This Chinese Middleweight Naked Bike Costs $7K And Has Main Character Syndrome
Letbe's Arthur 700 undercuts Japanese middleweights on price while accidentally becoming comedy gold online.
A Chinese motorcycle company by the name of Letbe recently showcased the Arthur 700, a middleweight motorcycle that somehow manages to feel both genuinely interesting and unintentionally hilarious at the same time.
Now, we actually talked about this bike some three years ago, and now it seems to be back and with quite a few updates, as well. On paper, the bike actually sounds pretty competitive. It packs a 693cc liquid-cooled parallel twin making 75 horsepower and 50 pound-feet of torque, weighs 445 pounds, and reportedly tops out at 115 miles per hour. Nothing about those numbers is outrageous. In fact, they land right in the same territory as plenty of established middleweight bikes like the Yamaha MT-07, Kawasaki Z650, and Suzuki GSX-8S.
Unfortunately for Letbe, the company’s name immediately triggers a completely different part of the brain. The moment you read it, your mind starts quietly playing The Beatles. By the time you finish the spec sheet, there’s a decent chance “Let It Be” is already looping in your head while you stare at a motorcycle named Arthur being described like a medieval warrior philosopher. That probably wasn’t the intended branding strategy, but here we are. [Ed. note: Either that, or if you had the kind of parents who loved themselves some soft rock, your brain wants to spontaneously belt out "WHEN you get CAUGHT between THE MOON and NEW YORK CIIIIIITY....I know it's crazy, (but it's truuuuuuuue)" jj]
Made In China: The Good And The Bad
But the real problem here is the way Letbe talks about the bike. The website is packed with lines like “Arthur is a presence felt before you are seen” and “The city is unpredictable. Arthur is sure.” At one point, Letbe even says “185 km/h isn’t the goal. It’s freedom,” which sounds less like motorcycle marketing and more like a motivational quote posted by a teenager who broke the speed limit for the first time in their life.
What makes this whole thing fascinating is that beneath all the aggressively philosophical branding is a machine that actually seems fairly solid for the money. The Arthur 700 uses a 693cc parallel twin that seams weirdly familiar, as well as the conventional naked-bike formula with 17-inch wheels, a 120-section front and a 160-section rear tire. The website barely mentions suspension details, electronics, or rider aids, which makes the bike feel suspiciously like a rebadged platform sourced from a larger Chinese manufacturer (ehem, CFMoto).
Nonetheless, modern Chinese motorcycles have improved massively over the past decade, and there’s a decent chance this thing rides perfectly fine.
Then you get to the price, which is the real reason this bike matters. Letbe lists the Arthur 700 at a promotional 5,990 euros, or roughly $7,000 USD. That puts it dangerously close to used Japanese middleweights while offering brand-new-bike appeal and respectable performance numbers. In a market where motorcycle prices keep climbing, a brand-new 75-horsepower naked bike at that price is difficult to ignore, even if the marketing is nothing short of cringe, to say the least.
Frankly, the Arthur 700 would probably be easier to take seriously if Letbe simply toned things down. The bike itself already has enough going for it. A reasonably light middleweight with decent power and aggressive pricing doesn’t need to pretend it’s delivering spiritual enlightenment through two wheels.
Most riders just want to know if the engine is smooth, the suspension is decent, and the parts supply won’t disappear overnight. The Arthur 700 doesn’t need to be “a presence felt before you are seen.” It just needs to start every morning and be fun to ride.
Source: Letbe Motorcycles
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