YGMotor 400 coming from China By Ben Purvis
It's like the 1980s all over again as a growing number of companies launch 400 cc four-cylinder sports bikes - but instead of Japan, many of the new protagonists are Chinese.
This is an upcoming bike from YGMotor, the marketing name for Chongqing Yingang, which also sells bikes under various other brands around the world, including 'Archive Motorcycles' in France and 'GPX' in Malaysia.
Some of its models have also been sold carrying WK Bikes branding, but the company's most notable machine to date has been a miniature, Grom-style machine with Ducati Monster-inspired styling, sold under various names and even reaching the U.S. market as the Razkull 125. Its new 400 cc four-cylinder is a step change for the company, and a huge leap forward in terms of style and technology.
The engine was shown in late 2022, appearing to borrow some of its design cues from the old Honda CB400 Super Four motor, but with the addition of fuel injection and redesigned castings that show it's not simply a Honda clone. It's not a power-crazed screamer, with a relatively modest 11,000 rpm peak and an output of 54 hp - substantially less than the 77 hp and 16,000 rpm claimed for the least-restricted versions of the upcoming Kawasaki ZX-4RR, but roughly equivalent to the U.S.-spec ZX-4RR, which manages 56 hp at 11,500 rpm.
'Another Chinese four-cylinder sports bike'
The YGMotor will be heading into direct competition with another Chinese four-cylinder, the impressive-looking Kove 400RR. That bike is heading into mass-production imminently after last-minute redesigns, including a revised front fairing and an upsized engine, increased from 399 cc to 443 cc and pushing power up from 67 hp to 70 hp in the process.
We get a preview of the YGMotor 400's styling thanks to registered design illustrations, showing a conventional but clean-looking sports bike with a steel tube chassis and cast alloy swingarm. The upside-down forks and radial four-pot brakes gripping petal-style discs tick all the right boxes, and as a Chinese-made machine it's sure to be cheaper than we've come to expect in the west.
The bike is part of a growing army of Chinese models using four-cylinder engines, a layout that was, until recently, considered far too advanced for the motorcycle-buying public in China. Only a couple of years ago, QJMotor launched China's first four-cylinder sports bike, but already we're seeing a growing band of Chinese companies entering the four-cylinder market, including Benda, Kove and now YGMotor. QJMotor has also revealed its own V4 engine now, joining its existing inline four, and CFMoto is developing another V4 of its own.
It's a development that could worry the existing European and Japanese motorcycle industry, which has scaled down combustion engine R&D in recent years in preparation for an expected shift towards electric vehicles. China's industry is going in the other direction: most two-wheelers sold in China are electric scooters and mopeds, and the nation already has a head-start in EVs as a result, but as demand for higher performance bikes increases, manufacturers there are pivoting towards multi-cylinder petrol engines.
