Of all the manufacturers hailing from China to have featured on these pages over the last 12 months or so, one of the more intriguing brands to stand out has been Jedi… and not just because its name conjures up a certain ‘fairly’ popular film franchise.
Indeed, while the scourge of the notorious ‘Chinese copycat motorcycle’ is still prevalent now and again, a number of well-established manufacturers - such as CFMoto, Zongshen, Voge (Loncin) and Super Soco Vmoto - have shown marked steps in quality with their most recent models.
Back in China, however, the sheer lucrativeness of the motorcycle industry has inspired a number of all-new rivals to join the fray and take on the establishment.
But with competition fierce, how can one new name possibly hope to stand out in the crowd in China?
Well, calling your motorcycle company ‘Jedi’ is a pretty good start, but if we came for the name, we stayed for the rather daring Jedi Vision K750, a lightly-veiled concept [below] showcasing the company’s ambitious sportsbike aspirations.
For a first attempt at penning a sportsbike, the Vision K750 wouldn’t look out of place next to more established rivals from Europe and Japan with its shapely fairing and swooping lines…
In short, we were suitably impressed and - judging by the feedback on social media - so were you. While this normally leads to an anti-climax of a much toned down production-ready version eventually emerging, the ‘good to go’ version of the K750 has retained a number of the concept’s more unusual traits.
Elements of the aggressive front-end remains and the wavy carves and creases remain fairly intact along the side-profile, though Jedi has stayed faithful enough to the original concept, it has lost a fair chunk of that wow factor.
Then again, compared to other Chinese-origin mid-range sportsbikes being rolled out recently - such as the Benelli/QJ Motor 600RR - it cuts a dash.
Under the skin, the Jedi Vision K750 is powered by a rather modest 730cc parallel-twin that doesn’t quite have the power to live up to those looks, producing 70-to-80 horsepower.
Which is perhaps just as well because while the Vision K750 is one of Jedi’s first ‘civilian’ motorcycle creations, its background and fortune has been built on building and supplying motorcycles to the Chinese police force…
May the force ride with you…
