2023 CFMOTO 450SR: Best New Beginner Sportsbike?

Is this the best new beginner 450 sportsbike? Let’s take a look… The beginner sportsbike segment has been a bit stagnant in recent years, but CFMOTO looks ready to add some spice with their 450SR, offering a competitive package for $7990 ride-away here in Australia for 2023. The only price reference I could find for the US was just shy of $5250, although I’d call that far from confirmed.

CFMOTO have been pretty on point in delivering value for a number of years and the 450SR looks like it’ll continue that trend, with the manufacturer also really polishing up their offerings in the years since appearing here in Australia.

Powering the 450SR is a 270 degree parallel-twin, which I’d say is arguably the best configuration for performance, particularly beginner friendly performance, character, feel and production value, while still meeting restrictions like LAMS here in Australia, with an A2 version expected for Europe too. I own a Husqvarna 401 and Ninja 400 too, so I think I’m in a good position to make that judgement, but there’s some subjectivity involved.

Here in Australia the quoted performance figures are 34.5 kW at 10,100 rpm and 39.3 Nm at 7750 rpm. So slightly down on power to the Ninja 400, but slightly up on torque.

On the chassis side of things there’s a chromium-molybdenum alloy steel frame, weighing under 11 kg with a separate sub-frame at 4 kg. Aluminium alloy wheels run 110/70 and 150/60 tyres, both 17 inch of course, with a six-spoke design and CFMOTO reckon the swingarm is lightweight, but don’t mention what it’s constructed of.

Considering the wet weight figure is 179 kg, hopefully including a full tank of 14 litres of fuel, that’s a fair bit heavier than the Ninja 400 at 168 kg. The RC 390 runs a dry figure of 155 kg but there’s a safe 10 kg to add to that in fuel and liquids at the very least.

To the 450SR’s credit, the forks are inverted (USD) 37 mm units, so skinnier than the 41 mm traditional units in the Ninja and 43 mm USDs in the RC 3..