New four-cylinder sports model coming this year
Australia is already one of the first countries outside China to be offered CFMoto’s neo-retro 500 SR Voom sports bike but now the company is on the verge of adding another variation of the bike to its range in the form of the more modern-looking 500 SR.
It’s a bike that’s been a long time coming. Back in 2023 CFMoto rolled out disguised prototypes for both the 500 SR and 675 SR-R in front of fans in China, with the production version of the three-cylinder 675 SR-R being the first to appear in production form. The 500 SR, meanwhile, seemed to disappear from CFMoto’s plans, with the related 500 SR Voom reaching production despite looking nothing like the teased prototype.
Now the upcoming 500 SR has been type-approved in China, confirming both its appearance and key technical details.
That appearance, while in keeping with sister models like the 675 SR-R, the upcoming 750 SR-S and the much-anticipated 1000 SR-RR superbike, is distinctly different to the panels that could be seen under the disguise of the 2023 preview. It suggests CFMoto has completely redesigned the bike, explaining its delay in reaching production.
Under the skin, the machine is identical to the 500 SR Voom, with the same tubular steel frame and 499cc, four-cylinder engine putting out 58kW at 12,500rpm and 49Nm at 10,000rpm. The dual under-seat exhausts are unchanged, and the geometry is unaltered, with the same 1395mm wheelbase as the Voom, the same 41mm adjustable USD forks and a matching swingarm and rear shock.
What’s new is the styling, which dispenses with the Voom’s appealing late-80s or early-90s inspired shapes and dual front intakes disguised as circular headlights and replaces it with an up-to-the-minute style complete with aerodynamic addenda on the side panels, frowny headlights under angry-eyebrow DRLs.
The bar and peg position looks much the same as the Voom’s but the new look adds fairing-mounted mirrors instead of the previous model’s bar-end units. There is a difference in terms of brakes, though, with new calipers peeking out from behind extensive cooling ducts wrapped around the dual front discs.
The type-approval specs give a curb weight of 187kg, which is 7kg lighter than the Voom. That may well be down to measuring differences, though, as it’s hard to see where so much mass could have been pared from the bike.
Since Australia already gets the Voom, and the two bikes are mechanically identical, it should be no problem to gain type approval over here if there’s demand for a modern-looking 500cc four alongside the retro version. If it does come here, that also means the price is likely to be close to the Voom’s AU$10,490.
