In recent years, the middleweight adventure bike segment has exploded with tons of new options from all sorts of manufacturers. Unsurprisingly, a lot of these new entrants in the market come from Chinese manufacturers, with brands like Benelli and CFMoto being noteworthy mentions.
That being said, yet another Chinese motorcycle manufacturer by the name of Loncin previously teased an upcoming premium ADV bike under its Voge brand. Dubbed the DS900X, this bike made its public appearance at EICMA 2023, where Voge showcased it in production-ready form.
Well now, Voge has officially launched the bike in Europe, where it’s sure to capture the attention of riders looking to get the most bang for their buck. And if we look beneath the surface of the new Voge DS900X, we find a bike that a lot of you may actually be familiar with...
And before you discredit Loncin as just another Chinese motorcycle manufacturer, it’s important to note that Loncin has long been working side by side with BMW. In fact, BMW’s entire F 900 series sees its engines sourced from and produced by Loncin.
That’s right, I’m talking about the BMW F 900 GS. And that’s pretty much what the DS900X is: Loncin’s take on its own version of BMW’s middleweight adventure-tourer.
Performance-wise, there are quite a lot of similarities here. For starters, the DS900X is powered by an 895cc, liquid-cooled, fuel-injected, parallel-twin engine with a 270-degree crankshaft. And while Loncin doesn’t explicitly state it, you can bet that this is at the very least a derivative of the engine found in the Bavarian adventurer. It does, however, pump out a bit fewer ponies with 95 horsepower and 70 pound-feet of torque
As for the bike’s suspension, it gets inverted KYB forks and a rear monoshock, both of which feature preload and rebound damping adjustability. The bike comes to a stop with dual Brembo calipers up front, complete with dual-channel ABS that can be switched on and off.
Other tech features include a full-color TFT display, a built-in tire pressure monitoring system, basic navigation, and USB and 12V charging sockets.
Of course, the bike doesn’t flaunt as much techie goodies as the F 900 GS, but it does have switchable traction control settings, alongside the previously mentioned switchable ABS.
The price for what is essentially a slightly watered-down BMW F 900 GS wearing Voge badges? £8,799, or approximately $11,215 USD—substantially more affordable than the BMW F 900 GS’ starting price in the UK of about £12,000, or about $15,300 USD.
From QJ Motor and MV Agusta, to KTM and CFMoto, to Loncin and BMW—today’s motorcycle market has no shortage of partnerships between big, established marques and up-and-coming Chinese manufacturers. It’s a win-win for both parties here, as big brands leverage the lower production costs and economies of scale of these Chinese manufacturers. And at the end of the day, they’re ultimately able to sell more affordable bikes to enthusiasts like you and me.
It is, however, important to remember that a lot of these new made-in-China bikes pretty much popped up yesterday. And so we really have no idea if they were built to stand the test of time, or go through forced obsolescence like a lot of the gadgets we see today. The truth is, this is something that only time itself will be able to answer.
