Voge 500RR unveiled

Another Chinese player joins the baby four-cylinder market

Not long ago it seemed that the sub-600cc four-cylinder engine was a dead end – with just a handful of Japanese market machines like the Honda CB400 clinging on to an era of screaming fours that had been huge players back in the 1990s. But after Kawasaki breathed new life into the arena with the Ninja ZX-4RR there’s a whole category of new small fours and China in particular has embraced the idea.

We’ve already seen QJMotor, for example, reveal its upcoming SRK400RR four-cylinder sports bike, and Kove has its 450RR and naked 450R. Meanwhile, Kove’s founder Zhang Xue has left and set up another brand, ZXJC, with a 470cc ‘500RR’ four.

Now one of China’s biggest bike brands, Loncin, is entering the fray with its own four, to be sold under its higher-end Voge brand, also as a 500RR.

Revealed in an official Chinese type-approval document, complete with a photo of the finished bike, the Voge 500RR packs a 475cc four, built in-house by Loncin and putting out a certified 57kW. It’s bolted to an unusual-looking sports bike with a steel trellis frame and a front air intake that’s mounted higher than the headlights, giving a look that’s distinctive, even if it’s no pretty. There are biplane-style winglets and mirror-mounted indicators, in keeping with the latest trends in sports bike design, but the way the side bodywork flows into the tail section is less familiar.

The approval document shows a wet kerb weight of 192kg, allied to a short 1375mm wheelbase and typical-for-the-class tyre sizes of 120/70-17 and 160/60-17. Top speed is rated at 220km/h. The picture reveals Nissin four-pot radial brakes, with ABS, plus Voge-branded upside-down forks.

At the same time, the ZXJC 500RR, which was shown earlier this year, has also now been type-approved for sale in China. It’s approval document show that while its engine is slightly smaller at 470cc, with a 59mm bore where the Voge has 60mm, it’s actually more powerful and lighter than its rival, with a peak output of 62kW and a kerb weight of just 168kg. Its wheelbase is slightly longer at 1395mm, and it has a 15km/h higher top speed at 235km/h. A wider 180/55-17 rear tyre gives it a stance more akin to a 600cc supersports bike, and unlike the Voge it uses a single-sided, cast aluminium swingarm.

QJMotor’s SRK400RR, which has also been shown in China already, was type-approved in the same new batch of bikes as its two upcoming rivals, and falls between them in terms of weight at 176kg wet. Like the Voge it makes 57kW, but does it from a smaller 421cc four with a smaller 57mm bore. Its 220km/h top speed and 1375mm wheelbase also match the Voge 500RR, as does its 160-section rear tyre. Two versions have been type-approved with different brakes: both are four-pot radial calipers but one model uses Brembos while the other’s are QJMotor-branded.