Chinese motorcycle manufacturers have been upping their game as of late, with brands like CFMoto and Benelli making a name for themselves in the global market. The case is no longer true for small displacement commuters, but for premium, performance-oriented models, as well. Bikes like the CFMoto 800MT, which was built around KTM's 790 platform, is a testament to this.
Furthermore, fellow Chinese motorcycle manufacturer Qianjiang, with which you may be more familar with as QJ Motor, has made a name for itself not just in China, but across the globe as well. The brand, which is the parent company of Benelli, has been rolling out design concepts left and right, and clearly has intentions of dominating the middleweight segment with a variety of naked and ADV bikes in the pipeline. Interestingly, it appears QJ wants to go even bigger, and has begun dabbling in the performance-oriented sector with a new engine that seems to be modeled after that of the KTM 1290 Super Duke R.
A brand-new large-displacement V-twin engine has been patented by Qianjiang. The project name that we see on the patent application is "QJ2V108MYL," one in which even the untrained eye can readily recognize the block from KTM's 1290 Super Duke R. If we look closer at the nomenclature, it's obvious that "QJ" refers to the company in question, "2V" represents the motor's V2 configuration, and "108" may refer to the block's bore. It so happens that this bore matches exactly what we find on the LC8 engine of KTM's Super Duke.
This is particularly intriguing because up until now, KTM has a business relationship with another Chinese manufacturer, CFMoto, a company that is starting to gain traction in the world market, recently debuting in the U.S. market. Having said that, KTM and Qianjiang have previously collaborated; more precisely, Qianjiang competes in the Moto3 championship using KTM equipment in the form of Team Avintia under QJ Motor branding.
Whatever the situation, Qianjiang is undoubtedly a Chinese manufacturer capable of producing performance-oriented engines. A number of Western manufacturers purchase engines from the Chinese business, which also designs them. For instance, Harley-Davidson and MV Agusta now have contracts with QJ Motor for the manufacturing of engines for the Asian market, as well as MV Agusta's recently unveiled Lucky Explorer 5.5.
