Given the very positive reaction to the recently released Yamaha XSR900 GP, it’s not a surprise to find other OEMs looking to tap into the retro nostalgia.
CFMoto has been quick on the uptake, as it teases its 500SR Voom, a retro sportster with a 500cc inline four-cylinder engine. The bike seems to be a new platform from the Chinese brand, and the closest machine currently noted on the CFMoto global website is the 449cc, 46bhp, 450SR S sports bike. The 450SR S is powered by a parallel twin-cylinder engine, though, not the inline-four that is being reported by the media.
No that isn't a new kind of Vape, those are the air-intakes of the 500SR Voom!
As is the way with these kinds of teasers, confirmed specs and details aren’t yet known, and while some media outlets are reporting a 142mph top speed, we’ll take that with a pinch of salt until the official specification is released - which could be by the end of 2024.
All we have to go on then are the images, and from those, we can gather that the 500SR Voom is a decent-looking bike. The front fairing features LED DRLs mounted around the perimeter of the two frontally mounted air intakes, and when combined with the high-level exhaust it does have the silhouette of a retro endurance racer from the mid-1980s. The bike also has elements of the MV Agusta Rush, especially around the pillion seat which seems to tower above the rider's seat - it looks very much like a bike you sit in and not on.
This adjusted image of the bike shows the cockpit, TFT, and front suspension
Other elements we can see from the teaser video include a TFT dash, so we’d assume a certain level of connectivity, and the fork-tops look suspiciously like they are Showa Separate Function Forks - Big Piston items although fork adjusters aren’t visible in the teaser, so we’ll have to wait and see if that is true. At one point we do get a view of the bike's frame and it looks to be a similar tubular design as found on the 450SR S, albeit with some obvious modifications made for this physically larger and more powerful engine.
CFMoto 500SR Voom Teaser Video
