We’re seeing tons of new motorcycles from a variety of Chinese manufacturers, and while a lot of them are small commuters with little chance of ever making it outside of the Chinese market, there are quite a number of premium models that have been causing quite a buzz in the market. One of the newest comes to us from Haojin, a motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Guangzhou, one of the central cities in southern China.
Neo-retro is in vogue, and it appears that Chinese motorcycle companies are taking notice of this, even if they don’t have any legacy to back up their retro inspirations. The Letbe Arthur LB 700 is an example of this, and from a styling perspective, it looks to do battle against the likes of the Kawasaki Z650RS and Yamaha XSR700. Its engine looks very similar to the 700cc engine we find in CFMoto’s 700 CL-X range, which in turn, is a reverse-engineered Kawasaki 650 engine. In the Letbe Arthur, it churns out 75 horsepower at 8,500 rpm, and 68 Newton-meters (about 47.6 pound-feet) of torque at 6,500 rpm.
In the technology department, the Letbe Arthur is quite peculiar in the sense that it has an internal gyroscope that allows you to view your lean angle on the cockpit, but that’s about it. It misses out on cornering ABS and lean-sensitive traction control, instead, featuring basic dual-channel ABS from Continental. Suspension hardware consists of KYB hardware, with the front fork featuring preload damping adjustability. The rear shock seems to be a non-adjustable unit, however.
That being said, the bike does receive a TFT instrument cluster complete with smartphone integration. Through a proprietary mobile app, you can access features such as navigation, entertainment, as well as various display settings. Interestingly, the Letbe Arthur LB 700 also comes with a built-in front camera, although all it does is record your journeys – no smart cruise control or collision avoidance features here.
As of this writing, Haojin has yet to announce pricing and availability on the Letbe Arthur LB700. It is, however, important to note that the engine is rated only to Euro 4 standards, so the likelihood of this ever making it to Europe is near-zero.
