No Longer the Dirty Little Secret
It’s official folks, Chinese bikes are no longer the dirty little secret.
For years the ‘mainstream’ manufacturers have benefitted from the cheap labour and exceptional value for money which comes from having parts manufactured in China.
For decades, China has been the workshop of the world and they have perfected the art of large scale automotive manufacturing.
Walking around Motorcycle Live recently, it was interesting to see how many new Chinese brands were on display with seriously attractive offerings. No longer content to play second fiddle, the Chinese are taking what they have learned from decades of manufacturing parts for others and putting it to use by producing their own brand of highly competitive top quality motorcycles.
This should not be a surprise, as many of these factories already build in excess of 300,000 motorcycles per year… just with different badges.
A couple of brands really stood out for me.
QJ MOTOR
QJ Motor are a relatively new brand to the UK and Ireland although over 30 million people worldwide ride a QJ Motorcycle. Established in 1985, they are one of the largest motorcycle manufacturers on the planet. They build every type of bike from 50cc to 1200cc.
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QJ 921RR
In the UK they have a huge range of bikes from scooters to top end sports bikes and everything in between. The top of the range 921RR Sports Bike (pictured above) retails at £8999 and for this you get 127hp and 97Nm torque and comes standard with Brembo brakes and an adjustable steering damper… Yes, all for under Nine Grand!
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BENDA LFC700
BENDA
Benda Moto despite the unfortunate name, have initially launched 3 cruisers in the UK. The Napolean Bob & Chinchilla (500cc) and the LFC700 (700cc) . Founded in 2016 Benda are owned by Hagzhou Saturn Power Technology who employ around 500 staff 40% of which work in the engineering department. They are a relatively new company, however their design stands out above the rest and they pride themselves on designing and building their own engines which are used extensively in ATV, side-by-side and motorcycles.
BENDA Chinchella 500
Primarily they are an engineering and design house, however in 2020 they launched Benda and produced their first company branded motorcycle the Chinchilla 300 which looks like a scaled down Harley Davidson. Their aim is to provide access to affordable cruiser style bikes and they split R&D and design between their base in China and Austria.
The 500cc Chinchilla has an OTR price of £5499 meanwhile the 700cc V4 LFC700 puts out a respectable 85Bhp and retails at £8999 plus OTR.
VOGE
Owned by massive Chinese motorcycle manufacturer Loncin Motorcycles who have been around from the 1990s. BMW owners will be unwittingly familiar with Voge as they have been manufacturing parts for the German company for many years. VOGE was established as Loncin’s premium brand in 2018 and they produce an incredible lineup of bikes. The VOGE 650DS is a no-nonsense Adventure bike with all the bells and whistles you would expect from a premium brand except with an exceptional £4999 (plus OTR) price tag. Yes, you read that right… £4999!
These bikes are making serious headway into the growing adventure market. The build quality of Chinese bikes is on a par to everything else on the market, which should not be a surprise when you consider who they have been working for. However we are now seeing them step out of the shadows and into the bright lights and they shaking up the industry.
Their price point is exceptional and it is something that should frighten the ‘mainstream’ manufacturers. I’m not old enough to remember the Japanese takeover from the British Bikes, but I’ve heard a lot about it. I grew up in the era of Japanese motorcycles, they were better built, better designed and better priced than the old Brit oil-pissers preferred by men in flat caps and long brown coats.
I didn’t care about heritage, I wanted performance at a price I could afford. Working in a busy motorcycle shop I am seeing the same attitudes from the young people who come into the shop. They just want good quality, decent performance and value for money and that is what they get with a modern Chinese bike.
It is getting harder to justify the huge price differential between a Kawasaki Versys and a CF Moto 650 which are pretty much identical bikes (except for the oil filter) when the CF Moto is thousands cheaper than the Kawasaki.
This is not a cautionary tale, rather just embrace the fact that things never stay the same and evolution is a positive step. Chinese bikes are here to stay, you can fight, scoff, ridicule all you want, you are probably already riding a Chinese bike and you just don’t know. Embrace the change… your pocket will thank you.