CFMOTO’s 800MT-X ticks away as I sit alone at a lookout on the Bridle Track, high above the Turon River on the approach to the old gold mining town of Hill End in western NSW, around 270km from the centre of Sydney.
I’ve brought CFMOTO’s 800MT Explore and 800MT-X here to answer one question. Are these two motorcycles with distinctly different personalities, or simply two versions of the same bike with a different set of clothes?
CFMOTO is quite clear about where it believes the two bikes are positioned. The Explore, with its 19-inch front wheel, rear-facing radar and plush seat, is pitched as the road-focused adventure tourer.
The MT-X promises dirt cred with its more bare-bones approach, longer-travel suspension and 21 and 18-inch wheel combination. Hill End boomed during the gold rush of the 1860s, and the Bridle Track was used by the Cobb & Co coach company to ferry hopeful prospectors.
Today, it’s little more than a forsaken ghost town and the Bridle Track a rocky, mostly forgotten road, but the area is an absolute adventure bike paradise, and there is no better proving ground.
I’ve thrown everything at them, from rocky climbs to the sinuous ribbon of blacktop between Bathurst and Hill End via Wattle Flat and Sofala, dusty back roads and airtime-inducing drainage humps.
It’s more than enough to expose any adventure bike that’s all brochure and no substance. Underneath the wrappers, the two adventure sleds share a significant amount of hardware, including Bosch electronics, and a six-speed gearbox.
The same applies to the power-assisted slipper clutch, a bi-directional quick shifter and, of course, the KTM-derived 799cc parallel twin powerplant. It’s a bloody good donk whichever frame you bolt it into.
If the online forums and customer reviews are anything to go by, CFMOTO has rectified any alleged problems KTM may have had with camshafts seemingly fashioned from cheese. Despite sharing all that, each has a distinctly different modus operandi.
The MT-X produces 70kW at 8500rpm and 87Nm at 6750rpm, while the Explore makes 67kW at 9250rpm and 75Nm at 8000rpm. Why the 800MT is putting out less of everything is unclear though.
I dare say there’s a whole heap more performance to be unleashed from both bikes with a pipe and a bit of tinkering. On paper, the differences appear negligible, but the MT-X’s extra torque and lower delivery point give it a starkly different personality.
It’s punchier off the bottom, pulls harder through the mid-range and is more eager driving out of corners or clawing its way up sphincter-clenching climbs. The Explore counters with a freer-revving engine.
It feels smoother and more relaxed when you’re chewing through big highway miles. Likewise, it’s the techno-flagship of the pair, loaded with enough electronic wizardry to keep even the most ardent technophile happy.
It features six ride modes including Sport, Rain, Off-Road, Off-Road+, All-Terrain and All-Terrain+, allowing extensive adjustment of throttle response, traction control and ABS intervention depending on the surface.
The more aggressive dirt-oriented settings allow traction control reduction or deactivation, while All-Terrain+ can disable both front and rear ABS entirely. The MT-X keeps the electronic fruit simpler.
It runs just three ride modes; Standard, Rain and Off-Road. The overall feel is less about menu-diving and more about riding. Rear ABS and traction control can be disengaged, although front ABS remains active.
It’s a slightly odd limitation considering the Explore allows full ABS deactivation at either end. Bosch cornering ABS and traction control supported by a six-axis IMU features on both. Arguably the biggest difference between the two is the radar system.
Only found on the Explore, it adds rear blind-spot monitoring, lane-change assist and rear-collision warning displayed directly through the dash, so you know exactly when your bum is about to be pulverised.
The MT-X skips radar completely, which arguably makes sense on a bike designed to spend more time in remote areas where simplicity can be an advantage. The Explore runs a large 8-inch horizontal touchscreen complete with Apple CarPlay.
It also gets navigation and voice control functionality, while the MT-X gets a slimmer, vertically mounted 7-inch TFT that feels far more rally-inspired in its design. Both systems use CFMOTO’s T-Box connectivity with over-the-air updates and smartphone integration.
The biggest dynamic difference comes from the suspension. The Explore uses a fully adjustable 43mm KYB inverted fork with 160mm of travel, paired with a rear KYB mono-shock offering 150mm.
The setup is plush, compliant and tuned primarily for comfort, stability and covering distance. The MT-X goes in a very different direction. Up front it gains a larger 48mm YU’AN USD fork with a solid 230mm of travel.
The rear receives a fully adjustable YU’AN piggyback shock also delivering 230mm. That extra travel immediately transforms the bike’s capability once the black stuff disappears. Ground clearance on the MT-X jumps to 240mm and seat height climbs to 870mm.
That’s compared with the Explore’s 190mm clearance and more manageable 825mm seat height. At 186cm tall, the MT-X immediately felt more natural once I stood up on the pegs. The standing riding position is excellent.
The bars feel like they’re exactly where they should be, and the bodywork has a nice slim profile between your knees and boots that makes it easy to grip the bike properly when the terrain gets rough.
The Explore isn’t bad standing up, but it definitely feels more road-biased in its ergonomics and shape. You can still hustle it along dirt roads at a decent pace, but the MT-X feels like it was designed by people who actually expected owners to spend time standing.
On sealed roads, the Explore feels softer, smoother and more relaxed overall. It’s the easier bike to settle into for long highway days and offers noticeably better wind protection and touring comfort.
It’s no GS in the comfort stakes but, I tell you what, it’s not far off. You can happily sit on motorway speeds all day without needing to visit a chiropractor or do a top-end rebuild afterwards. The MT-X, however, feels tighter and more controlled once speeds rise.
Ride it aggressively on a winding road and the firmer suspension actually gives it an advantage, particularly when the pace increases or the surface deteriorates. There were quite a few occasions when I dragged the pegs getting my race on while riding some sexy curves.
It feels like it wants to be ridden harder and pushed further, and the firmer suspension comes into its own when the pace comes up or the road surface turns to crap. Off-road is where the gap between the two becomes substantial.
In both concept and execution, the MT-X lands remarkably close to KTM’s 790 Adventure R. It doesn’t have the outright refinement or bottoming resistance of its WP suspension package, but straight out of the crate it’s still an impressively serious dirt platform.
Google reckons the 63km run from Hill End to Bathurst should take an hour and 34 minutes. The MT-X got me from door to door in 47 minutes. It’s no slouch. The Explore simply can’t maintain the same pace once the terrain gets rough.
Push hard through erosion mounds, ugly rocky sections or just nasty off-road stuff and you can run out of suspension pretty quickly. You can absolutely feel the MT-X’s KTM 790 Adventure DNA once the terrain gets ugly.
The low-slung tanks, the balance, the standing position and the way it attacks rough terrain all feel very familiar and, honestly, that’s no bad thing at all. What stood out most was rider effort. The MT-X requires far less input to maintain speed off-road.
The chassis feels balanced, planted and easier to manage, while the Explore demands more concentration and correction as conditions worsen. Fuel tank design plays a major role in that behaviour too.
The MT-X uses KTM-style low-slung tanks that help centralise mass and mitigate the top-heavy sensation common to large-capacity adventure bikes. It also carries less weight overall, coming in at 220kg kerb compared with the 800MT Explore’s 231kg wet figure.
That 11kg gap is not enormous on paper, but when you’re picking your way through rocky climbs or trying to keep momentum through rougher terrain, you can feel it. Combined with its 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wheel setup, the MT-X feels much more natural.
The Explore sticks with a more road-oriented 19-inch front and 17-inch rear arrangement, which works brilliantly on bitumen but doesn’t offer the same confidence once surfaces deteriorate.
Braking performance is strong on both bikes and, mechanically at least, there’s very little separating them. Both the 800MT Explore and MT-X run the same high-spec J.Juan braking package.
That includes dual 320mm floating front discs paired to four-piston radial-mount calipers, backed up by a 260mm rear disc and twin-piston rear caliper. Out on the road there’s plenty of braking power and good feel through the lever on both machines.
The Explore’s softer suspension setup causes a little more fork dive under hard braking, particularly when you start pushing on through tighter sealed-road sections, while the firmer MT-X stays flatter and more composed.
Mechanically, though, there’s very little between them. So yes, they are very different machines that get the job done in a very different way. Which weapon you choose really comes down to one thing: being honest about how you actually ride.
If your adventures mostly involve highway kilometres, touring duties and the occasional dirt road, the 800MT Explore is arguably the smarter buy. It costs $16,990 ride away, and comes standard with crash bars and pannier racks.
It offers more rider tech and delivers a more comfortable long-distance experience. The MT-X is cheaper at $14,990 ride away and, for that money, is a serious amount of motorcycle. It feels like a bike that has made a few established manufacturers uncomfortable.
The level of capability you’re getting for the money is difficult to ignore. If getting dirty is your thing, there’s no question which set of keys I’d be reaching for. No, it’s not perfect.
The quick shifter occasionally found a false neutral between third and fourth under hard acceleration, and the KTM still has a slight edge in outright suspension refinement, but bloody hell, the gap is nowhere near as large as some people might expect.
Likewise, the Explore deserves plenty of credit for what it delivers as a touring-focused package. The wind protection is excellent, the electronics package is hugely impressive for the money, and it’s an easy bike to sit on all day, chewing through massive distances.
These certainly aren’t the same motorcycle wearing different clothes. They’re genuinely different bikes with very different strengths. Be honest with yourself. Buy the one that suits the riding you actually do, not the riding you want your mates to think you do.
To find out more about the CFMOTO 800MT and 800MT-X, you can visit the CFMOTO website, or contact your local dealer.
Our test bikes were supplied by CFMOTO Australia for independent review purposes. Exhaust Notes Australia has not been paid to review this motorcycle. Images courtesy of Motohead Media.
