Return of the 400cc four-cylinder sportsbike as Chinese Colove 400RR revealed

Chinese brand Colove are promising a series of new machines for Europe including a 400cc sportsbike and an 800cc adventure bike.

The 400cc fours that emerged in the second half of the 1980s represented Japan’s dominance in motorcycle design; small, high tech and beautifully made jewels of bikes that brands elsewhere in the world couldn’t conceive of competing with.

Now China is getting in on the act with upstart brand Colove revealing designs and a running engine for an upcoming 400RR.

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There’s been a resurgence of interest in small screamers recently, with Kawasaki’s Asian-market Ninja ZX-25R becoming the first new 250cc four in decades and expected to spawn a 400cc derivative soon. A modern 400cc sportsbike in the mould of machines like the CBR400RR or ZXR400 but with a low price is a tempting proposition.

Colove’s Excelle 400RR engine has been shown running on stage at a presentation in China, along with sketches of the final design.

It’s a good-looking machine with a single-sided swingarm, a trellis-style frame and bodywork that has overtones of Aprilia’s latest MotoGP bikes, including a full-width front wing below a protruding central air intake, looping into double-deck side winglets.

Colove claim impressive performance, with a peak of 72.4bhp at 13,500rpm and 32.4lb.ft of torque at 12,000rpm on the way to a 16,000rpm redline.

• Related: The golden age of sports 400s

An ultra-short 35.6mm stroke and wide 59mm bore, along with a 13:1 compression ratio and modern tech, including fuel injection, contribute to a power figure far higher than any of those old Japanese 400cc fours could achieve, and Colove say it’s completely designed in-house. The bike will be under 160kg and have a top speed north of 135mph.

Colove’s plans don’t stop there. The company recently showed a prototype ‘800X’ adventure bike powered by a 105hp, 63lb.ft parallel twin that looks very similar to KTM’s LC8c unit, as used in the 790 Duke and Adventure. Now the company have revealed that machine’s final styling – losing the prototype’s ‘beak’ in favour of a more Africa Twin-style nose.

The same engine will also appear in an ‘800RR’ sportsbike and ‘800R’ roadster, both sharing a cast alloy half frame similar to the design in Aprilia’s RS 660 and Tuono 660 – bikes that will clearly be their closest rivals for sales.