Chinese Four-Cylinder Sportbike Revolution

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The recent CIMA show in China proved that companies from that country are building four-cylinder sportbikes at an exhilarating rate. (Vinto/)

Chinese products are a divisive subject, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that the country’s motorcycle companies are rapidly catching up with their more established Western and Japanese equivalents. Never more so than at the recent CIMA show in China where there was a remarkable rush of new four-cylinder sportbikes from a variety of familiar and unfamiliar brands.

Some of these machines are unlikely ever to be seen outside their homeland, but others—names like Voge and QJMotor—are brands with a growing international presence and as such their offerings stand a good chance of going toe-to-toe with more familiar bikes in Europe and even the US.

We’ve already seen some impressive-looking Chinese sportbikes, most recently the teased CFMoto 675SR triple and 500SR four-cylinder, and they’re just the tip of the iceberg. These are the most interesting rivals to have been launched at CIMA in September.

QJMotor’s SRK800RR has a 778cc inline-four. (QJMotor/)

QJMotor SRK800RR

We actually brought the first news of this bike back in June, but now it’s been officially unveiled as the next step in a QJMotor sportbike plan that’s due to culminate later this year with the launch of the MV Agusta–based 1000RR. Details of the SRK800RR include a 778cc four-cylinder engine that appears (like several other Chinese fours) to be reverse-engineered from the Honda CBR650R engine. It shares the same 67mm bore as the Honda, but with a longer 55mm stroke to achieve its larger capacity. QJMotor claims 100 hp at 10,000 rpm and 57.5 lb.-ft. of torque.

The chassis is also remarkably similar to the CBR650R, with the same 57-inch wheelbase and a design that’s visually much the same as the Honda’s. However, the use of Brembo brakes is a step above the CBR650R, and in typical Chinese style the SRK800RR is heavy on tech, including a TFT dash and a built-in front-facing camera mounted just above the ram-air intake.

QJMotor’s ambitions are made clear by the company’s involvement in racing—it’s the title sponsor of the Gresini Moto2 team—and it’s a brand that’s already present globally, including the US. The company hopes to be able to homologate the SRK800RR for racing, too, probably in the World Supersport championship.

The number of the beast: The RR666S is from Locin’s luxury brand Voge and is the company’s first four-cylinder model. (Loncin/)

Voge RR666S

Voge is the luxury, Western-oriented arm of Loncin—a company that’s long been among the most well-established of China’s bike makers, respected enough to be used by BMW as a contractor to build engines for its bikes. The RR666S is Voge’s first four-cylinder, with a 660cc engine that matches the QJMotor SRK800RR’s 100 hp output from less capacity.

The bike’s detailed specifications haven’t been released yet, but it’s claimed to be good for more than 150 mph and the visible parts include Brembo brakes, an aluminum chassis, and a single-sided swingarm.

The Cyclone RC680R is that company’s first four-cylinder model and features a 680cc inline-four. (Zongshen/)

Cyclone RC680R

Just as Voge is a sub-brand of Loncin, Cyclone is the high-end marque from Zongshen—another long-standing Chinese company with ties to the West, having built bikes for Piaggio and Aprilia for many years. The RC680R is Cyclone’s first four-cylinder model.

Like the QJMotor model, it looks like the Cyclone’s engine is reverse engineered from Honda’s CBR650R engine, and once again it’s claimed to make 100 hp, this time from a 680cc capacity. At 454 pounds fueled, the bike is a couple of pounds lighter than the SRK800RR. Once again, there are Brembo brakes, an upside-down fork, and a single-sided swingarm, as well as winglets on the bodywork to tick all the right sportbike boxes. There’s plenty of tech, too, including ABS, traction control, a color TFT dash, and like the QJMotor SRK800RR, a front-facing camera built into the bodywork.

Vinto is a new company, not known outside of China. The engine, like many of the others, appears to be based on the Honda CBR650R. (Vinto/)

Vinto GP660

We’re heading further into the unknown here; Vinto is a relatively new brand, even in China, and barely known outside that country. Its GP660, once again, features an engine with some distinct visual similarities to the Honda CBR650R motor, again promising around 100 hp.

The specs that have been revealed so far show it’s on roughly the same wheelbase as the SRK800RR and the CBR650R, and again there’s a single-sided swingarm and no shortage of MotoGP-style winglets. The GP660 even adopts the “stegosaurus” fins on the tail that have become the latest must-have in the top racing class, the first time we’ve seen them on a streetbike.

Unlike most of the 600cc-plus models shown, this inline-four is 400cc, aimed clearly at Kawasaki’s Ninja ZX-4RR. (Yingang/)

Yingang 400RR

There’s still a lot of mystery around this one. Yingang showed its 400cc four-cylinder engine 12 months ago and now it has debuted the motorcycle built around it. It’s clearly designed to compete with the Voge 450RR and Kawasaki’s Ninja ZX-4RR, not to mention the soon-to-be-launched CFMoto 500SR, with Yingang claiming a peak of 54 hp at 11,000 rpm and 29 lb.-ft. of torque at 9,000 rpm.

The prototype shown at CIMA also featured keyless ignition and a TFT dash, but other details of the Yingang 400 are still scant at the moment, suggesting it could still be some way from being production ready.

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