had no trouble noting that the traction control was set to minimal intrusion, the tire pressures were 33 / 34 psi, and I had accidentally toggled the left turn indicator. And when I tapped the start button, the 675cc 95- hp inline- Triple sounded deep and throaty, barking out of the brushed stainless exhaust. Then I clicked it into gear and was further disappointed, because the fueling was so smooth right off idle, I couldn’ t stall it from a stop even after multiple halfhearted efforts to do so. On the contrary, it had consistent power immediately off idle and was maybe the easiest sportbike I ever launched off the line, liter bikes included. As much as I hated to admit it, this motorcycle would be easy to live with in city traffic, because
Top left: J. Juan brakes absolutely get the job done. Above left: Yes, the CFMOTO has both a pilot and passenger seat, but they demand some serious commitment over time. Above right: At 6-foot-2, I had plenty of room to explore the space.
in addition to the fantastic fueling, it had ample bottom- end power.
Right about then, there was a glimmer of hope that I had discovered a real weakness in the CFMOTO in its old- school cable clutch. But that dream died when the power to the driveline was strong, consistent, and possessed a predictable friction range within the lever’ s travel. Even during high- rpm launches, the clutch maintained great bite and never faded. Damn it.
Fortunately, good luck shined on me as I serendipitously stumbled on a very real design oversight: the overly stiff steering damper. That’ s right, the damper was so ungodly stiff that full lock- to- lock turning at street speeds was almost impossible. But victory slipped through my fingers just a few miles later, as the inquisitive child in me decided to fidget with the damper rod at a traffic light and realized that it was fully adjustable. Approximately 20 clicks later, I had essentially turned it off and the clip- ons moved back and forth with ease. Clearly it wasn’ t just for looks. Awesome.
I’ ll concede that the 675SS runs great at slow speeds, but who cares about all that? After all it’ s a sportbike and needs to be able to go hard, stop quick, and turn sharp. I was confident it would be in this arena that I would expose the bike’ s shortcomings, especially when it came to the budget components I suspected it had.
18 / SEPTEMBER 2026 / RIDERMAGAZINE. COM