[Redfire427]

Hey folks,

As the title says, I am a new CF Moto owner from Ontario, Canada. I currently own a Canam Outlander, but wanted something for my wife and I to get out together and enjoy the trails around our property in Huntsville. I became aware of the CF Moto products a few years ago, but never really looked into them. I attended the Cottage Life Show in Toronto back in March and CF Moto had a pretty good display of their products. After looking them over, I decided to get the Z-Force 1000. I just picked it up a couple of weeks ago, but have not driven it yet as the weather has been horrible, so I have been spending my time getting familiar with it and adding some accessories. I installed the frame sliders, 36" LED light bar, and LED rear lights. I also made a bracket to mount a Sony bluetooth speaker to the roll bar.

While looking it over, I see why it comes at a lower cost point. It is definitely not on the same level as BRP as far as engineering and quality goes. I found a couple of missing fasteners on the skid plate as there was welding slag in the holes so a fastener could not be screwed in. I will remedy this soon. I was also disappointed to see how so many of the weld joints on the frame had the powder coating missing and rust spots showing through. I can only imagine what these joints will look like in a couple of years. Overall, it is a nice looking machine and I expect it will meet my needs. I am very disappointed in my selling dealer. It was a very sloppy delivery and extremely poor communication. Hopefully I won't be needing their service much in the future.

I have read a large number of the posts on this forum to learn more about this side by side, and I hope I can contribute in some small way down the road.

Happy trails,

Carmen

[Bigfox]

hi Carman.. I'm a new rider from the Parry Sound area.. hope things improve with the dealership. What dealer did you go through?

[murdo]

Welcome.

[WiseDuck]

I found the exact same brown spots on the welds on my new CForce 550. However, they seem to be weird. Some spots feel rough, while others feel very smooth to the touch. Almost as if they're either some kind of discoloration, or some spots have been clear-coated. The dealer first said this was "normal wear and tear and nothing to worry about", (rust spots on most major welds after 0km? Doubt it. My fathers Yamaha Grizzly 700 has over 7000 km on it and almost ZERO rust anywhere, not even dings from stones and gravel. That's one tough frame/paint!) despite this being present on their SHOW FLOOR machines. They later called again and said that this isn't actually rust, but some kind of discoloration from the manufacturing process. (Some kind of "oxidation" from the welding they said, but rust IS oxidation, of the very bad kind!)

Honestly, I don't know what to think. However, I took things into my own hands and just cleaned all the spots I could reach, painted them and then clear-coated the lot.

[Redfire427]

hi Carman.. I'm a new rider from the Parry Sound area.. hope things improve with the dealership. What dealer did you go through?

From the one very close to you.

[Redfire427]

I found the exact same brown spots on the welds on my new CForce 550. However, they seem to be weird. Some spots feel rough, while others feel very smooth to the touch. Almost as if they're either some kind of discoloration, or some spots have been clear-coated. The dealer first said this was "normal wear and tear and nothing to worry about", (rust spots on most major welds after 0km? Doubt it. My fathers Yamaha Grizzly 700 has over 7000 km on it and almost ZERO rust anywhere, not even dings from stones and gravel. That's one tough frame/paint!) despite this being present on their SHOW FLOOR machines. They later called again and said that this isn't actually rust, but some kind of discoloration from the manufacturing process. (Some kind of "oxidation" from the welding they said, but rust IS oxidation, of the very bad kind!)

Honestly, I don't know what to think. However, I took things into my own hands and just cleaned all the spots I could reach, painted them and then clear-coated the lot.

When you weld mild steel pipe, the gases from the welding create an acidic layer around the welds. If the frame is not powder coated immediately, these weld joints start to rust very quickly. Powder coat will not stick to rust. It is hard to believe a new machine with .6km on the odometer and has never seen water would already show signs of rust at most of the weld joints. I guess time will tell.

[Bigfox]

yes they are not good on customer service. when I bought mine it was still in the same spot up on the hill from when I looked at it two days earlier. not cleaned or brought to the front for pick up.. still had dirty rags sitting in it.. wasnt impressed

[WiseDuck]

I found the exact same brown spots on the welds on my new CForce 550. However, they seem to be weird. Some spots feel rough, while others feel very smooth to the touch. Almost as if they're either some kind of discoloration, or some spots have been clear-coated. The dealer first said this was "normal wear and tear and nothing to worry about", (rust spots on most major welds after 0km? Doubt it. My fathers Yamaha Grizzly 700 has over 7000 km on it and almost ZERO rust anywhere, not even dings from stones and gravel. That's one tough frame/paint!) despite this being present on their SHOW FLOOR machines. They later called again and said that this isn't actually rust, but some kind of discoloration from the manufacturing process. (Some kind of "oxidation" from the welding they said, but rust IS oxidation, of the very bad kind!)

Honestly, I don't know what to think. However, I took things into my own hands and just cleaned all the spots I could reach, painted them and then clear-coated the lot.

When you weld mild steel pipe, the gases from the welding create an acidic layer around the welds. If the frame is not powder coated immediately, these weld joints start to rust very quickly. Powder coat will not stick to rust. It is hard to believe a new machine with .6km on the odometer and has never seen water would already show signs of rust at most of the weld joints. I guess time will tell.

That is very good to know. So in that case, it's best to deal with it right away. Unfortunately, that means that if you want to get to any of the hard to reach spots, you would have to take off the frame plastics. Or in my case, the HDPE skidplates. I've cleaned up every spot I could reach from the wheel wells, and other open areas, but I can still see some brown spots in some places that require you to pull some plastic parts off the top of the machine to reach. I won't do that anytime soon, only if I see that the spots start to grow.

[ctdls]

Welcome from Sicamous, BC.

Sad to hear about the less than stellar representation form your CFMOTO dealer. The cdn distributor has some issues & is currently making some important internal changes. Hopefully things will improve in the dealer network as these changes filter down. I'm a believer in top down management, if that's not right it reflects @ the consumer level.

The product is good quality & I agree with your comments regarding BRP. Obviously you did your homework & decided to make your CFMOTO purchase. I'm curious about two things, the first being the price spread between Can Am equivalent & the Z1000. The second was the price the basis of your decision or was their other factors. Doesn't sound like the dealership influenced your decision.

[Redfire427]

Welcome from Sicamous, BC.

Sad to hear about the less than stellar representation form your CFMOTO dealer. The cdn distributor has some issues & is currently making some important internal changes. Hopefully things will improve in the dealer network as these changes filter down. I'm a believer in top down management, if that's not right it reflects @ the consumer level.

The product is good quality & I agree with your comments regarding BRP. Obviously you did your homework & decided to make your CFMOTO purchase. I'm curious about two things, the first being the price spread between Can Am equivalent & the Z1000. The second was the price the basis of your decision or was their other factors. Doesn't sound like the dealership influenced your decision.

Thank-you, and these are great questions. I love quality, and over the years, I have owned 8 new Ski-doo's, 2 Sea-doo's and One Can-am. Obviously all BRP products and I have enjoyed them to their fullest. I also know that their products typically come at a premium which I have been OK with. In regards to buying the Z force, price was the primary factor in making my decision. This machine will not see a ton of use as my Canam suits my purposes much better, however, it is not the right machine for my wife and I to get out on together, especially considering it is not a two-up machine. Having said that, I could not justify the price of a BRP equivalent when it wouldn't see enough use to justify. When I saw the CF Moto products on display, I was pleasantly satisfied with the design and quality, but knowing in my mind it is a Chinese product at the end of the day. I have no wild expectations of durability or resale value for this machine, however, I set a budget of $20k ( tax -in ) and this machine fit the bill. From the moment I set foot in the dealership, I knew what to expect.............presentation is everything. I'lll leave it at that.

As far as the price spread goes, I can't put a dollar value on it specifically because I never even bothered to get a quote from my BRP dealer as I wasn't even going to waste their time "dreaming" when I know full well a similar machine would be easily mid- 20's out the door.  If this machine doesn't meet my expectations, then it will be sold and I will replace it with another Canam. I am in the manufacturing business so I have a pretty good idea of what I am looking at. The average person would not pick-up on many of the shortcomings in the materials and manufacturing process. 90% of the goods from China are complete garbage. The CF line-up seems to be somewhat upper crust Chinese product, however, I have found a few things that suggest otherwise.  As I said before, time will tell, and I bought this machine with my eyes wide open.

The dealer had no influence on my purchase whatsoever. I highly doubt any CFM management changes will have any affect with this dealer.

[ctdls]

Tx's for detailed response, somewhat sad none the less price point was such you decided to give the product a try. My position as far the dealer network is they need to be above average, obviously not in your case. Manufacturer support is not the level of BRP is so dealer needs to pick that up. it's not happening.

You will find this forum exceptional with help form the members, some very good experience here. Your self as well with tenure in power sports & manufacturing.

I've been Ski Doo & Sea Doo for 25 years, seen the junk & the transformation to what they are today. I'm not sure the direction they are headed today is the right one, they think so ......we will see. The Summit G4 in mountains has had real issue's, over blown in some ways however certain riding styles really emphasis's the problems. Some very pissed off owners.

My experience with the CFMOTO product is good & has lived up to my expectations factoring the price. What I did not expect was the support issue's with distribution & the dealer network. I'm hopeful this will improve.

Welcome again, I'm sure you will find the experience here positive.