The Chinese motorcycle brand CFMoto It does not cease in its attempt to continue occupying market places, it gets into different niches and develops novelties in each of them. At the beginning of the year, we had anticipated the arrival of this CFMoto 500 SR and now, the same brand, makes its launch official in the country of origin, China.

If we thought that CFMoto would only be satisfied with doubling the number of cylinders of the successful 450 SR, Reality indicates that we were wrong. In Hangzhou, their parent company, they bet big and started from scratch to create an authentic Super Sports Car with an inline four-cylinder engine.

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What the new CFMoto 500 SR is like

The first thing we have to mention is that we have to forget what twin-cylinder engines were. This is a 500cc engine developed from scratch, entirely by the brand. This engine, develops 78.9 HP power to 12,500 rpm and 49 Nm of torque maximum engine speed at 11,000 rpm. Something that makes it a motorcycle to look at carefully is its weight, which was so only 187 kg. which, added to the power numbers described, promise a weight/power ratio that has not been seen in this segment for a long time.

CFMoto patented this new engine in 2024 and perfected it to eliminate errors or defects, such as the typical vibrations of small-displacement four-cylinder engines. The electronic injection is from the Bosch brand, which guarantees precise electronic management and, in addition, is backed by a trusted brand such as bosch.

It is not an ‘upgrade’ of the CFMoto 450 SRnor is it a “larger engine” displacement on the same motorcycle. This is a totally different and independent platform from that motorcycle, although they belong to the same segment and the same brand.

In the cycling section, it has a steel structure, with an aluminum swingarm and at the front it has a 41mm inverted fork, fully adjustable in preload and travel. The rear shock (centrally located) is also preload adjustable, and also features a steering damper, for greater control at high speeds. As for the brakes, they are radial, signed by the Nissin brand, with their due support, and have Continental brand ABS.

What will be your segment rivals?

With everything we mentioned, the 500 SR directly aims to complicate the Japanese benchmarks in the segment, such as the recently arrived Honda CBR500R Four in the segment which, in terms of performance figures and according to homologation, will yield a maximum power of 52.8 kW, a figure equivalent to about 72 HP.

The other contender for this CFMoto is the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-4Ra model that has a 399 cc in-line 4-cylinder engine, and reaches a maximum power of 77 HP (80 HP with Ram Air) at 14,500 rpmand a torque of 39 Nm at 13,000 rpm. We could also add, the competition of the Kove 450RR, a sports car that has exactly 443cc and delivers close to 70 HP at 13,000 rpm and a maximum torque of 39 Nm at 10,500 rpm.

As for the price, at the time of its launch in China, the bike was below the 5,000 dollars. Obviously, since it is the country that produces it, it is originally cheaper. The next steps for this CFMoto motorcycle are to put it in the European market and then to the rest of the world, which includes Latin America, but, obviously, we cannot talk about prices here at the moment.

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