QJMotor unveils three-cylinder adventure tourer
QJMotor seems to be a little confused about what it’s called, who it’s for, and when it will be made, but we like it.
We have no idea whether the QJMotor Rhino 900 will make it to the UK, but the inline-triple-powered adventure tourer managed to grab our attention, so we had to tell you about it.
The first thing I want you to know about this bike is that it looks so much better in person than these pictures manage to convey. When the cover was pulled off the bike at EICMA this week – amid the kind of dry, “They really should have rehearsed this” presentation that is so common at the show – people applauded.
Not company lackeys who are supposed to clap, but unvested observers – press types, exhibitors, and, mysteriously, three designers from Indian Motorcycle. They were so impressed with the look of the Rhino 900 that it elicited a spontaneous and genuine bringing together of hands.
Powered by a 900cc liquid-cooled inline triple, the Rhino claims peak outputs of 118 bhp at 10000 rpm and 68.5 lb-ft of torque at 8000 rpm. There are two seat heights to choose from – 815 mm and 830 mm – and it’s built around a reinforced tubular-steel main frame.
After that, however, details are hard to come by. Indeed, far from the question of whether this bike will come to the UK is the question of when it will show up anywhere. The folks at QJMotors seemed to be uncertain about when the Rhino 900 will go into production.
Equally, they seem to be uncertain about the name of the bike. It’s spelled Rino on the tank – in photos and in person – but in press materials and everywhere else, it’s spelled Rhino.
And there seems to be uncertainty, too, about who this bike is aimed at. Press materials describe the bike as carrying an “aggressive, ready-to-pounce stance that exudes off-road dominance.” But the EICMA presentation – and my own impressions from looking at it – suggest it’s a road-focused, long-distance machine.
Perhaps the thinking is: if you build it they will come. Worry about the marketing later. Either way, I can personally assure you that it is a very attractive motorcycle.
Which is something that can be said of many of QJMotor’s bike’s, actually. QJMotor is the shorthand name for Chinese mega-company Qianjiang Motors – the force behind Morbidelli and Benelli. While the latter’s been in the UK market for a while now, QJMotor only arrived in October.
Hitherto, I’d not had a chance to see its bikes in the flesh (Although, Editor Toad Hancocks has; he’s ridden the SRV 600 V cruiser, the SRK 900 naked, and the SRT 900 S adventure touring bike). Simply looking at photos, I wasn’t overwhelmed with desire to throw a leg over one. Now, though, I am.
I am especially intrigued by the Rino/Rhino’s three-cylinder engine. That’s a somewhat unique engine configuration in the world of Chinese motorcycles. This is a bike that doesn’t feel derivative. It seems unique.
Will it ever come to the UK? No idea. We’ll just have to wait and see.
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Chris Cope is a fourth-generation journalist, originally from Texas. He has lived in the UK for roughly two decades and has been writing about motorcycles for most of that time. He has written for dozens of publications and websites in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.
