Imported by KMSA Distributors, the QJ range of motorcycles has people in quite a flap. We borrowed the SRT 900 SX Adventure tourer from those good oakes at Bikeshop Boksburg and went for a little ride.
By: Glenn Foley and Donovan Fourie
The “SRT” part designates that it is an adventure machine, and to our knowledge, this is the largest-capacity Chinese bike currently available in South Africa. The engine specs look decent: A 904cc parallel-twin, DOHC, fuel-injected, with a radiator and everything else you’d expect from a modern adventure motorcycle. From that, you get 94 hp and 90 Nm of torque – pretty much bang on for an engine of these specs. And it costs R169,950. That’s a good R100,000 or more less than anything from Europe or Japan in this capacity range – and that’s when the competition is in base trim. The SRT is also in base trim, because there is no other option; however, the term “base” here probably needs some clarifying.
Let’s get the meats out of the way. At this price point, the SRT should not have all of the features that it does.
For example, the quickshifter shouldn’t be there. The heated seat and grips surely belong on a higher priced machine – and don’t even get us started with the aluminum top box and panniers. Standard? No ways!
Then there’s the ridiculously cool TFT that allows you to select rider modes, switch off the ABS and adjust the levels of control. That should definitely not be included.
Sensors in the mirrors for when traffic gets too close? Nah, shouldn’t really feature – even a little beeper that warns you when you are perhaps pushing the envelope in the traffic – and the front camera that links to your smart phone should never be there.
And yet – at R170K – it’s all there “And”, as they say in the classics – “But wait – there’s more!”
How about a set of crash bars sir, brush guards? OK – and tell ya what, we’ll even chuck in cruise control just for good measure. Not enough? Well how about two charging ports, tyre pressure sensors, tubeless spoked rims AND LED lighting all round?
That’s quite the grocery list and we’re pretty sure that we missed some stuff.
We’ve had to face up to the fact that newer generations of riders love having all this tech – so the old-school rough tuff bikers who live in the age of points and condensers no longer feature in the manufacturers’ planning these days. Particularly, it would seem, some of the Chinese manufacturers. We’ve had to learn how to use it all – and how to start appreciating it, because it’s not going away.
All good and well the SRT is well ( Nope, lets say, superbly) specced, lets take it out into the real world and let you know what we think.
All of these good looks and low prices boil down to one thing: The ride.
We’ve ridden motorcycles at unbelievably low prices before and found that the reason they’re so cheap is often because “cheap” is followed by “…and nasty”.
The question then remains: is that the case here?
The SRT looks great – like something fresh off the factory floor of one of the established brands. However, the price tag is like something you’d find for sale in a back alley where questions are not appreciated. Bumping her off the main stand and rolling the bike around, she feels a bit heavy – but then she is a full sized adv tourer. Hop into the saddle, she feels tall, but it’s not an issue for a normal sized person to get feet onto the ground.
Tickle the starter and she burbles to life with the stock pipe emitting a pleasing note.
Pull in the soft clutch, engage first gear and off you go. The parallel twin feels pretty gutsy at the bottom end with a satisfying shove up to the 6000RPM mark and then it sort of settles down. The 904cc parallel twin produces a claimed peak power of 95bhp and 66lb-ft of torque.
The motor favours a torquey disposition rather than outright speed, lobbing Newton-metres at you from slightly above idle with no hint of snatching or stalling.
This is not a slow motorcycle – we saw 190 km/h without problems, and it was still pulling strong. True top speed is certainly north of 200 km/h and at top speeds there was no hint of wobble or anything untoward.
In sports mode, the throttle can be a bit twitchy, but selecting road mode smooths things out a lot. The quickshifter works a charm, as does the cruise control (Yes we tried it.) Told you we forgot something! The SRT even has self cancelling indicators. Nice touch!
Hitting the longer roads out into the country, she’s a willing, comfortable companion with good power to speeds in excess of the national limit. The weight that we mentioned earlier falls away and the bike is really comfortable, which is important. The seat is firm, but soft, the pegs are in the right place, complete with rubber inserts. The screen offers good protection from the elements and the tank fits snugly into your lap.
We had to test the brakes a few times – but no worries there, those are by Brembo, so as expected they brought things under control in just a few dabs. It’s a comfortable motorcycle, except that we presume it was set up for roads of a smoother persuasion than our South African rut-fests. The suspension works, although it feels several settings too hard. Fortunately, it is adjustable and could probably do with having the damping and preload turned down a little. Apart from that, the ride is solid and stable, even at speed.
We did take a short ride into the gravel and she handled it all rather well, however we were pretty careful. The Mitas tyres are mostly tar-based with a dollop of off-road ability, so they are not exactly suited to hardcore off-road endeavours. However, there is a button on the left handlebar that you hold down, causing the TC light on the dash to disappear – and suddenly that torquey engine becomes a drift toy, revelling in the joy of low- to mid-rpm tomfoolery.
A small point of contention is the weight, which is a somewhat hefty 257 kg with the 24 L fuel tank filled. Once you’re up to any sort of speed, the extra kilograms disappear quickly enough. The only place you’ll notice them is if you’re attempting slow-speed technical riding – and that’s not exactly this bike’s domain.
The SRT is by no means a hardcore off-roader. It’s a tourer, a cruiser, and a soft off-roader, with enough gadgetry and tech to land a shuttle on Mars. It does the job as advertised, and it does it for a far cheaper price than anyone else. Most importantly, the “cheap” is not followed by any phrase containing the word “nasty”.
We need to see how these models fare over the long term, but QJ has been on sale in Europe for years under the Benelli brand, and to date, there have been no serious complaints or quibbles.
For now, all we can say is:
Well done, QJ.
Bikeshop Boksburg is one of the many dealers that bid for a QJ dealership – and one of the ones that actually got it. New units were expected to be homologated sometime in March with deliveries in April, but the QJ importers, KMSA, somehow managed to get the government bureaucracy out of the way in just a week. And so, new bikes are arriving.
Watch out for our vid on this one soon!
Engine | Engine Type | 2-Cylinder Inline, 8V DOHC, Liquid-Cooled |
Displacement | 904cc | |
Bore*Stroke | 92.0*68.0mm | |
Max Power | 70.0kW/9000rpm | |
Max Torque | 90.0N·m/6500rpm | |
Fuel System | EFI | |
Starting | Electric | |
Transmission | 6 Gears, Chain |
Chassis | Front Suspension | Telescopic Upside Down |
Rear Suspension | Telescopic coil spring oil damped | |
Front Brake | Disc ø320mm (ABS) | |
Rear Brake | Disc ø260mm (ABS) | |
Front Tyre | 110/80 R19 | |
Rear Tyre | 150/70 R17 | |
Dimensions and Capacities | Vehicle Size | 2260*950*1405 |
Wheelbase | 1540mm | |
Seat Height | 835mm | |
Ground Clearance | 210mm | |
Curb Weight | 257kg | |
Fuel Capacity | 24L |
