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CFMoto Reveals SR-C21 Concept, It Could Be a Yamaha R7 Rival

It has been a little over a year since I've first ridden a CFMoto bike. The 300SR feels like the perfect choice for beginners on a budget, that want a brand new motorcycle. But if you're a more experienced rider, you're going to want more power. The Chinese brand does have several options, but no supersport bikes so far.
CFMoto Reveals SR-C21 Concept, Could Be a Yamaha R7 Rival 10 photos
Photo: CFMoto
CFMoto Reveals SR-C21 Concept, Could Be a Yamaha R7 RivalCFMoto Reveals SR-C21 Concept, Could Be a Yamaha R7 RivalCFMoto Reveals SR-C21 Concept, Could Be a Yamaha R7 RivalCFMoto Reveals SR-C21 Concept, Could Be a Yamaha R7 RivalCFMoto Reveals SR-C21 Concept, Could Be a Yamaha R7 RivalCFMoto Reveals SR-C21 Concept, Could Be a Yamaha R7 RivalCFMoto Reveals SR-C21 Concept, Could Be a Yamaha R7 RivalCFMoto Reveals SR-C21 Concept, Could Be a Yamaha R7 RivalCFMoto Reveals SR-C21 Concept, Could Be a Yamaha R7 Rival
It has been a year since I've first heard some rumors about a CFMoto sports bike. The company has been working closely with KTM for many years now. And it even owns 51% of the Austrian motorcycle manufacturer. KTM has been quite active recently, updating the RC 390 and launching the new track-only RC 8C, among other things. So the first time I heard the rumor about a possible CFMoto sports bike based on a KTM, I was hoping for something along the lines of the 1190 RC8.

But perhaps that would have been too big of a step for CFMoto. Their expansion plans are obvious, as they've also launched the new 800 MT touring bike earlier this year. The 700 CL-X is also quite new, and I haven't seen it on the streets just yet. The natural step forward seems to be adding at least one more cylinder to their 300SR recipe. And it looks like we aren't too far away from that happening.

CFMoto has just unveiled the SR-C21 concept, a product of their R&D Europe Modena 40 design studio. Some people have pointed out that the design is somewhat Ducati-reminiscent, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. You can see this an evolution of the 300SR, and judging by the SC-Project twin-exhaust, it's most likely going to have a parallel-twin engine. Either way, this bike feels like a huge step forward for CFMoto, especially if you look at their line-up from 10 years ago.

CFMoto Reveals SR\-C21 Concept, Could Be a Yamaha R7 Rival
Photo: CFMoto
At this point, one team in the United Kingdom has built a racing bike out of a 700 CL-X. So it would probably make sense for CFMoto to build this next bike based on the 700 CL-X. If they do go down this road, I do hope they're going to give it a bit more oomph. Because 73 horsepower doesn't sound that exciting. Looking at the concept, this thing would be better off if it were a more accessible replica of the RC 8C.

The 300SR uses a smaller-displacement version of the 390 RC's engine. So, a replica of the RC 8C could work with the same engine that's found on the 800 MT. This way, it could compete with bikes such as the Aprilia RS 660 and the Yamaha R7. If they can keep the price under $9,000, it might draw some serious attention.

At the end of the day, we can only hope that they won't tone down the concept's design for the street version. Even though those front winglets look like they belong on the track, who's to stop people from building this into a race bike after buying it? I've got hands-on experience with the 300SR: you can get it up to race-spec with a total cost of about $8,000, including the bike. You'd need to spend about $20,000 to build a Supersport300-spec Yamaha R3. The CFMoto isn't going to be as fast, but it can be a good first step towards professional road-racing.



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About the author: Dragos Chitulescu
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The things Dragos enjoys the most in life are, in no particular order: cars, motorcycles, diecast cars, and drifting. He's seen (and driven) many vehicles since he started his writing career back in 2009, but his garage currently houses a 1991 Mazda RX-7 FC3S Turbo II and a 1999 Suzuki SV650-S.
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