CFMOTO 800MT 0 - 5.000Km και στα 2.600 μέτρα | MOTOMAG.GR
Welcome !!!! How are you guys doing? Here we go again !!! Yes !! another long term review ...the second one .... with zero km on the counter The only thing that we don't need this time is another Covid 19 pandemic to mess with our plans!! Even that didn't stop us!! Yes we managed to even travel abroad with the CFMOTO 650 MT!! there are many people who have bought this motorcycle which is doing very well commercially and I imagine they will be anxiously waiting for your opinion on the setup changes but also on the upgrades that you will decide to make thats why we have to clarify that you give us this motorcycle in good faith , providing us the freedom to do whatever we want with it but also mentioning whatever problem may occur during the test Isn't that exactly the meaning of doing a long term test ?? there is a considerable amount of people that still is not convinced to buy a Chinese motorcycle and we respect their opinion So one of the reasons we're doing it again , is for proving the value-for-money aspect of the motorcycle how much it has evolved and how much abuse it can withstand riders got an early taste of that during the MEGATEST of 2022 but probably there are many more still in question It is time to move away from stereotypes like Europeans, Japanesse, Chinese, and start talking about manufactures in particular This is obvious but I'm just mentioning it because it's a reality we can't ignore . we know our product's strengths and weaknesses, its position in the market and we have absolute confidence in it you know that better than us but I think that with our current project we are going to show even more of the motorcycle's potential but also the everyday experience with the bike. As we'll leave from here we intent to do the run-in as quickly as possible in order our next stop to be on the highest altitude road in the Balkans!! we hope you enjoy it and to try to break it.
We will do our best !!! allow me only one thing before you leave , cause the hypochondriac in me tells me so Perfect !!! Thank you very much !!! Babis please don't forget the stickers Riding the new 800MT with zero kilometres on the odometer the feeling couldn't be anything other than familiar as we have already a ton of experience on this motorcycle we had a quick hands on with it, when it was still a pre-production model and was brought to Greece by Jaroslav a Czech journalist who stopped at MOTO HQ for a chat you see Megatest's reputation has long ago passed the Greek borders and every corner of Europe reads our yearly adventure translated to their language ....how we got there is a story for another video. During our first quick ride , we avoided the mistake of mentioning the not so good mapping or the wobbling at 140 km, primarily because the Czech had her loaded to the point that we were telling him that he makes an excellent long term test of the strength of the subframe The motorcycle I rode then worked well only with him on top or .... better not to say more cause his wife may watching After all, no one should say that he knows a motorcycle by riding her around the block or for a couple of hours , as we unfortunately oftenly see it happens. But in any case that first short ride was a good opportunity to see what they are up to in terms of overall build quality and finishing the first impressions were good but there were some mishits that still exist as you will see further down the video. Our experience with this bike grew , as we got one of the first CFMOTO 800MT that came to Greece and put it to the ultimate test in June 2022 we did our yearly Mega Test adventure which up until now is the most complete test for the 650-1300 cc On-Off adventure category in Europe !! 14 motorcycles in total , without any of the new ones missing , we got directly from Ducati in Italy the first ever Desert X that exited the production line 2 KTMs directly from the factory in Austria and a Harley-Davidson Panamerica that we found available in France we sended people to pick them up and then to ride them to the meeting point with the rest of the group.... a clearing in the serbian kosovo borders
After that followed "the Cambodian hell " which CFMOTO 800MT managed to complete as the first ever Chinese-built motorcycle participating in a Mega Test and especially this year's that we thought that it would be a walk in the park after the stones and mines of the 2021 Mega Test in Bosnia !! readers also know it's final ranking in the Mega Test comparison. So going to the highway for the first trip of this particular 800MT I know exactly what to expect for the next 700 kilometres or so , towards the mountains of Rila you know it too because it's already written in the issue MOTO's 636 with the most detailed test ever done on this bike But don't worry !!! The video will be long and full of information !! We start from the chaos you see at the handlebar as we leave Attica behind There is absolutely no need for maps on the phone and for the GPS with the dirt tracks to stay open at this stage in practice this is also part of the test , for us to see if the 2 usb ports can keep an energy hungry smartphone charged Your well being during a trip can depend on that as communication is part of your security two separate ports with only one of them being able to charge our smartphone so decide wisely which port you will use while also keep in mind that the charging rate of the powerfull port is between 10 and 15% for every 100 km with legal cruising speed Finally !!! It's time to forget about cell phones and GPS and enjoy the ride with the CFMOTO 800MT ....not so fast !!! a quick stop or was it two , for adjusting the rear suspension's preload and finally it's as stable as it was during the first 1,000 km. otherwise there is a wobble that forces you to turn off the gas the motorcycle is loaded with a bag of about 15 kg and most of it is the equipment of the photographers who will come by air and then by car and even a little bit of walking in some places that the 800 MT is not expected to pass. A little later I take out the two cameras i had placed on the crash bars and nothing anymore should negatively affects the stability of the CFMOTO 800MT with so little weight , loaded directly on the passenger's saddle instead of using the rear rack and by that it doesn't extends further back from the rear wheel axle , motorcycle's stability should not be affected at all Yet it has lost its stability , which is also the case when having a passenger , unless you make at least 3 clicks on the preload Wind protection is excellent and engine vibrations felt in the hand are minimal as well as in legs without ever becoming annoying The airflow in the fairing does not force you to constantly press your knees against the fuel tank in the sense that they always attach on it without having to fight with the wind. a situation that affects other motorcyles which becomes tiring after a few kilometres without most of the riders understanding why The helmet is not affected by air turbulence neither at the low or high position of the wind screen while in the highest position it does not restrict the forward view by dividing the horizon in half Both at the open bends of the highway and later when we rode the narrow b-roads the weight distribution of the motorcycle is good enough and you're enjoying riding the twisties !! Weight distribution is one thing and total weight is another and unfortunatelly CFMOTO 800 MT weights a lot .
Fortunately as we said weight distribution is good , cause if these two are simultaneously bad , they create a catastrophic riding condition . that often occurs on Chinese motorcycles. Because I don't like stereotypes, there's a plethora of such examples from both Europeans and Japanese, we write about them in great detail in our test and I will remind you of a typical example ..... the Honda Crosstourer. Do you remember it? It was heavy and the weight distribution was ideal .....for having it leaned just 15 degrees while parking it and never be able to get it back straight In the weight scale of MOTO the CFMOTO 800MT reached 239 kg with 50.9 / 49.1 front to back weight distribution Definetely not a small number but fortunately you won't notice it except when doing some manoeuvres or during demanding off road riding when you will inevitably need to pick it up from the ground after a fall as we had to do twice in the mountains of Serbia during the Mega Test.
The manufacturer with the 19lt fuel tank being full declares 8 kg less of course the 19 lt is a theoretical number as I practically learned after i ran out of gas 1,5 km before the borders I wanted to limit the fuel-stops and at the same time fill in at Bulgarian ground since the gas is cheaper there and already the costs of this test were climbing too high, so I played all my cards but luck wasn't on my side The low fuel warning light turns on with 6lt of fuel left which is frustrating while travelling because you end up every time making more stops, and when you'll say I'll skip this stop that's when you're gonna get screwed, so let's go see what it just happens with the fuel tank capacity Follow me to see that it now says 30 kilometres remaining but it wont start. The fact that it doesn't show correctly exactly how many kilometres left when running out of fuel is one of the CFMOTO 800MT's problem. Let's see if it starts and how long will last? That's it !!! We've run out of fuel ....I'll run out of battery if I have to continue.... but because its battery lasts long which is also something we tested let's keep on giving it a few tries. That's it, guys. we've run out of fuel Let's fill it up and see exactly how many liters it will take 18 litres Okay thats close enough.... I expected otherwise
the same process in the 650 MT stops at 17 litres here we end up with 18lt of fuel , one litre short of the official 19 official number by the manufacturer which is not uncommon the capacity of the fuel tank differs for all motorcycles more or less because they measure on the basis of the outside geometry after the fuel pump and necessary stuff are fitted the capacity is less, usually by one liter as is in our case but because it's not the mildest of the motorcycles in terms of throttle responce and fuel injection you will be having ignition cut-offs well before you consume all the 18 litres the average consumption , i repeat the average consumption is 6.6 litres with a minimum of six which means that the CFMOTO 800MT is not the most economical and at the same time theoretical fuel autonomy is difficult thing to achieve if one is travelling with legal speeds then he can reach the 230 km between refuelling as the instruments indicate. this motorcycle has already reached 6000 kilometers and we will come back with an update on the fuel consumption when we reach the 10.000km mark All these data are presented to the rider from a well build color TFT screen that does not show reflections even in the strong sun you will find it difficult to read the readings when the sun rays are falling directly into the screen because of the filter it uses but practically this can happen a few moments during the day and doesn't bother you constantly What is actually troubling is the menu navigation and especially the switches that still need work from CFMOTO it's the ergonomy of the switches that needs improvement because quality wise they are better from .....
Yamaha's Tenere World Raid .... to put it up against to with something equally new in the class and more expensive So back to the menu of the CFMOTO 800MT which is unnecessarily complicated and the Greek characters from the Bluetooth connected mobile phone are not read as well as they would but fortunately the hardware is good and one can always hope for a future upgrade which will make trip meter reset an easy task!! Of course, if there's one thing that needs reprogramming it's the ECU management and the throttle response CFMOTO 800 MT throttle response is milder when hitting the revlimiter than when cruising here at speeds of 20-30 kmh is something we mentioned also a few months ago during the Mega Test 2022 it was the first big comparison test , certainly in Europe and possibly in the whole world , that included the CFMOTO 800 MT that means there have been improvements since then the new owners will obviously have some update So yes there is an improvement when comparing this one and the previous one that we rode during the Mega Test ......but the road is still long !!!! Indeed the rev limiter on the CFMOTO 800MT intervenes more gently than it does on a KTM 790 or 890 since this motorcycle is a product of the cooperation of CFMOTO with the Austrians This collaboration was announced at motomag back in 2017 while in 2018 we published Alan Cathcart's report with photos of the foundation of the new factory So if now . late 2022, someone hears for the first time that in a few months , a Chinese 790 is coming from KTM and that will be built by CFMOTO then he is just not up to date !!! He should watch us more often!!! The two motorcycles will not be identical and of course they will not share the same electronics.
Because as we have also explained , the most difficult thing is fuel mapping an engine that you built without knowing the steps of its evolution Unless you are Akrapovic who sells this as a stand alone service, because making exhausts are not their only job so let's move on and yes this will always be a difficult step it was explained to me back in 2015 by high ranking Japanese kawasaki engineers when i was asking them in a booth at the Tokyo Motor Show ,if they are not afraid of the competition by selling its engine designs to the Chinese CFMOTO included because that's how they built the 650MT they replied that the plans are not accompanied by the experience for how you will eventually manage the engine and for that knowledge to be acquired , time and money are needed that would allowed them to always be two steps ahead ... sometimes even three but CFMOTO has been progressing fast... way faster than any Japanese or European could predict , which is why there is significant improvement in the specific area of throttle response compared to what we had seen in the Mega test where the throttle response was at times ,even dangerous , especially on the uphill hairpin bends and we ended up revving it in order to avoid stalling it !! During our trip to Bulgaria the CFMOTO 800MT did not make any weird noise .. let me explain...
The CFMOTO 800 MT that we got for the Mega Test as well as in several other cases of privateers that we are able to know produce a permanent whistle less irritating than the sound of the old Tiger 800 that sounded like baking popcorn in a tin but equally annoying behavior because of its randomness On this particular bike that whistle was introduced to us one afternoon at about 5,000 kilometers on the odometer we will dive deeper into this with a seperate new video when we add equipment to CFMOTO as the solution to the mystery lies somewhere there As the night comes in the mountains of Bulgaria , it's time for the LED lights to show off their skills !! They performed excellent, providing a steady beam without blind spots , with great coverage that illuminates even the inside of the curve if you need even more power then the auxiliary lights come in play and they can wake up the entire forest !!! Here in the middle of nowhere not even the ghostbusters can help us so.... let's go to bed quickly cause in the morning we have to reach the top!!! Recapping from the first day of the journey as the roads are still wet from the morning humidity the 800MT feels at ease on an express trip where you leave from Athens at noon and in the afternoon you are in Bulgaria stable even at top speed which on the speedometer can exceed 200 kilometres per hour but practically stops accelerating from 190 kmh and I'll come back to this at the end with numbers cruise control's top speed is strictly limited at 130 kmh , respecting the traffic laws instead of allowing you to go up to 160 as is the case with the vast majority of the class in case you find yourself lets say ... in Germany !!! See what we haven't remove for the first 2.000 km !!!!
easy fix !!!! The quick ascend of the narrow provincial road that connects the reservoirs that supply water to the entire area , don't create additional issues to the fuel injection. At no time we climb from our morning base at 600 meters altitude to the top at 2600 meters !!! Here we are !! Just a notch down from 2,600 meters and that means we are , just a bit , above the point where we went at 2019 Mega Test which is the road with the highest altitude in Greece typically this is the road ....if someone can call it that..... with the highest altitude in the Balkans .. the Karagiol reservoir system here is guarded as you can see because it supplies water to the whole surrounding area and its a very nice place to visit as a tourist but it's better to cross the mountains that you can see on the background and reach the 7 lake of Rila an amazing place !! Where of course the access to vehicles is banned a little further down the road you can find the monastery of Rila another great destination to visit but here at the top is not the usual place of interest also a few days ago you couln't actually come as the roads were covered by snow as is the forecast for tomorrow In fact for motorcyclists this is the last day of the year that you can actually come to the top For us ,of course , the test goes on . We have come this far not for proving something to someone but because we were trying to make 800 MT'S life as hard as possible And as we have only reached the 50% of the trip .... the test goes on !!!
The dirt road on top of Prophet Elias in the ski resort of Kaimaktsalan that takes you right to the border is the road with the highest altitude in Greece is not suitable for all motorcycles but it is also hasn't got a particular degree of difficulty . It was one of the places that 2019 Mega Test visited that you can also watch at Open TV platform. So ,you don't have to come here , to reach the 2,500 meters and from a tourist point of view, this road doesn't have much to offer, unless you like mountains and pure nature Of course, as I said earlier on the other side of the mountains are the 7 lakes of Rila where , definitely , the hike is more enjoyable !! In our case, the target for us is to reach as high as it gets and this is the the highest altitude road in the Balkans Near its end lies another excellent opportunity to test the suspension as you ride through heavy gravel and stones , which 850MT crosses smoothly without trying to take the handlebars out of your hands we've already made it clear that the rear suspension performance is just ok at off road riding the same goes for the fork Fortunately when riding fast either at b road or at demanding gravel roads the suspensions perform above the expected level at this price point to the point that the front end feeling allows you to explore the limits of traction One other thing that is going to make you sad while dirt riding is that the ABS is not deactivated , even though the unit is from Bosch which means it has a very good behaviour from the start before even the manufacturer adapts the algorithm to the motorcycle data it even offers rear wheel abs deactivation , which however on this motorcycle has not been activated by manufacturer's choice a quick way to get past this is to put it in the centre stand and by pressing the front brake and giving it a little bit of throttle, the ABS goes off ... until you of course turn off the engine it isn't my recommendation to do so ,because it is a cornering ABS , but it is a quick solution that you might need when off road riding Also the engine does not turn off while you are accelerating as it waits for the revs to drop first something really usefull if you are riding through the favelas of Brazil or in the centre of London with thieves trying to remove your ignition key At 2600 meters neither wild dogs nor semi-wild horses were of course a danger The progressively working front suspension helps a lot during panic braking with J. JUAN brakes not having a very strong initial bite, but this something that will not concern the average rider because he will only feel that at extreme situations however because we measured performance for the needs of the test at Moto magazine decelaration from 120 to 40 kmh comes at 2.76 seconds and 67.42 meters
which is moderate performance for the category but at the same time quite good for the 240 kilograms of weight which means the brakes do a good job acceleration 0-100 comes in 3.98 seconds and 60,95m even more interesting is the 0-200 test it had been spotted first on the 790 Adventure KTM and became something of a hot topic acceleration up to 190 kmh is pretty quick but it takes 14.7 seconds to gain another 10 kilometres and a total of 33.9 seconds to reach its top speed which is rather slow and usually indicates the presence of an electronic restriction On the Dynojet dynamometer where we have measured all the motorcycles of its class 800MT is one of the strongest of the category , delivering 83,05 hp at 9350 rpm and 7kg.m of torque at 7100 rpm with an empty spot in performance between 4,500 and 5,000 rpm otherwise its performance above that point is linear and with a rev happy character you can also see the mild cut of the rev limiter in the dyno diagram with almost 2.9 kg per hp the 800MT will remain one of the strongest 800 cc even for next year when competition is expected to be stronger the truth is, he's already had a year where he wasn't afraid of the competition and will continue in that way in the near future on the basis of what we have seen in person at EICMA and will be available in 6 months CFMOTO 800 MT is a well built motorcycle with great finishing in all aspects with the exception of the passenger handles offering proper ergonomics for both traveling but also for upstand riding on Greek , Bulgarian and Serbian dirt roads where we've been with her up until now Every month at MOTO magazine we will update this long term review of CFMOTO 800 MT as well as all the upgrades and their impact on the 800 MT starting with changing the OEM tires that don't help CFMOTO 800 MT to perform as it can while the rear tire has already reached the end of his life So stay tuned on the MOTO magazine , at motomag.gr as well as here on Youtube for the full review of the CFMOTO 800 MT !!!!
2023-01-07 10:23
