Ben Purvis from Bennetts Insurance delves into the 800 New Sports Bike
£6999
120bhp
214kg
TBA
As a brand QJMotor has just celebrated its fifth anniversary but for UK riders it’s entirely new as the Chinese company has only now decided to enter the British market – and it’s done it with a bang thanks to prices and specifications that take the tactic of offering more bike for less money and turn it up to 11.
Initially the company is bringing 16 models to these shores, but that’s a tiny proportion of the QJMotor range, which has grown from a single machine to more than 140 bikes, ranging from electric mopeds to litre superbikes and encompassing singles, parallel twins, V-twins, inline fours and V-fours, cruisers, roadsters, adventure bikes and scooters, even ATVs and side-by-sides. But this machine, the SRK800RR, is arguably the highest-profile model in the entire range as it forms the basis of QJMotor’s first steps into high-end international competition, racing in the World Supersport championship as part of a two-bike factory effort with Raffaele de Rosa and Niki Tuuli. They’re not troubling the leaders – at mid-season QJMotor sits last in the manufacturers’ championship – but nor are they embarrassing themselves, and the road-going version of the company’s race bike is vastly cheaper than the machines filling the rest of the grid.
Pros & Cons
£7k for a new, 120hp sports bike with Brembo brakes, adjustable suspension and modern tech is hard to sniff at.
Styling avoids common Chinese bike criticisms of ugliness or copycat design.
Cruise control, quickshifter, traction control all standard.
New entry to the UK market means resale values are an unknown and there are no firsthand experiences of customer support to draw conclusions from.
