QJMotor SRK 900 (2025 - ) review

QJMotor is the latest Chinese brand to arrive in the UK, joining Benda, Voge, Morbidelli and others in the ever-expanding line-up distributed by respected importer MotoGB. But QJ is not just A.N.Other Chinese manufacturer – in fact it’s probably the longest established and biggest of all. Indeed, it’s the house brand of the huge Qianjiang Group, which also owns Benelli and is itself part of the even bigger Geely operation that includes Volvo, Polestar and Lotus (among others) in its automotive portfolio. It’s launching here with six bikes with more to follow. Many are mid-size adventure models like the SVT 650 tested previously but the SRK900 stands out for being a sporty naked in the mould of the BMW F 900 R. Just cheaper. A lot cheaper. It’s decently equipped with Brembo brakes and Marzocchi suspension and has some smart design touches of its own, the rear lights especially distinctive. For the price, it’s worth a look.

The SRK900 is a middleweight, parallel-twin roadster with all the implications for its riding position that brings. So, it’s fairly sizeable but also nicely slim and light, with an 810mm seat height and slightly forward gait to virtually straight, flat bars and slightly rear-set foot pegs. The result is substantial and sporty without being as dinky as some equivalent twins. As a naked there’s no fairing or weather protection, it’s not as plush as a pure tourer and we wouldn’t particularly fancy covering hundreds of motorway miles on it. But that’s the nature of the beast.

As with its riding position, with the SRK what you see is what you get when it comes to practicality. It’s a typical sporty roadster, so is well-sized, easy and neutral to ride and makes a decent all-rounder, especially as a fun Sunday toy or town bike. But without fairings or luggage it’s limited as a tourer or pillion carrier and, obviously, has no off-road ability.

The SRK900 is powered by the same 904cc parallel-twin as QJ’s SRT900 adventure bike. It produces 95 horsepower at 9,500rpm and comes with three riding modes, traction control and a quickshifter. It goes pretty decently, too. Although its fuelling and throttle response is a little unrefined and crude power delivery is meaty, with bags of grunt accompanied by a thunderous soundtrack which makes its slightly disappointing power stats almost irrelevant – there’s more than enough here to have a hoot. Braking-wise it’s even better thanks to pukka Brembo radial four-pot calipers and big discs, complete with adjustable Brembo lever and master cylinder.

The ride and handling are better than many, too, thanks to quality cycle parts. The SRK900 has (now Chinese-made) Marzocchi multi-adjustable upside-down forks, a matching monoshock rear and even its stock Pirelli Angel ST tyres are better than expected. The resulting ride is a little over-firm and choppy, but feels like it could be significantly improved with some time tweaking the set-up. And, otherwise, the handling and steering is utterly neutral, with shades of the KTM 990 Duke if not the same final degree of sharpness. It even has the (slightly) worrying addition of a standard steering damper, not that it seemed to need it over the course of our ride.

That £6,999 starting price (plus OTR costs) is not to be sniffed at, given it’s a grand less than a KTM 790 Duke and two grand less than the BMW F 900 R. Nor should it be too expensive in terms of running costs. That power output won’t be too demanding on chains, tyres and brake pads (depending how you ride it!) and insurance and tax will be reasonable, too.

As with all brand-new Chinese bikes, especially ones from previously unknown manufacturers, this is the great mystery. The fact our test bike’s suspension didn’t feel properly set up and the fuelling was a little rough raises some concerns about sign-off as well. That said, QJMotor has been around for nearly 40 years, the SRK’s overall quality – and particularly that of its cycle parts – is very good and Chinese bikes generally have improved massively in recent years. Call us cautiously optimistic.

Chinese brands have some impressive bikes but their warranty and servicing packages tend to lag behind the more familiar Japanese and European equivalents. As seen with the SRK900. It comes with a fairly typical, manufacturer-backed two-year unlimited mileage warranty but the 4,000-mile/annual service interval isn’t spectacular, though that obviously depends how often you intend to ride it.

Impressively, the SRK’s got good stuff in all the right places. This includes a big seven-inch TFT dash with tyre pressure monitoring (although ours seemed to be ‘out’), Bluetooth, USB chargers and the rest while the Marzocchi forks have chunky preload and rebound adjustors. The Brembo brakes, lever (also adjustable) and master cylinder are another welcome sight. LED lights are another nice-to-have and, as mentioned, the sight of quality OE rubber from Pirelli is another reason for confidence.

Of all the emerging new Chinese manufacturers QJMotor has arrived with the biggest bang of all, and the SRK900 is probably its punchiest, most fun offering of the lot. It’s got more than enough performance, its chassis is as good as any and its equipment impressive. For the savings over proven mainstream alternatives like the Suzuki GSX-8S, KTM Dukes and BMW F 900 R that’s all the more exciting. Sure, it’s not as refined as any of those and nor can it match them on things like warranties, service intervals, dealer experience or residuals. But for the money…