New Zontes 700 cc Adv-bike with inline 3 cylinder engine
 

The amount of new socalled ADV bikes coming from Chinese companies these days are just totally hilarious…

Zontes has made some smaller displacement bikes earlier on but now they are heading high - with a 700 cc inline 3 cylinder engine and many more features….

Rideapart reports this:

https://www.rideapart.com/news/69716...gkQicIxfIeK2Mc

I wonder what the parts support for these is going to be like in the future, or if they're going to be like the old Lifans etc and pretty much disposable

I think thats a question many of us have. There are not many dealers around that want to import and sell all these different chinese brands. So service and parts and even warranty issues - what about that???

They seem to sell well here, and there's a few dealers. I guess it depends on parts interchangeability, for example the Chinese-made UM I had was a rebranded Derbi Terra (popular here for quite a few years without changes to the plastics etc) with an Aprilia engine (also unchanged for a long time) so parts availability wasn't an issue ... if the Zontes (and other new manufacturers) are making a spread of highly stylised new models for short production runs with lots of bespoke parts and bespoke motors then it might become a problem.

Looking at my coworker's Zontes ADV 300 there's a lot of bespoke plastic so it would be a PITA to sort out after even a minor accident. It's also unsuited for actual adventure, naturally.

I would struggle with seeing any 3-cylinder bike as an adventure machine. It's an adventure-styled road bike.

Well - Triumph has build their ADV models Tiger in different configurations but all with inline 3 cylindered engines for almost 20 years and heaps of people has used their Tigers for overlanding and ADV trips.

I had a Tiger 955i and that engine was a pearl. Predictable strong linear power all through the rpm range. Not something you can say about all other engines in so called ADV bikes…

Another thing is that it was waaay to heavy and top heavy to be taken on a trip through a third world area…..
But nothing wrong with the engine. Actually I tried my mates T7 lst summer and he asked me what I thought about the bike and I said it reminds a lot of my Tiger 955i both engine wise and riding wise. T7 is a bit lighter of course but still….

An inline 3 cylinder engine would be great for an overlanding bike but the possible problem would be that it easily would become to heavy for a bike that should be capable to be taken on bad roads and conditions…

There are a few reviews out now:

https://youtu.be/gowFBJ_4-fA?si=XCX6KHn42EILfrmh

https://youtu.be/5hO2BIgcq-c?si=9K_Z9BGT0N32HevI

https://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycl...ke-first-look/

It even have build in cameras front and rear….

I'd be interested to know their wet weight.

The proliferation of Chinese bikes is good for end users as it makes the mainstream manufacturers/dealers look at their pricing.

In Malaysia as far as the maxi scooter market was concerned, it was the Xmax and Forza and their popularity made dealers sell them much higher than the recommended retail price set by the manufacturer.
Now with all the Chinese maxi scooter choices available and with lower pricing, the dealers have reduced prices in order to sell the Xmax/Forza.

The question mark is the parts availability in the long term for the Chinese bikes as you guys mentioned.

:scooter::scooter:

My post above was from a couple of years back, so this update may be relevant ...

Just last weekend, after a long search, my other half committed to buy a second hand Voge AC350. I took it for a test ride to confirm there weren't any mechanical surprises, and I have to say it rides really nicely. It was also the only Euro 4 or 5 bike that we found that fit all her criteria, at any price.

To give credit to the Zontes ADV300, they're still around and being used here so can't be complete garbage because Spanish commuters really beat on their commuter bikes, but they don't hold their value at all ... in fact, the only Chinese bikes that seem to not depreciate badly are the Voge 300 Rally and 500 ACX.

Wet weight of the Zontes 703 Adv is around 240 kilograms. So not a lightweighter by any stretch of the imagination.

I am one of those who are still quite sceptical to those chinese bikes. Yes they have indeed come a long way when it comes to look, quality and initial fit and finnish.
But long time reliability - how about that? Dealer network? Spare parts availability, now, in 10 years, 30 years?

Yes they seems a bargain - many of them at least. Selling for 60-70-80 % of price of comparable japanese bikes. The thing here is to understand that most japanese bikes you can ride carefree on with minimum maintainance and sell it after 10 years for 50-60 % of the value of a new bike. A Zontes, Voge, CF Moto - will it run problemfree for 10 years? What will it sell for after 10 years?

Another thing that strikes me is that those china bikes most of them seem to have a higher fuel consumption than their japanese and european counterparts? This Zontes 703 that is mentioned in both the reviews I linked to above and also the CFMoto 450 seems clearly to use much more fuel than its competetors. So maybe after 50 k kms of riding you have used 10-20-30 % more fuel than other bikes - and the price difference is already eaten up by higher fuel costs…? And when you sell it secondhand after 5-10 years you might get only peanuts compared of what you paid initially….?

@snakeboy,

That's heavy at a wet weight of 240kg.

If there is no weight reduction, I would still stick with the proven mainstream brands.

:scooter::scooter:

Yes there is a I wonder what the bike will be like in 10 years
There is one thing for sure these bikes will need upgrades,
I was at a CFMoto dealer in Calgary and I was asking a bunch of questions about the 450 Ibex and he said the one I was looking at was a American model it had a low front fender and he said the Canadian import version has a high front fender Good Stuff! I also inquired about the consumables, chain sprockets and brakes, he replied that a customer came in with a 450 Ibex that had 15000 km and the chain was stretched and needed replacement.
I would suspect chain sprockets and discs would all have to replaced in a short time, he said correct.
Lets hope aftermarket venders are on this with higher quality parts.
It seems the Asians don't have the technology or care factor to produce good quality metallurgy and I would suspect it is because they recycle all of our junk cars into there refineries.
The exception is Japan they import Iron Ore and a lot of aluminum igots
A good example of a high quality chain is DID made in Japan I have 25 k on mine with a supersprox primary and final drive and it's showing very little wear.
It would be impossible to produce high quality metals with scrap metal and recycled cars .
Bottom line there metal is cheap and so is the price of a Chinese, Thai, and India Motos
You should watch a video on ships cut up in India I would guess that the Moto manufactures use this to make there bikes
You get what you pay for

Fortunately for the world recycling steel and aluminium is commonplace - in the UK some of the highest value and specification steel is made from scrap metal. The metallurgists have, for decades carried out chemical analysis of the liquid steel to see what the make up is so they know what to add to the crucible to get the steel type they are after. It is pretty straightforward- I was doing it as an undergraduate over forty years ago - my part was sorting out the heat treatment to make sure it was to spec for the oil industry.

That the chain and sprockets on the CF Moto were not expected to last is not dissimilar to Royal Enfield of 25 years ago - they seem to have got their act together much more nowadays.

Why not buy the 450mt run it till it's four year warranty expires , then buy another , using the previous one for spares as required if u r worried about residuals . Or u could buy a Gs 1300 for mid 20k when specd run it for it's warranty period then chop that in , taking a seat when u r told how much it's now worth.........best not try it with a V4 travel mutley strada if u live in the SE , even after a year cos u ain't going to get anything for it.......if u can sell it at all..........

The world has changed , certainly in the UK bike market , people want something for nothing and then dump it when they are bored . Still some serious gems coming thru the trade but also some real howlers , totally destroyed in two or three years , no maintenance what so ever then moved on........pcp has alot to answer for .