Big news out of CFMOTO if you’re a fan of little adventure bikes, with the 450MT launching for 2024, taking their popular 450 powerplant - as the name suggests - and plopping it in quite an impressive little adventure-tourer.
We’re actually seeing a bike that I would say ticks a heap of boxes of what people have been clamouring for in this segment, but also falls short in one significant area, where people generally turn their nose up. Let me know what you think is your most common disappointment with ADVs in the comments though.
So let’s take a very quick look.
That 449 cc parallel-twin is a 270-degree, and will offer a bit more character as a result, while pumping out 32.5 kW and 44 Nm of torque, with the torque figure perhaps the most important here. There’s dual balance shafts integrated for good throttle response and minimal vibrations, although we’re still seeing an old-school throttle, so no RbW or electronics here. The clutch is also a slipper-unit too, which is more the expectation now.
On the chassis side of things we see quite an impressive suspension load out, provided by KYB and included long travel USD forks with both rebound and compression damping adjustment. The shock is also fully adjustable, and it seems clear that CFMOTO have the 390 ADV clearly in their sights on this one. Travel is also a generous 200 mm which combined with 220 mm ground clearance is again very much in the ballpark of expectations.
J.Juan provide the brakes, with a four-piston front caliper on big 320 mm rotor, just the one though, alongside a 240 mm rear rotor with single-piston caliper, and there’s Bosch ABS, with switchable rear. For a road-going machine there’s probably an argument for two front disc brakes, but for an ADV like this the single makes a lot of sense.
Wheels are spoked units, a 21 inch front with 90 by 90 tyre, alongside a 140 by 70 tyre on that 18 inch rear, both clad in CST rubber. No word on whether these will be tubeless which means it’s pretty safe to bet they won’t be! But hopefully that’s reflected in the price.
Seat height is quite a manageable 820 mm and can be further lowered to 800 mm, while the fuel tank holds a generous 17.5 litres
There’s also a TFT display, five inch, and interesting Bosch Traction Control, which can be fully disengaged. That dash has Bluetooth connectivity though, and I’d assume all the usual mobile syncing features we’ve seen from CFMOTO to be there on that too.
Two colour options will be offered, Zephyr Blue or Tundra Grey and the bikes have a very strong rally theme look to them, which has got to help on sales.
That feature riders turn their nose up at? Weight, the 450MT is 175 kg DRY, which means about 190 kg wet. That’s not terrible, but it’s not great either, as the 390 ADV is 161 dry in comparison, and would boast an easy 10-15 kg weight advantage there.
That seems to be the Achilles heel of the Chinese manufacturers for now, struggling to bring that weight down, however the low seat height and hopefully well balanced CoG could largely off-set that as far as feel of the bike, as it is much shorter than the KTM.
The big unknown is price, which doesn’t seem to have been announced anywhere yet. The 450SR, the sportsbike is just over $8K here in Australia and I think it’s a fair bet this will carry a premium over that bike, with the suspension and traction control.
I’d kind of hope it lands at $9K and undercuts the 390 ADV, but we seem to be seeing a lot of new models undercutting existing competition by a hundred bucks or so in some instances, so it’ll be interesting to see where CFMOTO think they need to price the bike.
Images/footage courtesy of CFMOTO Australia.
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