[700CLX Heritage]

On Friday night 3/31/23 I was out chasing the rain and while downshifting from 55mph for a red light, my transmission suffered a catastrophic event!!! The bike just make a loud CLUNK, the Gear Indicator disappeared and the Neutral Light came on although I was still in what I thought was 5th gear. I managed to pull onto the road shoulder and came up empty trying to find neutral. I was able to make the last 2-3 miles home with the flashers on with no gear indicator and a solid neutral light. When I went out Saturday morning I could not still not get neutral although the light was on, there was still had no gear indicator, and getting the bike from my house to the road and up on the flatbed it seems that only 3rd & 4th gear remain intact.

I'm thankful I caught the whole event on my GoPro which caught the sudden vibration in the mirrors, my reaction along with the sounds, and the free Speedometer Pro app's map shows my speed hadn't been excessive over the entire 2hour 80mile ride I was on.

Geico covered the flatbed tow to my local dealer who will let me know if CFMOTO recommends replacing the entire transmission or just the parts that have failed if the case is not damaged. After a search online, it appears that I am the first to suffer this but the dealer is cool and I've gotten permission to record the disassembly as it takes place later in the week so I can report on what failed at the CFMOTO forum, on this group and on YouTube.

If you're not familiar with this site add them to your bookmarks!! They were able to purchase parts from CFMOTO but don't report back on what is still available. After my dealer couldn't find a part I discovered that they had one in stock and were only 3 hours from me in NY so I had the part in 2 days. They also have the entire bike in exploded view diagrams with all part numbers.
https://cfmotousaparts.com/?s=Diagram%3A+2022+cfmoto+700CL-X+CF700-2US&post_type=product&dgwt_wcas=1

I'll post more as soon as it comes in.

[NMKawierider]

Thankfully it didn't lock-up and cause an accident. Let us know what part(s) came apart.

[700CLX Heritage]

Absolutely grateful for that!! Thanks for taking the time to comment.

After experiencing the Cruise Control/Reverse Gear Indicator Sensor problem the dealer originally replaced the Transmission Gear Sensor
Part# 0700-063100-30001 under warranty but when I went out to test it, the bike went into Limp Mode with code P060069 and because that code was unknown to them and they could not say for sure if it was related or a badly timed coincidence, they are going to replace the ECU under warranty.

I later discovered that other owners were reporting the problem and that their dealers had their Reverse Gear Sensor changed Part #0700-065210. CFMOTO didn't have any in stock so I found the part outside the US and changed it myself. They did say that they are looking to possibly redesign or make changes in the Shift Drum on future engines to solve this problem.

That limp mode event was helpful in that because I used my EZPASS tag to enter the NYS Thruway I had entry and exit times, mile marker posts, and distance so I was able to determine that the speedometer was off. Once the problem appeared to be resolved, using Google Maps and the free Speedometer Pro app (which is great as it uses GPS alone and doesn't require you to use your mobile phones data and gives you a map in the history when you have stopped recording) I verified that the CL-X is off by 1-2mph at 30mph-40mph, 3mph @50-60mph, 5mph@80mph, and topping out at 9mph @113mph so I was really ~only~ doing 104mph.

When I asked the dealer and two other local shops if they knew how/where the speedometer gets its data from and if it is also miscalculating the the true mileage, average speed, and  hours I have on the bike in an effort to calibrate and correct it, they shrugged and laughed at me.

How oddly coincidental that I just jumped out and watched your video on Ironhead's speedometer calibration and wonder if you know or think that those actions will correct the CL-X's speedometer as well?

https://www.youtube.com/@700clx2/videos is where my short mileage updates, awesome cold weather gear reviews, and a few other clips with a defective GoPro Hero 11 Black before I returned it for the older but more stable Hero 8 which was on sale. More will be coming as the bike's in the shop so I now have time to edit and upload additional footage.

[NMKawierider]

I would suspect most CFM speedos calibrate is a similar way so..if you can get into your settings I'm sure you can adjust yours the same way.

113/104 MPH on any bike...especially on a Chinese machine is hard to imagine to me these days at 67. In my younger days I did do 110 on my Honda VF700 Magna..but even then it was a "pucker" moment...lol. Kinda miss that bike.





 

[700CLX Heritage]

A buddy of mine had a Honda VF700 Magna and I always tried to get him to trade as I'm only 5'4" and his seat was 1.5" lower than my Yamaha XS650. I hit 95 once on that one but the older Harleys just rattled too much to push past 85 without much puckering!!

That third 113/104 top speed test was the last I'll make! They were very calculated and risk assessed opportunities on the straightest roads with great distance views for oncoming traffic as well as steep granite mountain walls on one side blocking crosswind and limited opportunity of wildlife and vehicles entering on the other. In 6th gear at 8800RPMs I don't expect much more out of the bike without another half mile and there just aren't any roads or facilities nearby to try, I can go to my grave knowing I got the most out of it.

I've made senior citizen's age of 57 without ever being placed in handcuffs, and the only two interactions with wildlife have been from a deer who cleared my truck at night only to turn around and run into my door, and a low flying crane or heron that barely cleared the roof of the truck and surely broke it's legs but kept flying.

I'd like to keep it that way and keep the odometers turning!!

As for being Chinese, it's pretty fair to say that this Chinese bike has less Chinese designed parts than all aftermarket parts for all bike manufacturers. They designed this bike with Austrian KTM, licensed this 650cc motor from Japanese Kawasaki, bored it to 699cc and retuned it. CFMOTO also partnered with Austrian KTM in 2013 and they are currently making the engines for several of KTM's bikes. The CL-X has Japanese KYB suspension, German Bosch Fuel Injection, German Continental dual channel ABS, Italian Pirelli tires. The Heritage comes stock with Spanish JJuan brakes, and the Sport model has the Italian Brembo 4 piston dual rotors brakes that several reviewers admitted was too much and unnecessary for a bike of this power. And, Brembo acquired JJuan in November 2021 I guess because why not partner with or buy out your closest competitor!?

Here in the US they come with a 2 year warranty, compared with 3 years some European countries, and a whopping 5 years in in Canada!! They've been making bikes for many years now but this is their maiden debut in the States.

Also oddly coincidental, I checked out Ironheads site to see that he credited TITTLE DIESEL PERFORMANCE LLC for the tip so I did a google search and called them in WV. The guy had no idea what I was talking about and swore he'd never worked on any CFMOTO machines or been on YT! I went back to Ironhead's YT page and discovered that his is in MD, so there are two businesses with the same name in different states. Talk about doppelgangers!

The dealer had to push me back a few days so it'll be another week before I'll have more info but I will post it. I keep all but begging the FB group members to post their issues here but to no success.

[Hollywood]

Sorry to hear of the trouble, but look forward to the teardown!
Pretty cool to hear how involved they are on updating the design, and I've wondered why there are three piston options listed, figured it was for various models (ADV, Sport, Heritage) but maybe its evolution?

[don19b80]

On addressing the reverse gear sensor and issues with indicating the wrong gear... I have a new part on the way (Part # 0700-065210) but I decided to take out the current sensor and clean it with WD-40 "Contact Cleaner" (not regular WD-40. I pushed down on the button on the sensor and sprayed down inside of it, I sprayed the connector on the wiring harness and the sensor wire, and inside the hole where the sensor is screwed into the engine. It worked like a charm and all issues are gone. Time will tell how long the cleaning will last but for a literal 5 minute fix, I'll do it as often as needed until cleaning no longer works, then I'll replace and clean as necessary. I'll update here on how long the cleaned sensor functions. Video on location/removal of reverse gear sensor here: