line and it seems all good, never seen the bars go above 4, and that only when I'm sitting in traffic. I don't really tax it too hard though, Miles82 has been riding with his girlfriend on back all weekend and his seems to be running fine as well. For sure it's going to feel like a sauna when you're sitting in traffic, but haven't noticed any performance issue because of it.

That said, I'm a complete noob and probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway, so take that with a grain of salt ;-)

To Steve, Micah and any other NK owners. How many problems have you had vs how many kms do have you done on your bikes?

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Originally Posted by ZMC888

To Steve, Micah and any other NK owners. How many problems have you had vs how many kms do have you done on your bikes?

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Hi ZMC,

I have had the bike since may and have put about 2800 km on it. I ride mostly 3-400km at a stretch and do not ride in the city. Last weekend I took it to Moganshan and rode some pretty messy single track, then got back on the road and pushed it to about 180km/h on the return trip.

I say this only to describe the way I ride it, which may have a great deal of influence on how you take my answers, or not ;-)

Since buying it, I've had a bad connection short out the fuel pump, causing it not to start and I've had a minor leak of radiator fluid from a loose hose clamp. The headlamp shorted out for some unknown reason and the cable actually burned. The front brake is a bit sticky and may have to be bled, but it works itself out during riding. That's it.

In my brief experience with the bike, it has suffered from poor assembly QA and some very cheap components like connectors and cables. So far, nothing serious at all.

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Originally Posted by ZMC888

To Steve, Micah and any other NK owners. How many problems have you had vs how many kms do have you done on your bikes?

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Hello, ZMC,

I've had the bike since October last year and so far have put 3400 kms on it. I do city riding only, that is: traffic jams, filtering, downtown, all that fun stuff.
Problems I had so far: mist in my speedo/tacho assembly - speedo assembly changed by dealer on warranty. Leaky front fork leg seal - whole leg assembly changed by dealer on warranty. Poor controller connection to fuel pump - just reconnected it back. Bike gets hot in traffic, especially when riding 1st-2nd gear in +40C humid weather. Lighter traffic conditions would definitely solve that problem.
Nothing else so far - in fact I'm quite impressed with the overall quality of the bike and believe it was a great buy. I have had quite a few Japanese bikes here in China before (all illegal) and I can't say CFMoto falls short.

Great responses, I'm really thinking about getting a NK by next spring or sooner. I'll be using it the same way Micah does with mountain blast escape type rides.

I've recently swayed away from the Benelli because a 4 cylinder engine like the one it uses should easily be able to rev to 14,000-16,000, yet it has been detuned to only rev to 11,000, that makes my alarm bells ring. Clearly the CF engine is more 'bulletproof' than the Benelli.

Qianjiang/Benelli 4-cylinder vs CFMoto twin: Twice as much to go wrong! Sixteen valves? Maybe that's why they're limiting its revs...

euphonius

ZMC888, hope you enjoy it!
euphonius, most likely so.
I have a friend here who bought a brand new red QJ-Benelli 600 and complained "the bike just didn't feel right". Don't know what he meant exactly, but I guess rider's experience is worth mentioning here.

I test rode the Benelli here in Shanghai about 18 months ago, and posted about it in MCM. Build quality was dodgy. The bike had been dropped once at slow speed (by another test rider!) and the plastics suffered this insult very badly, essentially shattering. The foot controls felt loosey-goosey, I think flimsy is the word I used. I can completely understand what your friend meant when he said it "just didn't feel right". I had very much the same feeling.

euphonius

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Originally Posted by euphonius

I test rode the Benelli here in Shanghai about 18 months ago,

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Originally Posted by euphonius

and posted about it in MCM. Build quality was dodgy. The bike had been dropped once at slow speed (by another test rider!) and the plastics suffered this insult very badly, essentially shattering. The foot controls felt loosey-goosey, I think flimsy is the word I used. I can completely understand what your friend meant when he said it "just didn't feel right". I had very much the same feeling.

euphonius

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I can really not understand all this mud slinging at the Benelli.
My friend bought a brand new one almost a year ago, and it is me who have clocked most of the miles on it.

I do not recognize any of the negative comments about this bike.

I think the bike is far better built then any other Chinese bike, the used hardware and materials are superior (just look at the bolts used on a Benelli, and compare them to any other bike), and it did not have a single problem at all.

It engine is surely not comparable to a screaming Yamaha R-6, but neither is the 650NK comparable to it's Kawasaki cousin.

There is of course a big difference in riding a Twin or L-4, and that is pretty personal, but I do want to defend the Benelli! In my opinion there is no better built bike in China then this one.

E.

Dear 998S,

The bike you, TB-Racing and I saw back in January 2012 may have been an early test build. I'm not making any claims about the bike in its current production state, and should have made that doubly clear.

I hope this bike is as good as you say it is!

euphonius

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Originally Posted by themicah

The front brake is a bit sticky and may have to be bled, but it works itself out during riding.

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Not sure you mean the handle is sticky, or the pads.
If it is the last, one word of warning: have it checked immediately.

If the brake pads contact the rotor while riding, they will heat up (up till several 100 degrees).
This heat will be transfered to the hydraulic oil, which will expand (especially if there is water moisture in it - the reason why you have to refresh it every year).
And this expanding oil will act as braking, pushing the pads even harder on the rotor.

There are more then one story of people forced to stop (the lucky ones) or crashed, due to the lockup of their front wheel.

Be careful!

E.

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Originally Posted by 998S

I can really not understand all this mud slinging at the Benelli.
My friend bought a brand new one almost a year ago, and it is me who have clocked most of the miles on it.

I do not recognize any of the negative comments about this bike.

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I've been very curious about this bike. I've heard stories from both sides of the coin:

1) great bike that runs flawlessly
2) a problem bike

I've also seen LOTS of slightly used ones for sale in Beijing.

I'm going to venture a guess that the Benelli, in the hands of a knowledgeable and experienced rider (e.g., 998S), the bike performs flawlessly and stands up to normal usage. In the hands of many other new owners, who believe that one warms up a cold bike at 11K rpm (it is quicker that way, right?), the bike screams "enough is enough". No joke, I have seen more than one BJ600 treated that way. I've also seen several people trying to learn how to do wheelies, standies & burnouts on the bike. And the bike being passed around among friends to have their own go at it.

Sheesh, even the super-reliable HDs might not tolerate that. :icon10:

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Originally Posted by 998S

Not sure you mean the handle is sticky, or the pads.
If it is the last, one word of warning: have it checked immediately.

E.

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Thanks for the tip! It's not the pads, and "sticky" probably isn't the right way to describe it. Every once in a while, if I squeeze the lever the bike brakes immediately and forcefully. There is then a sort of release, and normal braking resumes as I squeeze the handle. It seems like maybe air in the line, and I avoid it by treating the front brake gently and allowing my weight to shift before giving it a full on grab. Either way, you are right and it needs to be checked out.

998s, I'm not trying to sling mud at the Benelli, maybe others are.

My thoughts are this:

A 600cc inline 4 should be around a third more powerful than a 650cc twin and rev a fair bit higher. An inline four being more race derived and a 650 twin being more street/commuter derived. However the bikes actually put out a similar amount of power meaning it makes people worry about why is the Benelli so detuned? Also why did Qjiang insist on a 4 when Benelli's bread and butter are triples, I mean who really prefers a 4 in a street bike?

Also the final worry is this: No one has really done any clear reviews of the Benelli with substantial kms. (please do one if you can....anyone :bowdown:?) For me to make a decision I need someone to have done some serious kms on one and give a nice detailed review like Topmanda has with the NK and bikerdoc with the TK. Most reviewers have said the NK is fine bar a few niggles, and I'm really not going to get much more performance out of the Benelli other than the better tires. So it's not that I'm anti Benelli but just I have more information on the NK. Also I have better connections with the CF dealers and they are more capable of working on the bike and honoring their warranty.

Also trying out a bike that has kms is very misleading because the competence of the owner is a massive factor. Some switch gear and things feel wrong, but loads of people drop their bikes and don't admit it or put torque robbing loud mufflers on their bikes. What we need is some who knows bikes.....buy one from new and honestly log the failures, done with NK not with BJ.

Micah,

I think I had the same problem, it was impossible to dose the brake.

It turned out to be the brake lever, it developed a notch from rubbing with the casing sharp edges, in part due to too much play.

Fixed it by leveling the notch with sandpaper and re greasing.

It might look like I abandoned my own thread, but it is not really so. I have been busy with my new project - a YBR 125, the review of which I might post somewhere here sometime later (it's not a Chinese bike after all).
Anyways, ever since I bought my NK, I had a feeling that the bars were too narrow to be comfortable. Being naturally lazy, I didn't do anything about it until I replaced bars on my YBR. I really liked the result and I ordered another set of bars for my NK from here:
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=12471975835
They come in a variety of colors, complete with bar raisers. The only thing that's missing is bar-end weights, but I think I'll figure something out there. I got my silver bar yesterday and took it to the mechanic straight away.
Installation is a straightforward procedure: remove the original bar, install the raisers, install the bar, put handles, controls and mirrors on. When installing controls, you need to drill holes in the bar yourself - gives you an opportunity to tweak their position any way you like. especially useful if the original one didn't fit you.
Installation process:

Attachment 13899

Final result:

Attachment 13900

Feeling and comfort: this bar is wider than the original one, gives you better leverage. I personally find it pretty comfortable and much more confidence-inducing than the original one. Say, it was difficult to control the bike at low (read: traffic jam) speeds. Now it's not a problem at all. The seating position has changed slightly as well - now it feels like I'm sitting not on the bike, not "in" the bike, but sort of "over" the bike. A very supermoto feeling. I was worried the bar would vibrate without the bar-end weights, but it is obviously not the case. There is some vibration for sure, but it's nothing to be really worried about.
Overall, the bar is a 130 yuan + delivery, the mechanic charged me another 30 yuan for installation (yes, I could've done it myself, I just got no drill at home) and I believe it's worth the money.
BTW if anybody knows the Chinese for "bar-end weights", could you tell me please? It's not about vibration it's more about covering those holes I got at the bar-ends.

I had "sticky" front lever/break i read that from some moto forum that tie your front break lever close with bungee cord (i did my with normal rope) and leave it over night, they said that any bubbles in the lines should migrate up to reservoir and dissipate.

My symptoms where when pulled lever it moved little then reached "hard" spot and in order to get past that i had to use more force and then it did break too strong and for me there was not no notch anywhere.


This guide did fix my problem.


And what comes to those new bars very nice!!

but at least in here i really don't want to get any wider bars, because i think that will increase risk to be clipped by some moron with the scooter :(

Vibrations.. i changed bars on my Yamaha FZ1n (RIP) to steel one and realised i should have taken aluminium bars as they seems to naturally dissipate vibrations, my bar vibration could not be felt in short trips but driving few hours it was pretty horrible :) bar-end weights did not help, so next option was fill bars with small lead balls (collected them from shooting range) and stuffed them in the bars and it did the trick!

Wald0, thanks for the tip! No shooting range in China, but I think I could procure lead balls somehow. BTW, my bar is aluminium I think, not steel. Steel would've been worse.

On the side note: yesterday rode around the Mountain here in Nanjing - the rear suspension seems too uptight. Will try to loosen it up a bit Monday next week. Good for tight corners, pretty drastic on the road - tail jumps up and renders the bike pretty uncontrollable.

Steve, you can use your old bar ends. They're pretty heavy, but they do deaden vibration pretty well, you really can notice the difference on longer rides.

Attachment 14060
Start with the original bar end.

Attachment 14061
You'll need a M6 or M8 self-locking nut (remember self locking, normal nut won't work).

Attachment 14062
A rubber bung with a hole in it. If it's too big you can file it down to fit the bar interior.

Attachment 14063
A M6 or M8 bolt

Attachment 14064
Shove this in your bar and tighten it up.

ZMC888, thanks for a reply - will try that as soon as I got the time (got to deal with visas for the family and renting a new apartment at the moment).

OK, the first real problem with the bike. First of all, it has always somehow been so that I had electrical problems with the vehicles I owned.
That includes 3 cars and over 30 bikes plus a plethora of scooters and an e-bike. Always.
So this time it is CFMoto and its left handlebar switch. Well, the funny thing is that it's not all of the switch that's bust - it's just the blinkers. Everything else (horn, high/low beam, emergency lights) works just fine.
So I got the new handlebar switch assembly from the official CFMoto shop on taobao (TMall to be exact) and took it to the shop to be replaced. Well, to replace that, you need to tear half the bike apart (side panels, seat, tank, speedo assembly). That's not exactly maintenance-friendly. Anyways, once the switch was replaced, ... the result was the same: everything works, blinkers don't.
Right.
So we check the fuses - all good. We disassemble the old switch itself - short circuiting the power to the blinker micro-weld gives the blinking lights (both left and right). We peel off the protective coat off of the wires and go down the whole wire length - turns out the blinkers' power wire was snapped halfway down from the switch.
Then we disassemble the second switch, test it - it gives the same result. We check the wires - blinkers' power wire in the new switch assembly is snapped in approximately the same place.
WTF is that, may I ask?
Now, it's either that it's a factory problem, and all the left handlebar switch assemblies are screwed right off of the production line, or the switch I got from CFMoto's OFFICIAL store was used before, was snapped, was cleaned, packed, and sent to me "as new".
Either way, it just doesn't feel right.
Well, the problem has been solved, the blinkers blink alright. If any of the CFMoto owners here has the same problem - don't hurry to replace the switch, most likely you won't need to.

Thanks or the heads-up, if I have the same problem I'll know to get the soldering iron out and save on not buying a new switch :rolleyes1:.

Seems you've been pretty lucky, my bike made me walk and push it 10kms before it even had 500kms on the clock. OK so it was only a throttle position sensor, but the bike took ages to get parts for and walking your brand new 35,000 yuan bike to the only competent mechanic in a 30 kms radius is a feeling that I wouldn't wish on anyone, not even my POS Regal Raptor made me walk. Also sober pete and I have had many other issues, such as non-cancellable EFI warning lights on start-uo, random 5 minute fuel injector failure. Crap plastics, bolts, threads and nuts and tiny water leaks. Non thread-locked bolts and non-greased parts, rusty fuel tank and glacial parts ordering on warranty, somehow managing to turn wannabe fanboys into guys that have peeled the manufacturers stickers off their bikes in irritation.

Nonetheless the bike has performed flawlessly on rides of hundreds of kilometers giving Japanese bike-esque performance and economy. Just don't forget to bring 500 yuan in case you need to have the bike transported on the back of a truck back home. :rolleyes1:

So why the niggles?

Well, it seems it's like the Chinese culture effect. The old granny rummaging the tub of rice or or hooking out the best cuts of meat in the supermarket for her smelly peasant family. CFMOTO's order of importance:

1. Export 650 TR
2. Export 650 NK
3. Domestic 650 TR
4. Domestic 650 NK
5. Domestic after-sales service and parts.

Hi all

New on here but had my NK for 6 months now and very pleased with it, although I too am from Oz and have a restricted version.

I have read this thread from the start and found some good info, I have been researching the mods for lifting the restriction as mine is the ECU while some have been restricted with a small block screwed into the throttle. I have to 48mm cone filters and 135 degree elbow hoses coming to free up the airbox and currently sourcing a direct slip-on replacement for the muffler. I have also found a Two Brothers power commander for the er6n/ninja that should help with the ECU mapping.

If anyone has any other advice I'd love to hear it

Thanks

Tonka

Tonka, I read in the CFMOTO parts guide that the 650NK has three throttle bodies, one with a hole, one without and an Australian LAMS one. Make sure you switch out that with an ECU upgrade or likely you'll be spending money and not gaining any power benefit.

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Originally Posted by ZMC888

Tonka, I read in the CFMOTO parts guide that the 650NK has three throttle bodies, one with a hole, one without and an Australian LAMS one. Make sure you switch out that with an ECU upgrade or likely you'll be spending money and not gaining any power benefit.

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The info my local dealer has is that they issued Australia with either a LAMS restricted throttle body or a restricted ECU, the throttle body being easy to alter while the ECU needs a replacement or piggyback controller

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Originally Posted by Tonka

The info my local dealer has is that they issued Australia with either a LAMS restricted throttle body or a restricted ECU, the throttle body being easy to alter while the ECU needs a replacement or piggyback controller

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surely it would be both? Putting too much fuel into a throttle body being too small couldn't work as would an ECU not giving enough fuel making the bike too lean.

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Originally Posted by ZMC888

surely it would be both? Putting too much fuel into a throttle body being too small couldn't work as would an ECU not giving enough fuel making the bike too lean.

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The restricted throttle body has a bolt holding a small lug in place to limit the throttle being opened fully, not allowing full rev range

Attachment 14897

That throttle body looks fully open to me, those lugs don't have much to do with it from what I've seen from having a look at the other two throttle bodies.

I think the aperture size is smaller, the other throttle bodies had the same outer dimensions but different inner dimensions. The inner aperture looks about 30% smaller than what I've seen on the others, kind of like the inner sides run straight and there is no ring around the inside. I also think the ECU is setup differently to match.

However I'm going from memory and I'm not an engineer or a mechanic and I could be wrong, also the only way you can prove these things definitively is with a dyno and/or a properly trained unbiased engineer.

Hey all,
I've done a poor job staying active on the 650NK forums, my apologies.
I posted pictures last fall of several mods I made, including exhaust, levers, bars and frame sliders, but never posted links to them on taobao.
well, here are a few of the links. Also to recap a bit:

Akropovic mid pipe and exhaust can
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=...id=16186691391
the pipe I received was slightly different in shape (also logo was sticker, not a stamped plate), but I've gotten pretty used to that on taobao. pipe works great. removing the center restrictor can (stock) gave the bike a much louder, deeper tone, but also shifted the power band higher. a loss of low-end torque, but gains higher in the rpm range. I'm very happy with it.

Levers
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=...id=18274147574
Levers have been great. brake lever fit was a little tight, but work well.

Handlebars
I forgot that I bought these locally, not on TB. japanese brand, very low bend. others have mentioend the need for spacers, and yes they are very very close to the tank. but i prefer the lower position, I feel more stretched (which i like).

I also bought sliders. many choices in TB, all are basically the same unit.

here are some pics I posted on another thread last fall.

ZMC888 asked me earlier about my mileage, i'm at ~2800km. no mechanical issues at all. i had a false alarm with an ignition coil, ended up being a loose plug :)