QJMotor SRT 900 (2025 - ) review

If the QJMotor aesthetic feels familiar that’s likely because most are penned in Italy by C-Creative, founded by former MV Agusta owner Giovanni Castiglioni and with British designer Adrian Morton on styling duties. To those ends QJ’s triple-engined SRK 921 sports bike bears an uncanny resemblance to the MV Agusta 800 F3, the SRT 900s meanwhile 900cc parallel-twins with loads of kit and – as an introductory offer – a full set of aluminium luggage. The S is the slightly more affordable and road-biased option with cast wheels and street rubber while the SX has wires, a bigger 19-inch front wheel, crash bars and longer travel suspension.

The SRT is upright and natural, in the adventure bike style. As a 900 twin it’s not too imposing or intimidating but nor as dinky as some twin-cylinder rivals like the BMW F 800 GS or KTM 790 Adventure. Heated grips and seat are standard (although they take a while to heat up), its screen is adequate if non-adjustable and comfort seemed adequate during our fairly short test ride. All in all it’s better than fine, especially at this price point.

Even before factoring in the amazing price it’s hard to imagine a more versatile, practical motorcycle. For starters the SRT 900 is substantial enough, sufficiently long-legged and with ample performance to play the big adventure bike role. At the same time, it’s well equipped enough to be a brilliant budget-priced tourer. It’s got the handling and performance to be fun but also, because of the price, is usable enough you wouldn’t worry about using it as a year-round commuter. We didn’t get to test the theory on this first ride but, on the face of it, the SX looks to have a degree of off-road ability into the bargain!

Both versions are powered by the same parallel-twin we tried previously on the SRK 900, which displaces 904cc and produces claimed peak power of 95 horsepower with 90Nm of torque so on a par with the likes of the BMW F 900 or Triumph Tiger 900. It also gets the (upshift only) quickshifter, cruise control and traction control many rivals can’t match out of the box. There’s enough oomph for spritely riding, it will happily cruise at motorway speeds and has the rumbly character you associate with a twin, if not the refinement of some more established rivals. Braking is actually better than class average thanks to the twin front discs and Brembo calipers.

Chassis-wise neither SRT is particularly remarkable, but, considering their bargain basement prices, that’s generally a very good thing. Suspension is from famous Italian brand Marzocchi, which QJ has manufactured in-house under licence since 2022 and has a reassuring sense of quality as well as adjustment for compression and rebound. Steering is both light and accurate as well, though swapping to the road-tyred S version with the smaller front wheel revealed it to be slightly sharper still. In either case the SRT 900 handles with impressive competence from the get-go, with the reassurance of further adjustability if you want to refine the set-up to your own preferences or riding style.

QJMotor’s importer MotoGB quotes prices before on the road charges, which need to be accounted for when crunching the numbers. Even with that in mind the SRT’s starting price is super competitive, undercutting the equivalents from more established brands like BMW and KTM by thousands. Worth bearing in mind many of these are either built in China anyway, or source their engines from there. QJ’s pricing even looks good against Chinese brands like Voge and CFMoto as well, and running costs should be generally on a par with any equivalently sized adventure bike, though it’s worth pointing out service intervals and residuals may not be quite as good.

Yes, the great unknown – sort of. True, the SRT 900s are new models from a brand with little history here in the UK and from a market with a mixed reputation for build quality. But QJMotor is no fly-by-night, is now the biggest bike manufacturer in China, fits proven components from big-name suppliers and is supported here in the UK by a well-established importer in the form of MotoGB. Short service intervals aside we don’t have any great concerns, but the proof will be in the riding.

Probably the worst part of the QJMotor promise, though not entirely disastrous. At the time of writing its bikes come with a typical two-year unlimited mileage warranty, which was the industry norm until bigger manufacturers started extending their cover. Servicing isn’t the greatest, either with checks due every 4,000 miles or annually, whichever comes first. On a bike that otherwise invites big mileages and year-round use these more frequent trips to the dealer may prove a pain.

More positively the SRT 900 shines for its generous specification, especially at this price. Both versions have a standard 7.0-inch TFT dash with Bluetooth connectivity, two charging ports, handguards, crash bars, heating for grips and seat, adjustable suspension, cruise, tyre pressure monitoring and a centre stand. You even get a radar proximity detector as well. The SX also gets wire wheels with dual-purpose tyres and both bikes launch with a standard-fit three-box aluminium luggage set. If we’re being critical the lack of adjustment on the screen is limiting, the quickshifter is ‘up’ only with no downshift blipping, the heated seat takes a while to warm up and the switchgear feels a little cheap. But at this price…

Neither SRT model particularly stands out for anything beyond value for money, but nor do they disappoint either. True, while the equipment levels are impressive not all the kit feels of the best quality and QJMotor is yet to prove itself in terms of finish or reliability. But the value is so impressive that almost doesn’t matter, and in the flock of affordable Chinese adventure bikes hitting the market the SRT 900 is definitely up there with the best.