New CF MOTO 450SR S Review
Today, CF Moto announced the uprated S version of their 450 SR sports bike for some european markets.
Now, this thing looks pretty nifty for a small capacity, budget friendly sports bike. we’ll go over all of the details with everything that you need to know about it to find out.
Engine
This is a 449.5 cc parallel twin. That makes just shy of 47 HP & 9500 RPM and 39-newton meters of peak torque at six and a half thousand. Now, outside of Europe, I believe this bike makes more like 50 hp.
But they’ve had to limit it in order to be able to qualify for the a two license category, which, of course, means they’ll have a broader audience to sell to.
And, look, while a couple of extra horsepower at the top would be nice, peak torque actually remains the same between the two tunes.
And so the feeling of shove in the midrange ought to be the same.
When you compare it against some of the other a two friendly sports bikes on the market, like the KTM RC 390 or the Kawasaki Ninja 500, or the Yamaha R3, it looks pretty decent in terms of figures, especially that torque seems to be a real strength.
But also on top of that, they actually use a 270 degree crank in this engine, which ought to have a much nicer sound and feel to it than the 180 degree cranks that you typically find in parallel twins at this end of the market.
Plus, it’s got two balancer shafts, so it should be nice and smooth.
And I’m really looking forward to checking this bike out and taking one for a spin, because this engine will also be used in their upcoming 450 MT adventure bike. And so I’m hoping the engine is every bit as good as it looks on paper.
Chassis
Chassis componentry on this bike also looks pretty impressive.
You’ve got a 37 millimeter upside down fork that gets damping adjustability, and also you’ve got adjustment on the monoshock at the rear.
Front brakes are from Brembo, with a pair of m 40 calipers on 320 mil disks.
And also, the rear brake, with its two piston caliper, is up from 220 mm to 240 specifically on this s version., CF MOTO 450SR S
the whole lot weighs in at 179 kg curb, which puts it somewhere in the middle of the competition and I think sounds pretty respectable for a bike of this stature.
Styling
And that’s despite some pretty bold styling choices which you might expect to add a little bit of weight, such as the single sided swing arm which is an upgrade, versus the standard 450 SR.
It really does give an exotic look to the back end of this bike, which can’t be said of all of the competition. CF MOTO 450SR S
And they’ve also gone for an underslung exhaust to show off this single cider to its full potential.
It’s also pretty flashy, with lots of sweeping design detail, plenty of color and graphics.
And also at the front they’ve added some aero winglets to the side of the bike, although I can’t imagine they do a great deal in terms of downforce at the sort of speeds you’ll be hitting on a machine like this.
They do, however, claim there are some benefits to the new hollow fairing design, which they say allows heat to dissipate more easily, which improves cooling to the engine. CF MOTO 450SR S
Still, overall I think it’s quite a nice looking bike. It has a shade of Ducati SuperSport 950 about it, but of course these things are personal taste.
Comfort
As for the ergonomics, well, it looks slightly sporty, but not too aggressive.
The clipons, for example, sit above the top yolks, and also the seat height is relatively modest, with the same 795 mm as the standard 450 SR.
That said, it can be raised or lowered by 10 mm either way.
If you delve into the optional seat pads in the accessories catalog, then fuel capacity comes in at 14 liters, which they say is good for about 300 km or 186 miles, which should be plenty enough for the sort of riding that this bike is intended for.
Tech
Now, another area in which this bike really does look quite competitive is with the tech, and it’s generally far beyond what you’ll find in other bikes in this part of the market. CF MOTO 450SR S
In the cockpit, you’ve got the same curved five inch TFT display as the standard 450 SR, and through this you can get some smartphone connectivity features, providing that you opt for their T box upgrade.
On top of that, you’ve got a USB charger, traction control and ABS, a slip assist clutch, automatic headlights which come on whenever you hit the dark, and also their ESS emergency brake lights, which I assume flash when you hit the brakes hard to warn traffic behind you. CF MOTO 450SR S
Price
Now, the price starts at 6499 pounds, and while that is a bit of a step up from the standard model, it actually looks pretty decent versus the competition, especially when you start to consider the level of spec and performance that you get in here.
Certainly that 270 crank is going to be the thing that I think will make it stand apart from the other bikes.
And also there’s some neat bits of spec like the adjustability on the suspension and the Brembo brake calipers. CF MOTO 450SR S
Then you’ve got the luxe on top, which I do think are quite special for a 450, and you can see how that single sided swing arm might be enough to tempt some buyers to at least try out.