a capable, well-equipped adventure bike

It takes a while to get used to its odd riding position. The 700MT sits you low, with your knees high in an almost feet-forward position. Being such a long, heavy bike, it feels more like riding an adventure-shaped chopper at first, but the low seat will give shorter riders the confidence to manage this 240kg machine at paddling speeds. For those with longer legs the 840mm accessory seat is a must. 
On the move the CF Moto has a utilitarian, almost Eastern European military feel about it. The steering is slow, it doesn’t like to be rushed into corners, the suspension can crash over bigger bumps and the engine lacks wow-factor. Something like a Honda’s XL750 Transalp is infinitely more polished, exciting to ride and manages to hide the negative handling traits of a big front wheel on tarmac…but it costs lot more.

It's fair to say the 700MT is a slow burner. During our day’s ride at its world launch in Portugal it gets stuck in on mountain roads, motorways and even light off-road. It may not be dynamic, but for the price it’s impressive. It’s comfortable, stable through corners, has decent braking power, and its CST dual purpose tyres (110/80 x 19 front, 150/70 x 17 rear) never put a foot wrong, wet or dry.

Thanks to Euro 5+ regs, the 693cc parallel twin isn’t as powerful as before, which highlights why many manufactures make their engines ever-bigger to maintain performance.

The 700MT now produces 67bhp@9500rom, down from old machine’s 74bh@8500rpm and torque drops from 50lb-ft@6500rpm to 44lb-ft@6000rpm. That’s a fair reduction, but luckily the engine is more about grinding out miles than scorching from A to B like Road Runner.

It’s a plodder of a motor but has a decent spread of power and enough go for motorway riding and spirited backroad blasts. Picking up a closed throttle low in the revs can be jerky, though.

As-new fit and finish is impressive and when you dig around there’s nothing that screams cost-cutting. Little details like the neat little rubber cable straps or the ghosted camouflage design on the fairing infills, show the 700MT has been thought about. That said, like some others on the launch (but not all) the seat covering on my test bike had creased by the end of the day.

MCN’s online owners’ reviews for the CF Motos are positive with no reports of any major mechanical, electronic or durability issues. The 700MT also comes with a four-year warranty and a year’s roadside assistance that you can extend for free a further year, for up to eight years or 50,000 miles (whichever comes first), if you stick to the regular services at one of CF Moto’s 55 dealers in the UK.

In terms of the 700MT’s competition, it isn’t really aimed at the Yamaha Tenere 700s and KTM 790 Adventures of the world, that’s the job of the more powerful CF Moto 800MT. It’s more of an affordable do-it-all tourer that can handle a spot of light-off roading on, like the £8999 Suzuki V-Strom 650XT, or Chinese-built £5999 Voge DS625X.

Not only is it affordable, but you get an awful lot of bang for your buck, too. Standard equipment incudes heated grips and seat, hand guards, radial brakes, a large manually adjustable screen, a posh-looking 5in colour TFT display with connectivity, adjustable suspension and levers, Type-A and C USB charging ports, tyre pressure monitors, ABS and traction control.

For ’25 it gets refreshed styling, spoked wheels, a 20-litre fuel tank (up from 18 litres), crash bars and comes in a stealthy black, or a BMW-esque white and blue with gold wheels.

A full range of accessories includes a Touring Pack that includes hard panniers, top box and the necessary framework.