The Chinese bike brand Zontes has promised a three-cylinder naked motorcycle.
This bike will be a 1,000cc naked superbike that’s said to rival bikes like the Triumph Speed Triple RS.
Is this thing legit or is this just some hype coming out of the East? China’s motorcycle industry is strong and quickly changing, and this could be a major step forward.
Is the Zontes Triple the Future?
China’s motorcycle manufacturing world is booming. Companies from around the world are turning to the factories inside China to churn out tons of cheap bikes. Even Harley-Davidson is getting in on the action.
This is different, though. This is a Chinese company and brand making bikes that will challenge the status quo and the current big brands out there.
The parent company of Zontes is Guangdong Tayo Motorcycle Technology. This company was founded in 2003 and has three brands under it: Haojiang, Kiden, and Zontes. The first two make small displacement motorcycles and scooters.
Zontes current lineup consists of bikes with 312cc water-cooled engines. They might have small engines, but they’re high spec, with materials and features on par with European and Japanese bikes.
The possibility of a Zontes triple that has a displacement of 1,000cc would step the brand up into the big leagues.
Similar to the MT-09?
An obvious comparison here is Yamaha’s MT-09. That bike has an 847cc triple, and according to Cycle World, Zontes seems to have taken inspiration from Yamaha for its own engine.
The company claims to have stronger casting for the engine and that means a higher compression ratio.
This engine is supposed to make more power and torque than 80 percent of the similarly sized engines on the market. If this is true, it would be the most powerful bike to come out of China, beating out even the Benelli 1200GT and the CFMoto 1250TR-G.
When, Zontes?
Now the big question. When will this come?
There is no clear timeline right now, and while there are some engine development photos floating around out there, I would be surprised if this happened soon.
I could be wrong, and Zontes could come out with it in the next year or so, but regardless of when it comes, one thing is clear: Chinese motorcycle companies are coming for the competition.
If Yamaha, Honda, Harley, KTM, and everyone else doesn’t start planning to compete, they could quickly be in trouble.
Chinese bikes used to be cheap pieces of junk, but now they’re not. China has gotten much better at manufacturing motorcycles and motorcycle parts of high quality, and this poses a serious threat to the status quo.
Personally, I’m all for it if the Zontes triple is a good bike. The more the merrier. If it gets more folks out riding, then bring it on.
