Riders Preferred Membership
Shop by Vehicle
Track Order
Contact Us
If you’re wondering if the new CFMOTO 450SS is any good, it is. In fact, I’ve grown to prefer it over Kawasaki’s Ninja 400, a bike that's widely recognized as the king of the small sport bike class.
Yeah, I was surprised, too. When I first heard about the 450SS, I expected it to follow the pattern established by the 650 Adventura and, to a lesser extent, the Ibex 800, which is to say it looks good on paper but suffers serious flaws in operation. That's not the case with the 450SS.
We originally got the 450SS for a Daily Rider review (see above) and then, out of curiosity, I started riding it. After nearly 1,000 miles in the saddle, including several back-to-back rides with the Ninja 400, I can’t find any real faults with this $5,499 sport bike. No flaccid shock, asinine electronics, or fueling hiccups. Actually, there’s a lot to praise, most notably the best-sounding and most dynamic engine in the category.
(Original) design elements
It’s not coarse to say that, historically, CFMOTO’s modus operandi is to knock off competitors' models. So perhaps the reason the 450SS isn’t hobbled by any defects is that it's not a clone, it’s a clean-sheet build, powered by an engine of CFMOTO’s own design. Critically, this new 450 cc parallel twin has a 270-degree crank that imbues it with satisfying, pulsing, V-twin character.
CFMOTO lists the engine’s output at 50 horsepower at 9,500 rpm and 28.8 foot-pounds of torque at 7,600 rpm, which places it ahead of the 44 horsepower and 27ish foot-pounds produced by the Ninja 400 and KTM’s RC390. Peak figures aside, this is a charismatic and tractable motor. Efficient, too, as it returns an average of 50.8 mpg
The 450SS’s styling is unique within the class, as well. There’s a touch of European flair that’s edgy and most importantly cohesive. There are no dangling modifiers or misplaced commas in this bike’s design language. Similar to the Ibex, the 450SS stands out yet fits in. The winglets and swaths of carbon-fiber texturing are a bit much for my taste, but it’s all well integrated and the fit and finish are top notch.
The structure underneath it all is a steel-tube frame supported by an inverted fork up front and linkage suspension out back. The only available adjustment is spring preload at the rear, but the components are properly calibrated in terms of spring rate and damping, so they work well on both bumpy city streets and fast canyon roads. The lion’s share of braking is handled by a radial-mount four-piston Brembo caliper and 320 mm disc — in other words, 50% of a full-size superbike’s setup. Continental two-channel ABS is a standard safety feature, and can only be disabled with a trip to the fuse box.
Ride data is presented on a five-inch TFT screen that has enough options and info to feel sophisticated without being complicated or confusing. It helps that the switchgear is well laid out and intuitive, as are the various submenus. CFMOTO even offers a free app with useful features, most impressively a tracking function that relies on onboard GPS and an LTE connection (the latter provided free of charge, at least for now) that pinpoints the bike’s location and will notify you if the machine is moved. Neato.
Weighing in at 399 pounds with the 3.7-gallon tank topped off, the bike has a heft and size that makes it feel less like a plaything and more like a three-quarter-scale sport bike. One area where CFMOTO got creative when convention might have been better is the rider triangle. A long reach to flat clip-ons and unnecessarily high footpegs make the riding position annoyingly aggressive, if not uncomfortable. A taller seat improves legroom and is available as an accessory for $149.
Out on the road, this bike is a treat. The fun starts as soon as you tap the starter and that bassy little twin fires to life. All the elements of an innately good machine are there: balanced and responsive handling, light clutch, smooth throttle response, slick transmission with a slipper clutch, solid brakes. The mirrors are even better than most, positioned as they are outboard your elbows on swivel sockets that provide a wide range of adjustment.
This is easily the best bike I’ve ridden from CFMOTO, but I couldn’t help but wonder if low expectations for the 450SS were coloring my perception. Thankfully, I knew just the bike to use as a reference point.
Enter the (enemy’s) dojo
Kawasaki launched the Ninja 400 in 2018 and the bike quickly became a favorite due to its affordable price tag and excellent overall performance and versatility. From brand-new riders to track-day aces, the Ninja 400 checks all the right boxes to put a grin on your face.
A big part of the Ninja’s appeal is its high-revving and powerful parallel twin. It’s thrilling to watch the tach needle race toward 12,000 rpm, even if the engine is sending tingling vibes to your hands and feet. Still, we put up with Kawi’s fizzy 180-degree twin because, well, it’s the best engine in the class.
Now, there’s something better. By simply rotating one rod journal 90 degrees, CFMOTO made an engine with the kind of low-frequency pulses that actually contribute to the enjoyment of the machine. It’s also dulcet, since the 270-450 firing order mimics that of a 90-degree V-twin. So while the other options in the class are uninteresting singles that sound like someone farting into a megaphone or 180-degree parallel twins that remind me of Fran Drescher complaining about cold soup, the CFMOTO’s syncopated rhythm is pure music. It also has a tasty decel burble that reminds me of Yoshimura’s YZF-R7 race bike, all from the stock exhaust.
Power-wise, the bikes are seemingly dead even. True, the CFMOTO makes more ponies, but it also weighs about 27 pounds more, so the bikes were neck-and-neck during 60-100 mph top-gear roll ons. And while the shading on the 450SS’s tach suggests a 10,000 rpm redline, it actually spins up to 12,000 before the limiter kicks in, so it matches the Ninja in terms of rev ceiling, if that’s important to you.
The 450SS’s riding position may be a bit imbalanced and extreme, but I grew to favor it over the upright, elbows-in arrangement of the Ninja. Part of it is optics — the Ninja’s ergonomics present as My First Sport Bike instead of just a small sport bike. There’s also a functional aspect. Out on a twisty road, the CFMOTO’s wide clip-ons and forward weight bias have you deliberately countersteering into corners rather than guiding the bike toward the apex with your hips. Others also complained about how the Ninja’s sloped seat forces your crotch against the back of the tank, and you’d have to have very small feet to not have the muffler crowd your right heel.
Both bikes are a blast on a curvy road and can easily be thrown through corners as quickly as is sensible. The 450SS’s big front brake has a gentle initial bite and lots of feel and power, while the Ninja’s brake is more abrupt. Trail braking or trimming speed mid corner takes a deft finger on the Ninja since the fork tends to dive quite a bit. At the same time, running over a hard-edge bump will send a stinging hit to your palms. It’s the classic damper-rod fork conundrum.
Meanwhile, I noticed that the 450SS has solid support on the brakes and rushes through its travel over big bumps. Sure enough, CFMOTO confirmed that there’s an actual shim-stack in the fork, providing a more optimal digressive damping curve. So not only does the CFMOTO’s inverted fork look cooler, it actually works better.
A few weeks into riding the 450SS, I walked out to the bike at the end of the workday and smiled as I threw my leg over the seat. I was excited for the commute home. Granted, I’m partial to small-bore bikes, but this motorcycle is… cool. It stands on its own as something different and good. It’s not derivative, and there are no shortcomings to apologize for other than the inappropriate application of wings.
I'm (almost) sold
If you evaluate the 450SS based solely on its price, features, and performance, it rises to the top of the class. Then again, we didn’t ride it at the track, where the Ninja is better than the sum of its parts. There’s also a nagging worry that the CFMOTO will snap its cam chain or frag a wheel bearing. Based on what? Bias, I assume, which isn’t something I’m proud to admit.
The fact is, CFMOTO is an experienced manufacturer. When I did the break-in oil change on this 450SS there was no more fuzz on the magnetic drain plug than I’d find on my 40,000-mile Kawasaki Versys 650. I’ve seen corkscrews of swarf come out of brand-new engines manufactured in Berlin and just heard about a friend’s Italian-made V4 dropping a valve on the highway. Nowadays, quality and reliability are less about where something is made and more about the diligence of the people making it. Based on the 450SS, CFMOTO is getting serious about its products.
The next big concern is the dealer network and parts support. As mentioned in my review of the 650 Adventura, a local dealership that carries CFMOTO says that parts arrive in several days, just like they do for the Japanese Big Four. And when we published that 650 Adventura review a year ago, CFMOTO was claiming 200 dealerships with two-wheeled products. Today, that number is up to 300.
The box that’s liable to be left unchecked, at least for a while, is aftermarket support. If you’re looking to modify your 450SS, you’ll likely have no or very few options beyond CFMOTO’s own factory accessories. The Ninja, on the other hand, has the backing of every major brand on the market, and has even spawned a few new ones.
Kawasaki’s Ninja is a known quantity, and a good buy, but it’s also become a little stale. It hasn’t undergone any changes since it was introduced five years ago. The 450SS is new, and unique, and, well, really good.
It’s still too soon to declare the CFMOTO the new best small sport bike, but based on my experience so far, it’s poised to make a pass for the lead.
| 2023 CFMOTO 450SS | 2023 Kawasaki Ninja 400 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price (MSRP) | $5,499 | $5,499 (KRT Edition graphics, non-ABS) |
| Engine | 450 cc, liquid-cooled, eight-valve, parallel twin | 398 cc, liquid-cooled, eight-valve, parallel twin |
|
Transmission, final drive |
Six-speed, chain | Six-speed, chain |
| Claimed horsepower | 50.0 @ 9,500 rpm | 44.4 @ 10,000 rpm (Kawasaki Europe) |
| Claimed torque | 28.8 foot-pounds @ 7,600 rpm | 27.3 foot-pounds @ 8,000 rpm (Kawasaki Europe) |
| Frame | Tubular-steel trellis | Tubular-steel trellis |
| Front suspension | CFMOTO 37 mm fork; 4.7 travel | Showa 41 mm fork; 4.7 inches of travel |
| Rear suspension | CFMOTO shock adjustable for spring preload; 5.1 inches of travel | KYB shock, adjustable for spring preload; 5.1 inches of travel |
| Front brake | Brembo four-piston caliper, 320 mm disc with ABS | Nissin two-piston calipers, 310 mm disc |
| Rear brake | J.Juan one-piston caliper, 220mm disc with ABS | Nissin one-piston caliper, 210 mm disc |
| Rake, trail | 24.5 degrees, 3.7 inches | 24.7 degrees, 3.6 inches |
| Wheelbase | 53.5 inches | 53.9 inches |
| Seat height | 31.0 inches | 30.9 inches |
| Fuel capacity | 3.7 gallons | 3.7 gallons |
| Tires | CST Adreno HS AS5, 110/70R17 front, 150/60R17 rear | Dunlop GPR-300 110/70R17 front, 150/60R17 rear |
| Measured weight | 399 pounds | 374 pounds |
| Available | Now | Now |
| Warranty | 24 months | 12 months |
| More info | CFMOTO.com | Kawasaki.com |
