The New CFMoto 550MT-X Looks Like The Perfect Small(ish) Displacement Adventure Bike

There's an emerging market I've been seeing rise in recent months that the new 2027 CFMoto 550MT and 550MT-X inhabit: the Medium(ish) market.

I say this because it, like many other new offerings lately, aren't exactly entry-level motorcycles. Nor are they middle-weights. They're not 300cc or 400cc motorcycles. Nor are they 700cc to 800cc. They're that medium(ish) 500 to 600cc class that just now sort of exists. And after a lot of thought on them since their arrival, I gotta say, I'm here for it.

Who do these motorcycles aim to lure in? I think two types of people: the intermediate and the OG. Which sounds a bit odd, right?

Those seem to be two very different motorcyclists. But when you drill into the specifics of these motorcycles, and this is especially true with the new 550MT siblings, you find that it offers more intermediate riders all the bells, whistles, and power they'd want, while reducing the bloat, tech, and price that those older hat riders have begun to hate on the top-tier bikes they'd typically be upsold on.

It's a perfect middle ground, and when looking at just the CFMoto 550MT-X, wooooooo baby, that motorcycle is calling to me something fierce.

Medium-Ish

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Let's talk turkey.

Both the 550MT and 550MT-X are powered by a 526cc parallel-twin engine. That produces 54 horsepower and 38 pound-feet of torque, which is a perfect number for off-roading and the like. Moreover, that power is lower down in the rev range of the parallel-twin engine, which is what off-roaders and adventure motorcyclists absolutely want from their bikes. I want to chug along and not have to shift. I want to put the bike into 2nd gear and just cruise along a dusty, rutty trail. I want a donkey most of the time, and those specs scream "hee-haw!"

The two motorcycles, however, serve very different customers, as the 550MT is for the tourer who may go off-road here and there, while the 550MT-X is for lunatics like myself who pray at the altar of dirt. 

Wet weight, i.e., the only weight that actually matters, is a frankly ludicrously low 403 pounds for the bikes, and that's including the spectacularly large 6-gallon fuel tank. KYB suspension is featured on both, though the 550MT is pre-tuned for comfort, while the 550MT-X offers fully adjustable units, the latter of which offer riders  nearly 10 inches of travel at the front, and 9 inches at the back. Ground clearance is also different between the two, with the 500MT-X having, well, more. As you'd expect.

Weirdly, or maybe not for CFMoto in the company's drive toward differentiation between its models, the braking setups are also slightly different, as the off-road model gets only a single disc setup and fewer nannies compared to the more technically prodigious on-road 550MT. There are also a host of riding modes, traction control settings, cornering ABS, and more available. As you'd also expect, the wheels and tires are different, too, with the 550MT-X getting 21s and 18s front and rear, while the 550MT gets 20s and 19s. 

There are a handful of other differences between the two motorcycles, but again, the story that these specs tell is one of a market that's wanting more than just basic and less than over the top. Maybe we don't call them Medium (ish) motorcycles, but rather in that Goldilocks zone? Just right?

The only thing missing from CFMoto's release is a price and when they'll be available, however. My best guess would be these will arrive to dealerships (hopefully, in the U.S., too) in spring, with a price of around $10,000. But again, that's just a guesstimate. We'll have to wait and see. 

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