Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128084
Riding Impression Oil is held in the twin-cradle frame , and th e s us p e n s io n is handled by a he CCM factory in Blackburn, Great 46mm Paioli conven tional-type fork up Britain, is back in th e busin ess of front, and a d ramatically angled , d irectma kin g mot orcycles again af te r a mount, single Wh ite Power p iggyback ยท~shock. Both sus pensio n com po nents are disastrous fire at the p lanr'basica lly halt.. fully ad jus table. ed production a few yea rs ago. Probably Th e front a nd re ar d isc brakes are the most interesti ng motorcyCle coming ..; made by Brernb o, and the rims , Exce l, off the new production line these days is the 640E Su permoto. Mu ch of th e entire motorcycle is conThe Su permoto is closely based on s tr uc ted ou t of to p-q uality "after marthe com pany's d ual-sport models, but ket" componen ts. The bike sp orts a 61.2-inch wheel with a few changes to give it that superba se, a 37 -i n ch sea t h eight, an d 13.6 motard appeara nce and performance. It' s the shrunken tires that capture inches of gro u nd clea rance. The 640 is eve ryo ne' s attention when you ride by n o lig htweig h t by a ny mean s. CCM claims the bike weig hs just over 315 on this bik e. The l7-inch whee ls (fro nt pou nd s, a nd co ns idera bly more w he n and rear), shod with low-profile Pirelli Dragon street tires, trul y make this bik e you top off the 3.6-gallon fuel tank. look different, in a very cool way . Even As alread y mention ed , rid in g this the stu bby front fender looks a bit odd, bike is pure fun . Anyone who has ever ridden a dua l-sport bike kn ows how but very acceptable. mu ch fu n the y are to corner on pav ed Not too long ago, we got the chance mou ntain roads, even on semi -knobby to ride the CCM 640 Supermoto, thou gh we only had the bike a sho rt time, wh ich tires. Now imagin e a d ua l-sport bike prevented us from taking the bike to the desig ned to co rner, with big-fa t street tires on 17-inch rims. Tack on a thundertrack or putting it through its paces on ous Rotax fou r-s troke motor, an d you mountain or canyo n roads. But we did spend so me tim e on the bik e, riding it mi ght ge t a n idea just wha t it's like to rid e the 640 Su pe rmoto. Ap paren tly, a throu gh tow n , a n d venturing ou t o f lot o f yo u alread y kn ow, as th e CCM town on the yellow and black machine. All th is d id , h owev er, was w et o u r U'S, im po rter claims a large number of appeti tes for mo re. As you can probabl y machin es to ha ve been alread y so ld . (Mo st of those sold ha ve been the 604 already imagin e, this bike is an absolute mod el.) blast to ride. But first some of the basic tech stuff. The Supermo to loves to be flicked The CCM Supermoto can be orde red into th e turns. It's super co n trollable in o ne o f tw o d ispl a cement s: 597cc and stable w hen leaned ove r, and tw ist(604E) or 636cc (640E); we rod e the 640 ing the throttle open whe n rolling ou t of the turns is a pure ru sh - no t to mention mod el. The bike is powered by an ai rnoisy. The exha us t is impressive, if a litcoo led, s ingle-cyli nder, SOHC, fo urstroke Rota x mot or , brou ght to life by tle on the lou d side. either electric or kickstart methods. I'm . Jus t for fun, we d rag-raced the 640 sure w e don't ne ed to tell yo u which agai ns t a s tock Kawasaki KX500 (o n me thod we used all the time. Power is pavem ent ), an d the CCM almos t always rna tch ed th e KX gear fo r gea r , th en deliv ered to th e rear w heel via a fivespeed constant-mesh transmission. waved goodbye to it when to pped ou t. By Kit Palmer T r:D .8 E IV (,) IV C 14 CCM 640E Supermoto The CCM Supermoto that we rode was a. 1999 model, but the 2000 version will be very s imilar. We know for sure, however, the 2000s will have a different carburetor. Starting the big 640 was as simple as pushi ng a button , thanks to Its electric starter, but it's the 17-inch whee ls that willdraw a crowd wherever It goes. Slap on more-regular 21- and 18-inch wheels, and s udden ly you have a dual-sport bike. The CCM sim ply kept picking u p speed until it was time to slow 'er down. Luck'ily, th e Bre m bo brak es were up to the task . Th e CC M fee ls ergonom ica lly correct, but the thin an d stiff sea t, and the sta ndard h ea vy vibes from a big-bore -- . fo u r-st ro ke s ing le , prev ent this bike from being a d aily commu ter , at leas t for my 120-mile daily hauL Still, I could easily see my self owning this motorcycle . The CCM just looks so trick, from its go ld -ano d ized hubs to its t in y wh ee ls a n d fr o nt fe nde r, to it s bright yellow (and black) coloring . Plus, you can even p olish th e engine's a lu minum cases to a chro me- like shine, like on the one we rod e. This is one of those bikes that when you first look at it, you think to you rself, "I gotta have it:' I also like the fact that you can purchas e "regula r" wheels for the Supermoto, a nd su d d en ly you have a d u al -spor t bi ke that yo u can take off road. Bu t if it ever came tim e to actuall y write the check, well, I would just have to keep telling myself just how much fun it is to rid e, beca use $8695 is a lot of money for a sing le-cylinder motorcycle ($8195 for the 604), or for any mot orcycle for that matt er. The n again , it is almost like getting tw o mot orcycl es fo r the price of one. O kay, maybe one and a hal f. _ CCM 640E Supermoto Spec ~icalions Engine type Air-cooled, sing le-cylinder, SOHC, 4-stroke, electric start /kickstart Displacement 636cc (640E)/ 597cc (604E) 97mm/81mm Bore/stroke Carburetor Dell'Orto VHSB 39mm flat-slid e Transmission S-speed Ignition Electronic COl Frame .Oil in frame, twin crad le Suspension Front Paioli 46mm conv en tional fork Rear White Pow er, piggyba ck reservoir Wheel travel Fro nt .300mm Rear .350mm Brakes Front Bremb o 320mm disc , twin piston , floating di sc Rear Brembo 220mm d isc, twin pis ton , floating di sc Wheels Front 17 in. (21 in. optional) Rea r 17 in. 08 in . optional) 0 1 le ng th A .88 in. Wh eelb ase 61.2 in. Seat he ight .37 in. Ground clearance 13.6 in. Fu el capacity .3.6 gal, MSRP $8695 (640E) . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .$8195 (604E) CCM-USA 915 Comme rcial St., #2 San Jose, CA 95112 Phone : 800-309-9463