2022 CFMOTO 700CL-X / 700CL-X Sport Review - First Ride

With just about every Chinese motorcycle I can remember riding, there’s nearly always A Problem. Sometimes they look great on paper, and sometimes they even look pretty good in the flesh. But then you hop on and start riding, and are met with a powerband that’s more a powerhole. Or an ADV bike with two inches of rear suspension travel, or cast iron components that weigh 60 pounds more than the competition. If it’s not one glaring thing, there’s usually a combination platter of weirdnesses that make you question whether the monetary savings are worth the sacrifice for any but the cheapest of contrarian skates – even if reliability isn’t much of a concern any more.

What’s going on here is kind of a combination of a Ducati Scrambler and a Kawasaki Versys 650. CF has been supplying major manufacturers with major components for decades, and if the DOHC parallel Twin in this bike isn’t the Versys one, I’ll eat my bamboo ballot. Except that this one’s been stroked by 4mm, to 83 x 64mm dimensions – a thing Kawasaki’s never had the decency to do. That takes it to 693 cubic centimeters, and a claimed output of 74 hp at 8,500 rpm and 48 lb-ft at 6,500 revs. It feels almost as fast as a Yamaha MT-07 blasting down the front straight at the race track CF took us to on day one of our little press junket.

CF had said something about a presentation of their bikes and lunch at their small test facility; I was picturing a parking lot with lots of cones and a few MSF instructors in safety vests dragged out of retirement. In fact, after only a few laps we were seeing 100 mph on the 700CL’s speedometers at the end of the not-so-short straight, and questioning the wisdom of going that fast in my new Rokker jeans and Spidi textile jacket. Luckily, there were plenty of fresh tar snakes to keep us honest whenever the pace started to pick up. But it picked up anyway.

Seventy-four crankshaft horsepower feels like kind of a conservative estimate, really, and though you don’t have a quickshifter, you do have a perfectly adequate, slightly long-throw six-speed trans just like the one in the 650 Versys and Z650 Kawis, that gets the job done. CF’s not-so little test track is a flowing job it shares with the local gendarmerie and a truck-driving school, and it’s all about blending acceleration with lean angle and trail braking. Whacking open the throttle at exits, the 700CL-X serves up linear, smooth power from right off the stop – which is a good thing as you strive to combine the best line with the least tar snake exposure. It feels, well, downright Japanese. You could be riding a Z650 if maybe not quite an MT-07.

Suspension is completely up to the task also, as it comes from KYB: a fully adjustable inverted fork with 41mm sliders in front, and a link-mounted adjustable shock at the rear, both tied together by a pretty steel frame. CFMOTO says the whole deal weighs 432 pounds when its 3.4-gallon tank is full, which is 20 pounds more than the Z650 Kawasaki weighed in our Middleweight Naked Bike Shootout last June, and 5 more than the Triumph Trident 660 that won it (on our scales).

As such, it tears around CF’s test track even better than the regular X, right up until you grab a handful of Stylemas. I’m pretty sure the settings in the 41mm inverted fork the X and X Sport are the same, and the bite the dual-disc setup provides has the Sport diving like das Boot. It’s not really a problem when you’re riding casually, but when the pace picks up (and it always does), and especially when you’re trying to brake leaned over, it’s really hard to modulate pressure and therefore your trajectory, with the front end rising and falling, even using just one finger on the lever.

Cranking up the damping to max helped a little; we could’ve increased spring preload, too, but did not. Our CFMOTO reps think the 19 pounds more than the X that the X Sport weighs on the spec chart (451 lbs wet) is almost all in that extra front disc, caliper, and wheel – which would also explain its more flighty path around the test track. I’m guessing part of the weight difference is also in the Sport’s different subframe.

Meanwhile, the single J.Juan caliper and 320mm disc on the regular X seemed to have plenty of power, and worked better with the rest of the package, given that 74 horses isn’t going to rocket you up to 150 mph unless you go off a cliff maybe. I’m thinking there’s an easy solution if you like the rest of the X Sport package. Just take off one of the front discs/calipers and sell it on the eBay.

Both bikes were a blast around CFMOTO’s sweet little track, way better than expected, with all systems working well together except for, again, the Sport’s too-strong front brake. Which is a way better problem than not enough brakes. Not too many buyers of these will be doing many track days, I’m guessing, but it’s nice to know you can.

The 700CL-X Sport, with its clip-on bars, is a bit more committed than the plain X, but not enough to complain about at all. The Sport also has a different tail section and seat, and I’m going to have to give the comfort nod to the non-Sport. In fact, its seat is excellent, along with the rest of its perfect, standard style ergonomics.

The KYB suspenders are on the firm side for street use, a thing you only notice through the bumps, but most of us prefer that to spongy (it’s why they worked so well on the track). Taking some time to dial back the adjusters would probably soften things up.

Places with cold winters enjoy their green, leafy summers more. Everybody and literally their kids and dogs were out riding bicycles along the river path, and the ones without kids were soaking up the rays and suds all throughout the city. The 700CL-X is perfect for this kind of exploratory work, happy to putter quietly along; its twin will chug down to 2500 rpm in top gear no problem, and the clutch is nice and light too. With those blocky Pirellis, it might even get you through a St. Paul winter.

At any point in the proceedings when the road is clear ahead, feel free to switch on the cruise control with your left thumb to give your right paw a rest.

If our fit and finish isn’t quite top shelf, it’s damn close if not equal to the middleweight Japanese competition; NVH – noise, vibration, and harshness (lack of) – is right there too. Aside from that, these motorcycles brandish some equipment you just wouldn’t expect to see on sub-$7k machines – including cruise control, adjustable KYB suspenders, great brakes, nice wheels, premium tires. And to my orbs, they don’t even look cheap. The X sports some very nice brushed aluminum side panels; the Sport gets some faux carbon fiber covers, but it’s nice faux fiber, with no gaping gaps or exposed wires. The chrome-moly frame is tasty and nicely welded.

That’s the word from CFMOTO’s 60-ish employees in the US HQ up there in Plymouth, outside Minneapolis. Chris Peterman, motorcycle director, worked for Yamaha for 20 years from the dealer level up before joining CF not long ago, and thinks the company gets it. They’ve been at it since 1988 in Plymouth importing ATVs and side-by-sides, and did something like $400 million in sales last year. Currently there are 550 dealers of those offroad vehicles in the US, and 190 motorcycle ones. And these aren’t new motorcycles; they’ve been selling them overseas for quite some time now. In the UK, they offer a four-year warranty; in the US, it’s two years.

And now for the bad news: You can’t get CFMOTO motorcycles in California. Not yet, anyway. But Peterman says the paperwork is in the works right now, and he’s confident for 2023. That might not be a bad thing; I’m not allowed to say anything about the all-new bike I also rode around on til August 1. Ooooo…

Next week: a little about the other five bikes CFMOTO is importing for 2022.

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