NEW Chinese manufacturer PFMoto has released the official images of its first new touring motorcycle, the PFMoto Starship 6.
The bike may, on the face of it, look like a bit of a Gold Wing clone, but beneath the skin of the new machine, a number of significant differences can be found. For starters, the engine of the Starship 6 is not a silky smooth and effortless flat six-cylinder, instead, it is powered by a 573cc V-twin engine, producing a fairly anaemic 60bhp and 55Nm (40lb-ft) of torque. With the bike reported to be tipping the scales at around 280kg, that’s likely to mean the performance of the new bike will be gentle at best.
We do though have to applaud PFMoto for going with a V-twin configuration, which in a world fast filling up with parallel twin-cylinder engines with crossplane cranks makes a refreshing change.
Elsewhere, the styling of the bike is also very similar to that found on the iconic Gold Wing, with the luggage, fairing and even the lines of the fuel tank all seeming to be ‘inspired’ by the Japanese super-tourer.
At the front end of the bike, we find conventional USD forks (no fancy double-wishbone set-up here) which are mated to radially-mounted calipers that look to have come from braking manufacturer J.Juan.
On the technology front the bike does come with some of the creature comforts you’d expect from a bike like this. A full-colour TFT with Bluetooth connectivity crowns the cockpit, while an electronically adjusted screen should help to keep the worst of the wind and weather off the rider.
All this though will probably never matter to us British riders, as with such tepid performance from such a large bike, should the bike be launched in the UK, it’d have to be so keenly priced the margins would be minuscule once import costs have been taken into account.
