QJmotor Teases 550cc Sport Model

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QJmotor’s soon-to-be-launched 550 sport model shares its parallel-twin powerplant with MV Agusta’s Lucky Explorer 5.5. (QJmotor/)

Perhaps goaded by the introduction of CFMoto’s 450SR sportbike last week, QJmotor has started teasing the introduction of its own parallel-twin sport model. The bike is based around the same 554cc engine that QJmotor, which is Benelli’s Chinese sister company, will be supplying for MV Agusta’s Lucky Explorer 5.5 in a reciprocal deal that’s due to result in a future Benelli superbike carrying MV’s 1,000cc four-cylinder engine. It’s basically the same engine already used in Benelli’s Leoncino 500, TRK 502, and 502C, punched out from 499cc to 554cc thanks to a small increase in both bore and stroke, taking the internal dimensions from 69 x 66.8mm to 70.5 x 71mm.

As used in the Lucky Explorer 5.5, that amounts to a peak power of 47 hp (35kW), but that number has been chosen to suit Euro rules which allow riders with a second-tier license to ride machines with no more than 47 hp. In China, a similar engine used in QJmotor’s 550 Scrambler model manages 50 hp—exactly on a par with the higher-revving 450cc twin used in the new CFMoto 450SR—and for the new sportbike the power rises again to 56 hp (42kW), with 40 pound-feet of torque (54Nm).

Related: Benelli’s Tornado 650, 550, and TNT 550 Models Teased

The new bike seems to have received a styling makeover as well as new swingarm and pipe configurations. (QJmotor/)

At the moment a single picture of the new bike has emerged in China, showing significant changes since it was first spied last year. Back then, the original design looked slightly dated, but it seems to have since been restyled to adopt a more modern appearance. The headlights now have a forward-slanted, triangular shape and are mounted in ductlike recesses below the nose, whereas the previous design was much more conventional. Almost inevitably, winglets have appeared on the fairing sides and, perhaps most significantly of all, the original dual-sided swingarm and low-slung, side-mounted exhaust have been ditched. In their place comes a single-sided arm and a belly-mounted pipe.

Despite the aggressive look, the bike’s riding position is far from extreme; the bars are relatively high, the pegs are fairly low. It’s not unlike the Honda CBR500R in that respect. Like the Honda, it also sports an upside-down fork and twin front discs with radial-mount calipers, although the QJmotor bike’s are sourced from Brembo while the fork is KYB.

Although QJmotor is starting to show signs that it will offer its bikes globally, the company is currently focusing on the Chinese market. However, Benelli is expected to launch a Tornado 550 in the not-too-distant future, using the same underpinnings as the QJmotor machine, and given the Italian brand’s greater international appeal, it makes much more sense as a worldwide sales proposition.

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