CFMoto’s wickedly entertaining, 449cc parallel-twin-powered Ibex 450 adventure bike opens the ADV world up to more riders with its $6,500 price tag. But is it any good? We headed to El Nido, Palawan, in the Philippines to find out.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 What's up everyone? Welcome to the beautiful city of El Nido in Palawan. We
00:04 are here with CFMoto and the all-new Ibex 450. This is a really cool
00:09 motorcycle because it's a motorcycle that so many people have been asking for.
00:13 It's something in between like a KTM 390 Adventure and a Yamaha Tenere 700.
00:18 It's a bike that's priced at just $6,500 but still has some tech to it like
00:23 switchable ABS, switchable traction control. So we're gonna see what this
00:26 thing is all about. CFMoto's got a really cool ride planned for us today. We're
00:30 gonna be riding around the island and then even hit an off-road park later and
00:33 see what this thing is capable of in the dirt. So it's hot, it's humid, but I
00:38 guarantee we're still gonna have some fun. Let's go for a ride. Okay folks, here
00:43 we are. CFMoto Ibex 450. I guess I should say before we even really get started
00:51 that this is called an Ibex 450 in the States. It is called, I can't mess this up,
00:57 a 450 MT in other parts of the world. From the seat, man this feels like just a
01:03 really cool full-size adventure bike. You got this really nice 5-inch TFT display,
01:07 pretty clean switchgear here that's I think pretty traditional across at least
01:12 CFMoto's 450 lineup. There is an ABS on/off switch. This is basically like
01:17 an they call this going into like an off-road mode. Holding this button down
01:21 for five seconds is going to turn off traction control and ABS. That'll do that
01:26 together. If you want to adjust those systems independently, you will have to
01:30 go into the menu on the dash. There are no ride modes or anything like that. It's
01:35 just a standard traditional cable throttle, so no ride-by-wire. Talk to the
01:41 CFMoto folks about that and they admitted that it's something that they've
01:46 looked at that they're curious about. Obviously stuff like that starts to add
01:49 to the price of the bike, so price is a big focus here. And well that's uh we've
01:57 got right now. This is this is what we got and I think it's gonna be pretty fun.
02:00 A couple first thoughts on this bike. I do like the ergonomics on this thing.
02:05 It's a really nice wide handlebar. I enjoy a wider handlebar because for me
02:10 that makes the bike feel a little bit lighter steering. It just gives you that
02:13 extra leverage. I appreciate that. A couple other cool things on this bike
02:19 from the dash. You've got adjustable windscreen. Now this is one hand
02:25 adjustable. No it's not an electronically adjustable, but I mean I don't think
02:28 that's necessarily needed. You just want to be able to adjust the windscreen when
02:32 you're on the highway or off-road riding. Things like that. So you got that here.
02:35 Five inch TFT is crystal clear. No issues navigating that or figuring that thing
02:41 out really quickly. Aided by a really you know clean organized switch cluster
02:47 which is again just easy to navigate. Cool feature on this bike you've got
02:51 these folding mirrors which one-handed. Look at that. Now that's cool because if you're
02:59 off-road riding you're getting up out of the saddle standing up you don't want
03:02 your arms hitting the mirror so boom you just fold them in. Nice little cool
03:07 feature that CFMoto has there. Oh I should also mention a really cool
03:11 feature for shorter riders is that this bike has a two position linkage system.
03:18 Now what that means is that you can adjust the shock mounting position on
03:22 that linkage and that's going to actually lower the seat height. I think
03:26 it goes from about 32.3 inches to 31.5 inches so that's going to be nice for
03:32 shorter riders. Give them a little bit more confidence. Make it easier for them
03:36 to get their legs down. I do not have that problem. I'm 6 foot 3 so I've done
03:40 is actually gone the opposite direction. I've added the accessory tall seat on
03:44 this bike. So far it feels really comfortable. You got a good amount of
03:50 legroom and overall I think the ergonomics are they fit well for me it
03:54 seems like so. We'll see after a full day of riding and especially when we get
03:58 off-road and do it some standing up and stuff like that. Now the cool thing about
04:03 this bike and I think what is actually what's really going to separate it from
04:07 the competition is the engine. So you got that 450 cc parallel twin and man this
04:13 thing is just really character rich. I did get to spend a little bit of time on
04:17 a 450 NK naked bike before coming out here and riding this and it is just I
04:23 really like the the power delivery. It's clean power delivery, good torque. On this
04:29 bike specifically they've adjusted the tuning on it so it's gonna have a little
04:34 bit more mid-range to it which is obviously good for off-road riding and I
04:39 think that's important for an adventure bike. You're gonna lose maybe a little
04:43 bit of top-end steam but I don't know especially in the riding we're doing
04:47 today that won't be an issue. I think if you're using the bike how it's intended
04:52 I think you're gonna want this kind of power power curve over something that's
04:56 a little bit more focused on high-end performance. Now there is not a
05:01 quickshifter but so far kind of running through the gearbox overall it just
05:06 seems like a really smooth transmission to it so we'll see how that goes
05:10 throughout the day see if we notice any kind of anything about that or any other
05:15 features. I will say I have been especially on the NK that I rode before
05:21 and I'm kind of already noticed it on this bike it's got a slip assist clutch
05:25 on it but it's a really really light engagement and there's not a lot of feel
05:29 kind of at that engagement point so I've adjusted the clutch lever a little bit
05:34 up at the handlebar but I don't know I think I struggle with it a little bit I
05:38 think I think for newer riders I would want a clutch with a little bit more
05:43 feel but that's just that's just my opinion we'll see if I continue to have
05:48 issues with it or if I kind of get accustomed to it. Wow I don't know it's
05:51 so dusty I don't know if you guys gonna be able to even see let's wipe this off
05:55 a little bit but low visibility aside a couple things already standing out
06:03 on this the one thing is ergonomics you can tell that this bike there was a lot
06:08 of thought put it into ergonomics in the standing position I know a lot of people
06:13 maybe not a lot of people but I've seen some comments people talking about this
06:17 compared to like even a KLR 650 which I think is I mean they're they're really
06:23 different motorcycles in my opinion regardless people have mentioned that
06:26 motorcycle so let's see compared to that I remember doing a big off-road ride on
06:31 KLR big adventure down in Baja Mexico and the big thing there was like you
06:37 almost could not stand up on that motorcycle it was so uncomfortable the
06:40 way you're the way where the foot pegs were and the way your arms were up over
06:44 on the handlebar this is this is so much different this is a really comfortable
06:48 motorcycle in the standing position so that's that's cool to see the other
06:53 thing is that I could actually I can already tell how this motorcycle the
06:58 engine itself the engine tuning is much more tailored toward the dirt there's
07:02 just a really direct response off the bottom it's short key I think there's
07:07 also a factor there's there's a little bit more weight to this bike then say
07:11 the 450 NK that I wrote previously so the the 450 NK just it felt a little bit
07:18 more sportier although the engine felt a little bit more lively this one kind of
07:21 just chugs along a little bit more again so I think that's two things I think
07:26 it's a little bit that tuning and I think it's it's also kind of the weight
07:30 that this bike carries I don't have the exact weight difference between the two
07:34 bikes but for sure I mean this bike with the with the you know big tank and for
07:39 sure we've got some accessories on this bike it it's heavier than the NK for
07:44 sure so you kind of feel that a little bit but also I mean I think it's I think
07:48 it's good in the off-road situation which is again the things that we're
07:52 seeing is is the CF moto purpose building this bike for adventure riding
07:58 which is nice because I think the thing is especially in this category you know
08:02 again looking at other models people are comparing to you know maybe like a BMW
08:07 GT G 310 GS Kawasaki versus X 300 and then actually you know the Honda CB 500
08:17 X and those bikes are well they've got some you know the adventure styling to
08:22 them they're just not off-road focused in in the way that this bike is and not
08:27 only do do you see that in in the specs you know with with more travel you know
08:35 more wheel travel on this thing and and again the tuning the suspension but it
08:40 all translates to a bike that just definitely feels more off-road focus so
08:46 you know people love those you know CB 500 X and and bikes like that but if you
08:52 really do want to go adventure riding and be a little bit more aggressive in
08:56 the off-road riding it's very clear that this is the bike that's that's more
09:00 tailored toward that style so and that CF moto actually has has made it work in
09:06 this package I think gosh immediately just feel really comfortable how about
09:10 this view oh my gosh all right guys well I told you it was beautiful here in
09:15 El Nido and I wasn't lying right look at this view all right so first first miles
09:21 on the IBEX 450 a couple of things I noticed right away is well you still
09:26 have kind of the traits of that 450 engine that I've seen in the 450 NK
09:31 naked bike just a really cool fun engine it sounds great on this bike in
09:35 particular what I noticed right away is that you can kind of feel a bit more
09:39 off-road focus tuning to it that's actually both in terms of the engine the
09:44 power delivery the character there but also in the ergonomics I think it's it's
09:49 pretty obvious that CF moto has put a lot of attention and detail into making
09:53 this a bike an adventure bike that you really can go off-road on and have some
09:56 fun on the ergonomics really comfortable for standing up you can get up over the
10:01 front of the thing based on where the foot pegs are and the handlebar
10:05 positioning it's just a really comfortable bike standing up some of the
10:09 other bikes again that I mentioned like KLR 650 things like that I just you're
10:13 not gonna get that in terms of engine tuning you can feel a little bit where
10:18 this is tailored toward that off-road riding it just kind of chugs a bit more
10:22 it's not got that kind of peaky performance those are the first thoughts
10:25 so far I know we've still got a bunch more off-road riding to do and some more
10:28 street riding super super excited it's it's a really enjoyable bike and I I'm
10:34 gonna keep saying it but that engine is just so good it sounds good it's really
10:38 got a really great power delivery to it it's smooth the transmission is smooth
10:43 and man I really do enjoy it otherwise yeah fit and finish is nice all these
10:49 things that you're looking at it's just a really enjoyable motorcycle and I
10:52 always have to go back to the fact that it's $6,500 look what we're out here
10:56 doing on this thing man it's so cool gotta love adventure bikes and
11:00 especially something like this that's not overwhelming in terms of size so a
11:03 lot of fun we're gonna get back on the bike soon throw our helmets on let's do
11:06 it all right we're digging ourselves pretty deep into these hills here which
11:10 is first off it's just absolutely awesome it's really cool to experience
11:14 this side of the island and honestly okay it's not the most technical riding
11:19 we're seeing you know locals here commuting in on scooters and tech techs
11:23 and things like that but it's been interesting because there are some
11:26 sections that are really rocky and there are little ravines and things like that
11:29 and the one thing I've realized about this motorcycle is that the suspension
11:34 is tuned a lot more on the aggressive side and it's actually not really even
11:38 in the damping but it feels like the springs they're just not they feel
11:42 pretty stiff honestly it there's not a lot of absorption as you roll over those
11:47 sharp edges and it just almost bounces you around a little bit now the one
11:51 thing I will say about that is that just a little bit ago we were we had a
11:55 section where we were able to pick up the pace a little bit and the bike
11:59 responded really well you could tell that this is almost a bike that wants to
12:03 be ridden hard it kind of wants the chassis to be loaded and once you do
12:06 ride it hard and you're a little bit more on the throttle on the brakes stuff
12:09 like that it the suspension actually starts feeling really good then all of
12:14 a sudden you're like you're using all the suspension you're almost getting
12:16 through that initial part of the spring and able to oh this is awesome
12:20 sorry for the little distraction there but we got a single track yeah so it's
12:26 very interesting I think it's the interesting thing about that is that if
12:31 this is a bike for the new riders I think they're gonna find that to be a
12:35 little bit aggressive whereas I think more experienced riders are gonna have
12:38 fun with it because hey I mean it's a bike that we got duck wants to be ridden
12:43 a little bit harder and men I'm definitely not complaining about that I
12:46 definitely want a motorcycle that isn't just blowing through the stoke stroke
12:51 and wallowing around a bunch as you start riding harder I want a bike that
12:54 kind of responds as you pick up the pace so yeah something to note obviously you
12:59 do have the adjustable suspension so theoretically if you're a lighter rider
13:04 or if your new rider who's not going to be riding aggressively you could adjust
13:08 the damping settings on the fork and shock and you know maybe even preload to
13:14 and and kind of make it work for you until you do if and when you start
13:18 picking up the pace so the only other thing I will note that I'm experiencing
13:23 is the tank the bike itself is really narrow through the midsection but you
13:30 can almost see how much this tank flares out and for me with longer legs I'm
13:34 actually hitting the edge of the tank here quite a bit I'm almost sitting and
13:39 standing up it's always kind of resting right up against my knee and I think
13:45 after a long day that that would start to really bother me I can move back in
13:51 the seat a little bit and it's a little bit more comfortable I'm not I'm not
13:54 resting my knees on that edge quite as much but did talk to the CF moto folks
14:00 from the US and they said yeah they definitely something they really would
14:05 like to address in the future they said in other markets they they really like
14:09 this big kind of beefy tank it adds to the aggressive look of the bike so yeah
14:15 I mean for me again as a taller rider it's something I noticed maybe for
14:18 shorter riders it won't be as much of an issue but something to consider I did
14:24 mention earlier maybe it's still in the video maybe not that you know the clutch
14:29 the clutch is really light and I did I do struggle a bit with the engagement
14:34 point and just feel at the engagement point but the more I ride the bike I'm
14:37 getting a lot more comfortable with it and I could see the advantage to it
14:42 there's it's just it's nice having that really light clutch pull and I'm kind of
14:48 getting a little bit more comfortable with throttle pickup and stuff and just
14:52 overall not having as many issues with the clutch so yeah maybe maybe not as
14:56 much of an issue as I was experiencing and again I think maybe for the off-road
14:59 riding more technical riding where you're using the clutch quite a bit
15:03 maybe it is it is going to be a little bit of a nice feature there around town
15:07 a bunch of stoplight to stoplight riding and you're constantly having to get
15:11 through that engagement point maybe a little bit less so but overall it's
15:14 actually not not as bothersome as I thought it might be the other thing I
15:18 did notice is the throttle pickup on this bike so I know they've adjusted the
15:25 cables as much as possible to kind of keep any slack out of the throttle but
15:29 still even even still when you go to kind of crack the throttle it just takes
15:34 just a split second before you know you start getting any of that power through
15:38 and it just makes it like a little bit jerky as you go to accelerate through a
15:42 corner there's kind of two ways to to get around that the first is just pick
15:47 up the throttle a little bit earlier and a little bit more aggressive to kind of
15:50 get through that initial hesitancy or you can kind of slip the clutch a little
15:55 bit both seem to kind of work but they are kind of a little bit band-aids for
16:00 what feels like I don't know maybe just there could be a little bit better
16:03 tuning there overall kind of what I'm realizing the more time I spent on this
16:09 bike is that as a whole a lot of the main items are really good and CFMoto
16:14 has done a really good job with you know this engine I think overall the the
16:18 power delivery everything about this engine is really good I really enjoy it
16:23 the chassis itself again when you do pick up the pace it's really responsive
16:28 it's light I think it handles really well okay there are some of the little
16:33 shortcomings in the suspension that you might need to tune out ergonomics pretty
16:37 good it's just a little bit you know again with that tank shape especially
16:41 for me as a taller rider it's just those almost some of the smaller details for
16:45 me that I think CFMoto is going to continue to refine and and just kind of
16:51 button those things up I would much rather have a machine like this
16:54 honestly that has really good bones to it and that just needs a little bit more
17:00 refinement versus something that's that feels antiquated and just older but you
17:07 know has a little bit more I don't know let's say experience to have you know
17:13 kind of worked out all those little kinks so overall I'm just I'm really
17:18 enjoying this bike it's such a good machine for whether you're kind of
17:23 cruising the back roads whether you're exploring these dirt roads and obviously
17:27 there's something to this where it is it is happy to be pushed like it is not it
17:32 is not meant for just meandering around like it's it is a very capable off-road
17:37 machine so a lot of fun and yeah we're more views more views I'm gonna I'm
17:45 gonna go enjoy those for a little bit put a let's see where it's see where
17:49 this road leads maybe to know a little beach maybe some nice cool airflow
17:52 because it is stinking hot and we're sweating under this even with all this
17:56 ventilation so we'll see where this this little dirt road leads us to and catch
18:02 up with you again soon all right so it's about a half day done on the Ibex 450
18:06 and first off look at how beautiful this this place is it really is such an
18:12 incredible place to ride this motorcycle as far as our experience goes I'm really
18:16 happy with this motorcycle I there are a couple of things that have stood out as
18:20 as like little shortcomings you know I think the brakes you know decent power
18:24 but not a lot of feel I think you could update you know or they could update the
18:28 the master cylinder the calipers to get a little bit more performance of that
18:31 that's where you're starting to see the kind of budget build coming in but the
18:36 engine is spectacular I love the engine on this thing it sounds so good I know
18:40 it sounds silly I know it's silly to keep talking about the sound of this
18:44 thing but it's that character is so big in motorcycling right it's so important
18:49 and this bike it really is a ton of fun I keep catching myself just blipping the
18:52 throttle even when I don't need to just because it's such a cool sounding
18:55 motorcycle power delivery is great you can hear these things taking off on
19:01 their afternoon ride but yeah power delivery is great it definitely feels
19:05 really well tuned for dirt riding it's just the way it puts the power down and
19:08 just gets led to the tire bite I really like the chassis on this thing it's
19:12 it's really planted it's stable I noticed that there was a time where
19:17 there was some rocks spread throughout the trail and how easily I was able to
19:21 navigate around those you know I there was a bunch of dust as you can tell so
19:25 not able to see the trail as well as I like and all sudden a rock would come up
19:28 and it's able boom boom around them and that's important because big adventure
19:32 bikes you can't always do that you know it's you can't always put those big
19:35 inputs into it because you have so much weight and it starts to follow you there
19:39 so I love that always about a 10 or a 700 and I experienced that kind of same
19:43 sensation with the bike like this and that's really what we're looking for
19:47 here is a bike that has a little bit more performance than a real small
19:50 displacement entry-level adventure bike but it kids are enjoying the motorcycle
19:56 too but yeah it doesn't have the weight and that cumbersome feeling of a large
20:01 bore adventure bike so overall just really happy with the machine I'm I know
20:07 it's it's one of those things where it sounds like I'm just raving on and on
20:10 but it really is what I wanted to experience in a kind of in between
20:15 middleweight and super fun excited to get this thing out on some more open
20:20 road later to see things like wind protection and stuff like that but
20:23 overall lots of lots of good things so far to experience and having fun we'll
20:28 catch up with you soon all right we're getting to kick some of the post lunch
20:33 slump with some curvy back roads it's nice to kind of see what this bike is
20:38 like on the pavement it's it's good I mean I'll be honest it's you can
20:42 definitely tell that it's more off-road focus then then on road you know it's it
20:47 does lack a little bit of front end feel at corner entry and mid corner you can
20:52 kind of get around that by trail breaking in a little bit deeper and
20:55 loading the front but I think it's it's quite clear again we and we notice it a
21:00 little bit when we're riding off-road but it's quite clear that CF moto is
21:04 trying to build a motorcycle that is more off-road focused and on so this
21:09 isn't one of those adventure bikes that you're gonna go ripping up on your
21:13 favorite Canyon Road on it's it's something that okay you get out here
21:17 you're gonna enjoy the pavement you can have some fun with your buddies but it's
21:21 more about getting something getting to the dirt sections I think that's really
21:26 where this bike excels it's just it just has a lot more capability off-road than
21:32 on road it seems like it and here you just gotta ride it just a little bit
21:36 more easy and just kind of you know not push it quite as much because it just
21:40 doesn't quite have the feel that you'd want to ride really aggressive on road
21:43 is that a negative it depends on who you are if you're looking for a bike that
21:49 you're gonna ride primarily on road yeah for sure I don't think that's you know
21:53 that's not the feeling that you're gonna want from this thing but you know if
21:56 you're someone who wants to go real adventure riding and do a lot of
22:01 off-road I think you know that's that's clearly who this bike is built for so
22:05 yeah super interesting to kind of feel that and understand that and I think you
22:10 know hey adventure bikes are meant for going off-road so that's what CFMoto is
22:14 trying to build here it seems like and you can still have some fun on road it's
22:18 just definitely not pushing it as hard as as maybe some other stuff like you
22:22 know one of the bikes that comes to mind is the Suzuki V-Strom 800 you know
22:25 that's a bike that feels really good on the pavement and maybe is a little bit
22:29 bigger and heavier for the off-road stuff but just a totally kind of
22:33 different approach it seems like with something like this here we have made it
22:37 to the Moto Park off-road park so we get to really see what this thing is about
22:43 hopefully off-road this should be an absolute blast nice controlled
22:47 environment I think we're not gonna have to worry about what's coming on the
22:50 other side if there's a scooter or tuk-tuk or something like that so they've
22:55 got three loops here at the little off-road park we have so far done group
23:00 loop one and two and this is three two is a little sandy and hilly but we'll
23:09 see we'll see what three is like and we'll take you along for the ride
23:13 the thing about this is I mean are you how much aggressive off-road riding are
23:21 you gonna do I don't know it depends on the person but the thing is it's nice to
23:24 know well first off it's nice to know what these things are capable of just in
23:27 general but it's also you know you never know what what situations you're gonna
23:32 find yourself in maybe it's a couple years down and you're getting really
23:36 comfortable and yeah you want to do some big adventure rides and I don't know
23:40 whether he meant to or not you might find yourself in some really technical
23:43 off-road situations and you're gonna need need some performance of off-road
23:48 performance and yeah let's see what this thing is capable of I think I think I've
23:56 said it a couple of times by now but the biggest thing that I realized is it
24:00 really is something in between like a 390 adventure you know from KTM and
24:04 Yamaha Tenere 700 it's actually almost more Tenere 700 than than 390 adventure
24:10 or small displacement adventure bike it's it's very it's got a lot more
24:17 performance honestly than than a small displacement adventure bike just a lot
24:20 more off-road performance but you know it doesn't have that big overwhelming
24:24 feeling of a large bore adventure bike or even the Tenere 700 it it kind of
24:29 just feels a little a little bit more agile I guess a little just a little bit
24:34 more easy but it has that characteristic I kind of dirt bike like characteristic
24:38 to it which is nice and again it's the suspension all that it was that is very
24:47 off-road oriented it's very aggressive it it wants you to be it wants to be
24:50 ridden hard you know look at that engine that second gear just dab your foot
24:56 around that corner a little bit a little bit of clutch and the sand got so good
25:00 man this engine is oh what is this come on my guy no
25:06 oh my goodness that's absurd that's absurd okay well we're gonna just keep
25:15 having to do that I think because I think that's what this trail is
25:20 yeah this thing is so impressive oh my gosh I don't know if it looks as
25:26 aggressive on the camera as it is but these are really tight steep sandy
25:32 corners and just like a little bit of clutch roll the throttle on and then
25:38 just puts the power down it just keeps driving it is so cool oh man this thing
25:45 is excellent
25:48 you just kind of knife the front a little bit get it turned get on the
25:53 throttle and there goes
25:59 so cool I am exhausted got like another four laps in on the off-road course and
26:09 we are about to head out of here gonna head out of here head back to the hotel
26:15 should be back in about 30 minutes and wrap this thing up so yeah this was a
26:20 lot of fun a lot of fun cutting to see what this thing's capable of I will say
26:23 the suspension is it's still a little bit of a weak point when you're riding
26:27 it really aggressive it just I think it's it feels really stiff and it just
26:31 deflects off of sharp edge bumps and rocks and you know I'd like to maybe do
26:36 a little bit of tuning it'll be interesting to get one of these for a
26:39 little bit longer and let's see if we can get that suspension tuned up a
26:43 little bit better but uh I mean there's definitely the chassis is really great
26:47 on this thing there's definitely a lot of potential here it's a lot of a lot of
26:53 fun it's it handles well you know in terms of agility and nimbleness you know
26:58 I think that engine is so much fun the engine is just the power characteristic
27:02 on it is great and yeah cool to see what the things capable of all right well
27:06 that's it for the off-road park we are officially on the road head back to the
27:13 hotel should be back in about 30 minutes all right well we are back where we
27:17 started what an epic day on the Ibex 450 you know earlier when I started this
27:24 video I said something along the lines of this being like a middle ground
27:27 between something like a KTM 390 adventure Yamaha Tenere 700 and honestly
27:33 that's basically exactly what the bike is it feels maybe a little bit more
27:39 Tenere 700 than 390 adventure but it's it's a really happy middle ground there
27:45 it's not a perfect motorcycle by by any stretch of the imagination there are a
27:49 couple of things that stand out but on the positive side you know the things I
27:54 really like about this bike are the engine and the chassis and even the
27:57 styling and the ergonomics those those things those kind of those are the
28:01 pillars of a good motorcycle and in in those areas CF moto has really succeeded
28:06 that engine is just phenomenal it's got so much character it just sounds awesome
28:11 and and then it's also just really smooth good power delivery you know the
28:15 mid-range is definitely where this thing excels yeah it doesn't it doesn't rev
28:21 quite like out it doesn't rev out quite like the 450 nk necessarily but that's
28:26 not really what that's obviously not what CF moto was going for it it's not
28:29 really what you're looking for on a bike like this but it still has all those
28:33 really good characteristics of just really good it just puts the power down
28:37 to the ground really well in a lot of the sandy silty stuff especially like
28:42 what we did at the off-road park it's really shocking how well it puts that
28:46 power down to the ground and just gives you that forward momentum now on the
28:50 chassis side really light nimble it kind of has that dirt bike feel that I've
28:54 always loved about like the Tenere 700 it's planted it allows you to be
28:58 aggressive with the bike put really strong inputs into it and that's
29:01 important you know as the pace picks up on an adventure bike you want to have
29:05 that kind of sure-footed feel without it obviously being super heavy and
29:09 overwhelming and and kind of just doing that big dance like a like a big
29:13 adventure bike right so in those in those aspects it's a really solid
29:18 motorcycle ergonomics it it's a bigger motorcycle that I think I was expecting
29:23 a lot of that comes from the tank and in that it's not perfect for sure for a
29:28 taller rider like myself I've mentioned that you know my knees did hit the edges
29:32 of the tank and you know I think I was able to adapt to it a little bit but it
29:38 is that was the only challenging thing for me in terms of ergonomics otherwise
29:43 it's a really comfortable motorcycle especially again we've got the tall
29:46 accessory seat on the bike that we've ridden here honestly I think for for
29:51 most people in the States that's that's really gonna be the seat you want that's
29:54 probably the seat that should come standard electronics I didn't mess with
29:58 them too much and obviously there's not a ton going on there you've got the
30:01 switchable ABS and trash control I was able to turn it off and I left it off
30:05 for the most part and again the way the bike makes the power and it steps out so
30:10 smoothly when you want to slide it it just works really well of course when
30:13 you want those rider aids you've obviously got them so that's nice really
30:17 like the TFT display just from an electronic standpoint it's a really nice
30:21 motorcycle it's it's simple but it has just enough now in terms of the
30:25 downsides again the suspension is a little bit hard for me to wrap my head
30:29 around it just it feels really stiff it just doesn't ever have a plush feel to
30:34 it which is it's funny because there's so many stock motorcycles the OEM
30:39 motorcycles and we'll complain about how soft they are we wanted to be stiffened
30:42 up CFMoto has kind of gone the opposite direction where it's a very aggressive
30:46 motorcycle it it you'll have to ride the thing pretty hard to load that that
30:50 suspension and obviously you know you've got the adjustable stuff here so maybe
30:53 we could tune that out a little bit but it as it is you know in stock trim it
30:58 just bounces off sharp edges and it deflects and it kind of bounces you
31:03 around the trail and yeah I think that's that maybe is the the one big
31:07 shortcoming kind of from a handling side other little things you know the brakes
31:12 are just okay I mentioned earlier that there's not a lot of feel in the initial
31:16 part of the pole there's there's decent power there's power there you know
31:20 plenty in in whether you're off-road riding or on road but just not a lot of
31:24 feel kind of same thing for the clutch I was able to adapt to it a little bit
31:28 but I just wish there was more feel at that engagement point I think it's
31:31 really important especially for newer riders you know once they get out in
31:35 technical situations or even in around town riding it's it's really nice to
31:39 have something that had a clutch with a lot of feel okay it's nice to have that
31:42 really light pull but but feel is important as well other than that I just
31:48 it's really hard for me to find any big complaints with this bike and I know I
31:54 know you're gonna want to hear you're gonna want to hear more negatives right
31:57 and you're gonna want to think that hey a bike for $6,500 can't be as good as I'm
32:02 saying it is but I guarantee that this thing is a lot of fun there is a lot of
32:07 potential in this package I think CF moto has got a really good thing on its
32:11 hands and again it's it's a bike that people have been asking for for so long
32:16 and they've delivered and it's you know for a lot of people this is gonna be a
32:21 great motorcycle it's not just a great motorcycle for $6,500 but it's a great
32:26 motorcycle overall so if you are interested in something like that you
32:31 want that kind of middle ground adventure bike definitely go check it
32:34 out you know go one of their dealerships if you got an opportunity to go to an
32:37 event and do one of their demos you should you know if hey and if you're not
32:41 into the CF moto thing then look at something else you know I think this is
32:46 more like a Tenere 700 there's obviously a ton of other options out there in the
32:50 space and you know I think CF moto admits that hey they might not be for
32:54 everybody but I will say that for the for the right people and who it's so
32:57 people who are looking for that happy middle ground this is a good bike that's
33:02 actually it for today I gotta go get cleaned up I am actually just covered in
33:07 silt it's hot it's humid maybe go jump in the pool or something like that it's
33:11 been a lot of fun riding this thing thank you for tuning in to this video if
33:15 you like what you saw give this thing a like subscribe to the cycle world
33:19 channel so we can keep doing this for you and hey if you got any questions
33:23 about the Ibex 450 drop them below we'll get you answers we'll see you guys
33:29 you
33:31 you
33:34 (engine revving)
33:36 (roaring)