QJMotor SRK800RR (2025) – Technical Review

As a brand QJMotor has just celebrated its fifth anniversary but for UK riders it’s entirely new as the Chinese company has only now decided to enter the British market – and it’s done it with a bang thanks to prices and specifications that take the tactic of offering more bike for less money and turn it up to 11.

Initially the company is bringing 16 models to these shores, but that’s a tiny proportion of the QJMotor range, which has grown from a single machine to more than 140 bikes, ranging from electric mopeds to litre superbikes and encompassing singles, parallel twins, V-twins, inline fours and V-fours, cruisers, roadsters, adventure bikes and scooters, even ATVs and side-by-sides. But this machine, the SRK800RR, is arguably the highest-profile model in the entire range as it forms the basis of QJMotor’s first steps into high-end international competition, racing in the World Supersport championship as part of a two-bike factory effort with Raffaele de Rosa and Niki Tuuli. They’re not troubling the leaders – at mid-season QJMotor sits last in the manufacturers’ championship – but nor are they embarrassing themselves, and the road-going version of the company’s race bike is vastly cheaper than the machines filling the rest of the grid.

Pros & Cons

2025 QJMotor SRK800RR - Price

The £6999 price tag is perhaps the first thing to grab the attention about the SRK800RR – it’s vastly cheaper that most rivals in its class, even undercutting bikes a whole step or two lower down the performance ladder. There’s a £200 on-the-road charge, though, so the real figure, out of the door, is £7199.

QJMotor’s UK operation is already offering finance, too, although the 8.9% APR isn’t as tempting as deals to be found elsewhere. It means you can get the bike for a £499 deposit and 60 monthly payments of £137.65 – that’s HP rather than PCP, too, so there’s no big final payment waiting at the end – but bear in mind the interest means the total amount payable is £8758, a figure that would buy one of the SRK800RR’s more familiar rivals with a stronger resale value. At the moment, it’s impossible to judge what a five-year-old SRK800RR might be worth when you make that final payment, but thanks to their unfamiliarity Chinese bikes tend to suffer more depreciation than well-known European or Japanese machines.

2025 QJMotor SRK800RR - Engine & Performance

Power is courtesy of QJMotor’s own 778cc, 16-valve, four-cylinder engine – an in-house design but one that borrows a little inspiration from the engine powering Honda’s CBR650R. As well as an external, visual similarity in terms of its layout, the QJMotor engine uses the same 67mm bore as the Honda design, but pairs it to a 55.2mm stroke instead of the CBR650R’s 46mm, making for that 778cc capacity. Even the exhaust system, with four header pipes sweeping to the right-hand-side of the bike into a belly-mounted collector, is distinctly similar to the Honda’s design.

At last year’s EICMA launch for the SRK800RR, QJMotor claimed 95hp at 10,000rpm 55 lb-ft of torque at 8500rpm, but even since then the machine has developed considerably and now the company says it’s putting out a more impressive 120hp at 12,000rpm and slightly less torque – 54.6 lb-ft – at 9500rpm.

Drive goes through a six-speed manual box with a standard-fit up-and-down quickshifter, and specs on QJMotor’s Chinese website claim the power is tamed by cornering traction control via a six-axis IMU.

2025 QJMotor SRK800RR - Handling & Suspension (inc. Weight)

Perhaps uniquely in the world of motorcycling, the Chinese market version of the SRK800RR is offered with a choice of two different frames – a pressed and welded steel chassis for the base model and a cast aluminium beam frame as an option, adding more rigidity and slicing 3kg from the bike’s mass.

It looks like the version initially coming to the UK is the steel-framed design, although the rapid pace of QJMotor’s model development means that it would be no surprise if the aluminium chassis become standard in the future. The WSS race version of the SRK800RR started its season with the steel frame and transitioned to the alloy design, and it’s not unusual for Chinese brands to make updates to their bikes without the fanfare that we’ve come to expect from the more established motorcycle makers.

The steel frame is, like the engine, not identical to the Honda CBR650R unit but very reminiscent of it, with wide, oval tube beam sections welded to pressed steel sections either side of the swingarm pivot. Even the wheelbase, 1450mm, is identical to the Honda CBR650R’s. The swingarm itself is cast aluminium, and both the forks and the rear shock are adjustable Marzocchi components: the Italian brand entered a partnership with Qianjiang, QJMotor’s parent company, in 2022, launching a joint venture including a Chinese manufacturing facility overseen by Qianjiang, which has adopted Marzocchi components throughout its range.

Familiar names continue with the Brembo brakes, four-pot radial front calipers on two 320mm discs are paired to a two-piston rear and a 260mm disc, with ABS.

The 214kg mass quoted by QJMotor for the steel-framed version of the bike, ready-to-ride, makes it heftier than machines like the Yamaha R7, but then again it’s also a much more powerful offering. Turning to the Honda CBR650R as a direct comparison once more, the Chinese machine is 6kg heavier, wet, than the 208kg Honda.

2025 QJMotor SRK800RR - Comfort & Economy

While the SRK800RR has clip-ons under the top yoke, they’re higher than an out-and-out race-rep’s – once again drawing parallels to bikes like the Honda CBR650R which sit in that all-rounder position that was decades ago defined by the original CBR600F.

In fact, superimpose the SRK800RR over an image of the CBR650F and it’s clear the relationship between the bars, seat and pegs is very similar to the one that Honda uses. Even the 810mm seat height is identical to the Honda’s (some QJMotor documents list it at 815mm but that difference could come down to something as simple as preload adjustment on the rear suspension). China’s bike industry might often be accused of copying established designs, but in this instance it’s a logical choice.

Until we’ve ridden it, it’s hard to make a definitive judgement on the bike’s comfort, but there’s no reason to believe it’s going to be a hardship over long distances.

Economy remains an unknown at this stage, with no claimed MPG figures, but the 16-litre fuel tank is par for the course in this segment of the market and the engine is certified to Euro 5+ standards so there’s little reason to believe it will differ significantly from its main rivals in that respect.

2025 QJMotor SRK800RR - Equipment

Cheap electronics have been a strong point for China for decades and that’s reflected in the fact that the rapidly-growing number of exported motorcycles from that country usually have surprisingly high levels of tech.

On the SRK800RR, that includes a 5-inch TFT dash, with light and dark modes, as well as USB and USB-C charge ports, tyre pressure monitoring, two riding modes, Bluetooth connectivity and that up-down quickshifter. Cruise control and traction control are also listed as standard features on the Chinese version of QJMotor’s website, and all the lighting is LED.

2025 QJMotor SRK800RR - Rivals

The SRK800RR drops into a busy segment of the market, but one where few rivals offer the same combination of performance and price. Bikes like Yamaha’s R7 and Suzuki’s GSX-8R might be on the shopping list, or perhaps Triumph’s Daytona 660, and anyone scoping out the QJMotor can’t ignore the Honda CBR650R that it’s so clearly inspired by. In years to come, the options are likely to expand even further as more Chinese companies join the fray. Loncin’s Voge brand, for example, already offers its RR660S four-cylinder in some European markets, and Zontes’ alloy-framed 703RR triple is already available to pre-order from UK dealers and expected to arrive in this country imminently, priced at around £7500.

Honda CBR650R | Price: £8629

Read more

Power/Torque

94bhp / 46lb-ft

Weight

208kg

Triumph Daytona 660 | Price: £8595

Read more

Power/Torque

94bhp / 51lb-ft

Weight

201kg

Zontes 703RR | Price: £7499

Read more

Power/Torque

94bhp / 55lb-ft

Weight

202kg

2025 QJMotor SRK800RR - Verdict

We’re entering a fascinating era when Chinese-made bikes are started to encroach deep into segments of the market that have previously been dominated by Japan and Europe. There will inevitably be missteps along the way and until we’ve ridden the SRK800RR it’s impossible to judge if it can live up to its on-paper promise or not.

What is increasingly clear, though, is that the pace of development from China’s bike industry is far outpacing more established rivals, so even if the first attempts don’t hit the mark it’s likely that future efforts will be right on target. The car industry is already proving that when presented with good value for money – normally in the form of an affordable monthly payment – customers are happy to step into unfamiliar Chinese brands provided they meet expectations in terms of materials and build quality. Scan the badges of cars around you and there’s a growing number of Chinese offerings -  Omoda, Jaecoo, BYD, XPeng, Maxus and many more – appearing in substantial numbers. QJMotor will be hoping that the same story will unfurl in the motorcycling arena over the coming years.

If you’d like to chat about this article or anything else biking related, join us and thousands of other riders at the Bennetts BikeSocial Facebook page.

Do you own this bike? Tell us what it’s like, or ask us questions about it at bikeclub.bennetts.co.uk.

2025 QJMotor SRK800RR - Technical Specification

What is MCIA Secured?

MCIA Secured gives bike buyers the chance to see just how much work a manufacturer has put into making their new investment as resistant to theft as possible.

As we all know, the more security you use, the less chance there is of your bike being stolen. In fact, based on research by Bennetts, using a disc lock makes your machine three times less likely to be stolen, while heavy duty kit can make it less likely to be stolen than a car. For reviews of the best security products, click here.

MCIA Secured gives motorcycles a rating out of five stars (three stars for bikes of 125cc or less), based on the following being fitted to a new bike as standard:

• A steering lock that meets the UNECE 62 standard

• An ignition immobiliser system

• A vehicle marking system

• An alarm system

• A vehicle tracking system with subscription

The higher the star rating, the better the security, so always ask your dealer what rating your bike has and compare it to other machines on your shortlist.

Getting a motorcycle insurance quote with Bennetts is easy.

We compare prices from our panel of top-tier insurers, to find riders our best price for the cover they need. With common modifications covered as standard, our policies are rated Excellent on Trustpilot and 5 stars by Defaqto. We are an award-winning UK broker, with a UK-based contact centre and 24/7 claims support. 

 

Buy direct or renew at bennetts.co.uk, or via our contact centre, to gain access to a free BikeSocial Membership - unlocking discounts on kit, tyres, training, and exclusive customer-only VIP experiences.