Last year, we had the opportunity to ride this bike in Portugal at the short circuit track in Portimao. That was fun. When the bikes arrived in SA, CFMOTO SA introduced us to the bikes at the FK short circuit outside Benoni – but once again – that is a short circuit.
A bike like this needs to be used every day, in everyday conditions in order to get a feel for what it is about, so that’s what we did.
This 675NK was parked in our garage for more than a week – and we were interested to note that it’s one of the bikes that most of the team sort of hopped on and off whenever they needed to go somewhere, rather than some of the other, perhaps fancier bikes that often adorn our workshop.
It’s easy to understand though – a naked bike, especially a smaller one is just so convenient to use as a runabout.
As far as this bike goes – as the engine denotes it’s a 675 triple cylinder fuel injected little beasty. Claimed horsepower sits at between 94 and 95 at 11000 RPM with around 70Nm of torque. That’s a bit higher than the old Triumph 675 engine.
It all drives through a six-speed gearbox with a slipper clutch.
Throttle is via cables and not with ride by wire, so you don’t get rider modes.
You do get ABS, traction control, seriously mopdern LED lighting and a quickshifter thrown in – and that’s cool!
You get a one-touch starter and self cancelling indicators.
You even get a majestic TFT display, a five inch curved jobbie that supports Google Maps navigation. With the CFMOTO RIDE App connection, riders can modify vehicle settings and check status in real time.
So this bike is seriously up to date in terms of the tech that people are looking for.
Suspension is by KYB, brakes are by Spanish outfit J Juan, a part of the Brembo group.
CST supplied the rubber.
In terms of looks and styling – well, we really like it – modern, not over the top, conservative colourways that compliment the package. Overall finish and feel is excellent.
Turn the key and the TFT gives you a cool little song and dance. Hit the one touch starter and the bike rumbles to life. The standard pipe actually makes a great little growl. Clutch in, first gear and off you go.
The 675NK shares components with the sporty SR-R, the same alloy steel tubular frame, under-slung exhaust and KYB suspension. Sliding into the saddle reveals a low 810mm seat height and the raised handlebars giving the NK a sit-in riding position.Seating is upright and comfortable. The bike feels spacious enough for riders of all sizes.
The speedo and gear indicator are large and legible, with the rev counter running across the top in a bar. Theres a trip meter, fuel gauge and clock – and even tyre monitors that display live pressure and air temperature stats.
Open her up and that little triple cylinder starts to sing away. Acceleration is smooth and predictable with plenty of low down torque. She loves driving hard through the mid-range, pulling hard from as low as 3,000rpm, with a nice surge at just over 7,000rpm. There’s enough roll-on torque in top gear for overtaking cars and things, but it’s more fun to drop one gear and hit the throttle.
We did undertake a top-end run and she easily tears along to the legal speed limit, with a displayed top end in excess of the 200KPH mark. The front end started getting a little bit light at around the 180 mark. But – a naked is not about out and out top speed – it’s more about the ride and getting up there that matters.
They have done their homework – on the road, this bike is a peach with great road manners, nimble handling and real world performance.
I recall mentioning at the launch that we’d probably look at different rubber and perhaps look at a different compound brake pad, but that was for track use. On our roads everything performed just fine.
She feels light and the handling is sharp with a good front end feel and stability. The suspension delivers a smooth ride. The 675cc three-cylinder engine may not have the biggest number in the SA market, but it sounds fantastic, revs quickly and pulls strongly out of the corners.
The sharp steering and wide bars make it almost feel supermoto with its handling.
Massive fun to ride.
The only trouble that we can see is that this bike is one of those naughty ones. It likes to be ridden hard, flung into corners and – we know that you disconnect stuff in order to pull those wheelies…
At 145900, this is a lot of bike for your buck.
Go and ride one. We’ll be surprised if you are not as impressed as we are.
Stuff we like:
A torquey 675 cc triple engine that makes 94 hp (70 kw) at 11,000 rpm.
An awesome exhaust growl.
70 Nm at just over 8,000 rpm.
Bosch fuelling and ABS.
KYB suspension at both ends.
A 15 L tank that will take you around 250 kilometres.
The price seems right…
