Colove ZF321F, two new neo-retro proposals from China

Yet another Chinese brand, this one Colove, which is slowly making its way into an increasingly crowded segment of medium-small displacements which represents the strong point of the Asian markets and also the one with the greatest prospects if we look at the Italian and European ones.

Which is not so new, given that the Colove Motorcycle was born in 1995 in Tibet and in a short time manages to establish a collaboration relationship with Kymco: now has nine factories and three divisions ranging from the production of engines to motorcycles, three and four-wheeled vehicles, electric and non-electric.

All this just to say that we are facing another company with a lot of “potential”. We wrote about her about the ZF 450 LS, a rally enduro with an aesthetic very similar to the 450 KTM. And, at Eicma 2022, we have seen a couple of his products though under the KL brand (a 500cc BMW GS-like crossover, and an interesting modern-heritage of the same displacement).

Today, the object of our writing, is the ZF321F, a motorcycle with a modern look with retro veins scattered here and there (see the brown saddle) which splits into two versions: naked and sporty.

Beyond the 70s-style half fairing which incorporates the front headlight and the half-handlebars with mirrors at the ends which includes the sports version, the two bikes are technically and mechanically identicalwith LED lights, digital display and with the steel tube trellis frame which, at the rear, is paired with a muscular single-sided arm, a solution that is taken on an equal footing with the naked NK321R and sports NK321RR, already present in the Colove list.

The engine also comes from the NK, a 322cc parallel twin that should deliver 41 hp at 10,500 rpm and 28.5 Nm of torque at 9,000 rpm . Given the tendency of Chinese companies to fully use a single platform for an entire range, we imagine that the rest of the chassis is also identity, from the upside-down fork to the front brake with radial mount caliper and 320 mm disc, from tire dimensions (120 / 70-17, 150 / 60-17) wheelbase of 1,370 mm.

The arrival of the two 321Fs is scheduled for 2022, but it is not clear whether it will be imported to Europe (as is already the case for the similar BMW Colove 500X). It is certainly known that the Tibetan company is also working on higher displacement products like a twin-cylinder 800 crossover following the better known Benelli TRK800 and CFMoto 800MT.