CF-Moto 800 MT

Built:2022-24202220232024

This is how it drives itself

The bike is a full-blown travel enduro and rides like that. Absolutely confident and stable, the bike curves over country roads and motorways. The riding modes "Rain" and "Sport" suggest that CF Moto has not provided blatant off-road inserts for this bike. The Maxxis MA1 tyres, which are clearly designed for road use, also fit in with this. Of course, you don't have to turn back on a gravel road, but it's definitely not an off-road machine. However, this also applies to 90 percent of all other motorcycles of this kind!

 

In contrast to the Sport, the Touring has a steering damper on board that does a great job. The bike is really extremely stable, but does not look quite as manoeuvrable as, for example, a GS - although it is much heavier. Nevertheless: The ride with the CF-Moto is fun, to which the good damping tuning also contributes. The fork at the front is comfortably soft, but never goes on block even with hard braking maneuvers or nasty potholes. This feels good and safe, and the good Juan brakes, which are easy to control, also fit. Okay, they're not quite as toxic and smooth as a Brembo monobloc system, but you can quickly stop with a little hand force. By the way, the necessary clutch force is pleasantly low, also okay. By the way, the clutch and brake levers are adjustable in range.

 

 

The sound of the machine is - well okay. You won't be able to lure anyone out from behind the stove, but do you even want that with an adventure bike? The stationary noise is a casual 93 dbA, which is in doubt more important when traveling than rioting. Now we come to the centerpiece, the engine. This is the old KTM 790 in-line twin, which was used on the 790 Adventure, for example. KTM said goodbye to this engine in the course of the Euro 5 changeover and has since relied on the more powerful 890 engine. The Chinese allegedly implemented the Euro-5 changeover on their own - and unfortunately something went wrong.

 

At least in our test (or our test bike?) the throttle response was not very smooth. When accelerating, there were always small holes and then punch phases again. As long as we calmly went through the area, everything was okay, but these problems occurred again and again when gassing. We suspect two things: On the one hand, we actually think the mapping is still in need of improvement and on the other hand, we may have underestimated the sensitivity of the QuickShifter. It may well be that Volker in particular, thanks to his fat boots, has repeatedly come up against the QS and has thus created an unwanted confusion in the engine tuning. Anyway, the QuickShifter! He is also a real diva: Sometimes he worked wonderfully, then again only with strong pressure and sometimes not at all - and then flooded buttery soft again.

We have a hard time with this criticism because we are not sure if our observations were possibly due to our test bike or if maybe even we did something wrong?! In any case, we cannot and do not want to keep this under the carpet. In other tests, e.g. of 1000hp, this problem is also pointed out, but this is rather presented as "not so bad". At "Wolfs Bike on Tour TV" nothing is said about this or the problem has apparently not occurred at all. The QuickShifter is even described as particularly good there. So, you obviously have to make yourself a picture, preferably during a test drive.
 

The engine itself is powerful at the top and of course very reminiscent of KTM's 790cc Adventure. It delivers 91 hp and 77 Nm, but only a little later than was the case with the KTM before the Euro 5 conversion. The machine runs over 200 km/h, but you should not drive faster than 120 km/h with suitcases, because at higher speeds the machine actually starts to oscillate (see video from minute 26:17). The consumption is okay with about 5 liters per 100 km, the range is thanks to the 19 liter tank at a good 380 km.