CFMoto 800MT-X confirmed for production By Ben Purvis
At EICMA last year, CFMoto showed a concept bike - the MT-X - that was clearly derived from KTM's 790 Adventure and looked very close to being production-ready. Now the finished version of that machine has been type-approved to show that an official launch is imminent.
The finished bike will actually be offered in several forms, with two screen heights and a choice of high or low front mudguards, as well as optional luggage, creating eight different combinations before we get into details like colours.
Compared to the EICMA concept version, the production model is largely unchanged. It gains pillion footpegs and a street-legal exhaust system instead of the race pipe of the show bike, and the concept's Brembo brakes and cowled front discs are swapped for more affordable J.Juan components without the extra plastics, but otherwise the production model has emerged unscathed.
Mechanically, it uses the 799 cc version of the KTM LC8c parallel twin, as featured in the 790 Adventure and 790 Duke as well as CFMoto's 800MT and 800NK models. All the 799 cc versions of that engine are now manufactured in China by CFMoto and KTM's joint venture, so it's the logical choice. In the 800MT-X it puts out 94 hp (70 kW), giving a top speed of 192 km/h (119 mph), and the bike weighs a respectable 214 kg including fuel or 235 kg for the version with luggage.
That fuel is carried low down in side-mounted tanks, just like the KTM 790 Adventure, and it appears that the frame is also borrowed from the KTM, although the swingarm is CFMoto's own, and the suspension is KYB rather than WP kit. At 1,530 mm, the wheelbase is slightly longer than the 1,509 mm of the 790 Adventure, probably thanks to the changed swingarm.
The 800MT-X marks the first time that a KTM-engined CFMoto has really gone head-to-head with the KTM-branded machine using the same powertrain, perhaps reflecting the ever-closer bond between the two companies.
