Is This the Most Blatant Chinese Copy Ever Made?
Squint and it’s mint?
Ahhh, the Chinese motorcycle industry, often ridiculed for its cut-copy-paste approach to bike design, and it’s a working practice that is still very much alive and kicking.
Take this machine, the snappily named (and eerily similar to Suzuki - logo and all) Sukuli S1000RR - yep, that is literally its model name! It’s a bike that, if you saw it coming in the distance, you’d have no problem identifying it as a BMW S1000 RR. That would be up until it rode past you, when instead of a silky smooth inline four-cylinder engine purring beneath the fairings, you’d hear a wheezing parallel twin that is claimed to produce just 15bhp.
That motor gives the Sukuli a claimed top speed of around 90mph (only around 100mph down on a legit S1000 RR), although it does feature USD forks, a mono-shock at the rear and hydraulic disc brakes - so it’s basically exactly the same in every other way…
And it’s not just BMW’s copyrights the firm has trampled on, as there is also a Ducati Streetfighter V4 S clone, which seems to be powered by the same engine and suspended by the same chassis. That bike, aptly named the V4S, is joined by the fully-faired V4R which is, you guessed it, a replica of the all-conquering Panigale V4 S. That bike is complete with aerodynamic winglets - handy for helping you keep on top of that monstrous power output - and the makers even had the guile to emblazon the fairings with the words “Sukuli Corse”. Massimo Tamburini would be turning in his grave!
Thankfully, not all Chinese-built bikes are made in this way, with the Morbidelli T1002VX that we recently reviewed being a prime example of a Chinese-owned bike maker doing things their own way and getting them mostly right. You can read our Morbidelli T1002VX review here.
No prices are noted on the export website for any of the bikes, with each listed as ‘price negotiable’. So we ask you, what would you be willing to pay for one, and what would you do with it?
You may also like to read our list of the most blatant Chinese copycat motorcycles ever made.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
