[cycleworld.com] - QJMotor’s SRK400RR Inline-four

[Ninjette Newsbot]

When Kawasaki announced that the long-dead 400cc inline-four sportbike was returning with its ZX-4RR, it unknowingly sparked a revival in the class.

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Another Chinese company has now followed Kawasaki’s lead and jumped into the 400cc inline-four sportbike revival. The bike will be called the SRK400RR. (QJMotor/)When the heyday of the Japanese high-performance 400cc four-cylinder bikes of the late 1980s and 1990s—like Honda’s CBR400RR and VFR400s, Yamaha’s FZR400, Kawasaki’s ZXR400 and Suzuki’s GSX-R400—were dropped after the era came to an end, it seemed we’d never see them again. But after Kawasaki’s surprise reentry to the class with the Ninja ZX-4RR last year, there’s been an even more unexpected rash of new small fours appearing from several Chinese brands.


Kove’s 400RR. (Kove Motorcycles/)We’ve already seen Kove appear with its 400RR, which was uprated to a 450RR before production started, and since then CFMoto has revealed its 500cc 500SR Voom and little-known brand Yingang has unveiled its own 400cc 400RR model. Now a bigger player, QJMotor, is getting in on the action having type-approved its own new small four-cylinder sportbike.

Code-named the QJ400GS-16R, the bike is likely to go under the simpler SRK400RR title when it reaches showrooms. Since it’s yet to be officially revealed, we don’t know what the chances are that it will be exported, but several of QJMotor’s models are available globally, including on the US market, so it’s far from impossible that we’ll see the bike here.

The specs include a 421cc four-cylinder engine, the QJ457MQ-D. Under standardized Chinese naming protocols, the “457? means four cylinders and a 57mm bore. With those numbers, we can calculate that the stroke will be a little over 41mm. For comparison, the new CFMoto 500SR has a 63mm bore and 40mm stroke, so the QJMotor engine is actually a longer-stroke design despite a smaller capacity.


The release of the ZX-4RR from Kawasaki last year kicked off a revival of a class that many thought was dead and gone forever. (Kevin Wing/)Normally a longer stroke might mean a lower rev limit and less outright power, but the type-approval document for the new QJMotor shows it puts out 76.5 hp, which is only a fraction behind the 500cc CFMoto’s 78 hp despite a 79cc capacity deficit. It also means the QJMotor beats the full-power version of Kawasaki’s ZX-4RR, which manages 74 hp in some markets (but is limited to 56 hp in the US). What’s more, the QJMotor SRK400RR promises to be lighter than its rivals. The type approval shows a ready-to-run curb weight of 388 pounds, which compares well against the 415 pounds of Kawasaki’s ZX-4RR.

When it comes to other information, the type approval reveals that the bike’s wheelbase is a tight 54.1 inches, with an outright length of 79.5 inches and width of just 28.3 inches, and puts the top speed at 137 mph. It looks like the chassis is a steel tube frame, with an aluminum swingarm and upside-down fork—probably from Marzocchi, since QJMotor’s parent company has a deal to manufacture suspension on Marzocchi’s behalf via a joint venture with the Italian brand. Like other QJMotor models, the brakes are branded with the company’s own name but they’re radial-mount four-piston calipers with dual front discs and ABS.


The SRK400RR takes styling cues from the Ten78 concept. (QJMotor/)The bike’s styling is a shift from the designs we’ve seen on QJMotor’s current sportbike models, including the existing range-topper, the SRK921RR that’s made using an MV Agusta four-cylinder engine. For the new SRK400RR, the design takes its cues from the QJMotor Ten78 concept that was shown at last year’s EICMA event in Milan. Designed by former MV and Benelli design boss Adrian Morton, the Ten78 used another MV Agusta engine, the 1,078cc four-cylinder previously used in the F4 superbike, and featured a distinctive intake slot framed by the LED running lights lining the leading edge of the nose. The new SRK400RR adopts much the same style at the front, but replaces the all-transparent upper front bodywork with a more conventional screen.

At the sides, the fairing is again like the Ten78, with smooth panels that lead back over the frame and merge into the fuel tank and tail. The seat is also straight from the Ten78, featuring the same longitudinally split pillion pad. A couple of anomalies suggest, despite the type approval for road use, that the bike seen in the paperwork isn’t quite finished. The mirrors, for instance, appear to be designed to house turn signals (like the Ten78 concept) but instead only have silver sections where those lights would go. The real turn signals are simple, off-the-shelf LEDs bolted to the fairing sides. That might well change for the full production version of the bike. With an official launch unlikely until toward the end of this year, there’s certainly time for some tweaks, but the SRK400RR already looks like it could be another intriguing machine to keep an eye on.