A couple of points from an owner since April, the engine definitely has a European feel, KTM, Ducati , not your Smooth Japanese experience. Even though its Chinese built, the BMW parallel twins sound exactly the same. Same with the ride by wire, most Euro 5 bikes are similar. The 4.7 update is rolling out through dealerships and is an official Voge update. The quick shifter is what it says on the tin, upshift in sports mode over 4 rpm. I have had mine on rough off road tracks and it handles it great. Its also surprisingly nibble on fast twisties. As a 2 up tourer it munches the miles and the cruise control is superb. I predict Voge prices will not always be so cheap. Think Skoda a few years ago to now. Unfortunately in the UK Voge is an unknown quantity. But here in Spain its the second best selling brand with a full dealer network that has been around for a good few years. Voge threw everything at the DS900X it was a gamble, but global sales have been incredible. Over 2500 DS900x units sold in Spain from late April to December, only beaten bt BMW GS 1300 in the whole year with a hundred or so units.
Hi, and thanks for joining the comments thread and for your videos on life with your Voge - have been enjoying them and learned quite a bit along the way so I owe you one for that! Interesting to see how well the bikes have done in Spain as well and fair play for flying the flag as an early adopter. Am off to get the 4.7 upgrade later this week (and sort a couple of niggles) so stay tuned for a vid on that in due course but thanks for sharing your insight here - nice to 'meet' you! /Dan
@@midlifecrisismotorcyclist no problem Dan. What I never wanted do was say it's a good bike for the Money. I have always wanted it to compete on its strengths, head to head as it were. I've owned Japanese and European bikes and the Loncin engine does have character in a raucous way. My previous V Strom was a great bike, but the DS definitely is a safer well balanced bike in comparison. Ride safe buddy 👍
Great review, really enjoyed it. Firstly looking at my old stomping ground, I moved away 10 years ago. And then giving a real life review of the bike, far too many reviews are all sweetness and light. Nice to hear “real” observations and thoughts on what you think. Just out of interest why not show any adjustments you make to show how it’s done and a brief snippet of the bike camera just to show the quality it produces. Keep up the good work, really enjoy your input
@@andrewdyson4255 Glad you enjoyed and, sure, will include a bit of bike cam on the next one. Good idea! Ditto the suspension adjustment, tho is very easy and just a spanner to the top cap.
I’ve never ridden the Voge but did have two 750GS think the Voge engine is more or less the same or the next slightly bigger iteration anyway. The first 750 a 2019 was a bit snatchy in anything but dynamic but the next a 2022 was all sorted and could ride in any mode. Took them all over Scotland, the UK and Europe two up with no problems. The quick shifter worked very well but like most BMW’s there are differences between bikes some good some not so good. Back to a boxer now with a few other smaller bikes as well. I’m sure the Voge will prove to be a good bike but time will tell about the quality of the materials used and how they fair in the longer term. I ride for Blood Bikes and we recently added two CF Motos to the garage, the high miles they’re expected to cover will be a good test for them as well.
Had a good look at this at Motorcycle Live and thought it looked really underwhelming compared to the likes of the CFMoto 800MT thingy, which is odd as they’re actually quite similar?! The CF was cheaper too as I recall whilst being similarly, if not better spec’d.
I need to do a proper comparison with the CF Moto but IIRC the Voge has a more ‘adventure’ bias with the 21-inch front wheel and longer travel suspension. But as road tourers/all rounders they are indeed a close match. Cheers! /Dan
Thanks for the update.These real life use stories are quite useful.Ordered mine here in Spain few weeks ago for a April 2025 delivery.How long are your daily commutes?Are you planning any longer holiday trips to get multi day highway miles in?Are you using the luggage set in weekends and if so is the quality ok?regards Rob
@@robertkoper3039 Commute is a 75-mile round trip with a real mix of roads taking in town, bit of open moorland road, short bit of motorway and then city filtering so a good test. Luggage is really good quality and will be a part of the next video which is going to be a couple of days of mid-winter riding in Scotland if all goes to plan. Stay tuned for more on that.
Backing off the front preload does not make the fork springs softer, that’s a physical impossibility. You are just sitting the front forks further into their compression stroke.
Let me see you adjust the headlight angle. What are the wheels like to remove? Does it have a centre stand for lubing the chain? What's access like to remove the air filter or the tank, what price are spares & can you get them?etc etc...what a limp review
I follow quiet a few people riding the voge as im looking to get 1 and when it comes to the firmware update they are all saying the 4.7 is a huge improvement and makes the engine run and work alot smoother. I get you not wanting to do it but maybe take it to the people your borrowing the bike from see if they will do it. At the end of the day to do a fair review wouldnt it be better the review the bike at its best especually with the bike being very new to the market.
@@anfhunt2009 Agreed, like you I’ve been following people who’ve done it and I’d be failing in my duties as a reviewer not to give it a whirl. It just annoys me when phones, computers, apps and even now cars and bikes nag you for updates when you just want them to get on and work! But when I get a spare moment I’ll get it sorted!
Thanks for replying. I totally agree re updates on computers and phone. I do find it refreshing being able to install updates yourself on a bike rather then having to pay a dealer stupid money to do it. Lol it has been possible to do it yourself on some bikes I did it in my hypermotard but it requires a laptop and special cables which aren't cheap and you only use once where as doing it from your phone much easier. Keep up the great work I love your real world reviews m8
Ha! None of the drivers in my stash QUITE fit the narrow gap between the additional mudguard AND have the depth to reach the adjuster screw. Trust me, I’ve been to the depths of the toolbox but nothing quite does it. I’ll fine something one day!
Luckily my own bike is devoid of tech and that's the way i like it but then I've always been a neanderthal when it comes to tech. For me less is more but obviously we're not all the same i couldn't be doing with all that malarkey.
Mate, maybe you should practise more before recording yourself. The pauses are dreadful. You could have halved the length of the video had you prepared what to say. Not very interesting.
Thanks for the feedback and sorry it wasn't to your tastes but I've gone for the one-take, conversational monologue thing as 'my style' for these vids, and I deliberately don't edit them down so as to (hopefully) get the viewer along for the ride and to join me in the moment. Which sounds pretentious I realise, and obviously didn't work for you. Maybe I'll try one with a tighter edit and see how that works - nothing ventured and all that! Cheers! /Dan
A couple of points from an owner since April, the engine definitely has a European feel, KTM, Ducati , not your Smooth Japanese experience. Even though its Chinese built, the BMW parallel twins sound exactly the same. Same with the ride by wire, most Euro 5 bikes are similar. The 4.7 update is rolling out through dealerships and is an official Voge update. The quick shifter is what it says on the tin, upshift in sports mode over 4 rpm. I have had mine on rough off road tracks and it handles it great. Its also surprisingly nibble on fast twisties. As a 2 up tourer it munches the miles and the cruise control is superb. I predict Voge prices will not always be so cheap. Think Skoda a few years ago to now. Unfortunately in the UK Voge is an unknown quantity. But here in Spain its the second best selling brand with a full dealer network that has been around for a good few years. Voge threw everything at the DS900X it was a gamble, but global sales have been incredible. Over 2500 DS900x units sold in Spain from late April to December, only beaten bt BMW GS 1300 in the whole year with a hundred or so units.
Hi, and thanks for joining the comments thread and for your videos on life with your Voge - have been enjoying them and learned quite a bit along the way so I owe you one for that! Interesting to see how well the bikes have done in Spain as well and fair play for flying the flag as an early adopter. Am off to get the 4.7 upgrade later this week (and sort a couple of niggles) so stay tuned for a vid on that in due course but thanks for sharing your insight here - nice to 'meet' you! /Dan
@@midlifecrisismotorcyclist no problem Dan. What I never wanted do was say it's a good bike for the Money. I have always wanted it to compete on its strengths, head to head as it were. I've owned Japanese and European bikes and the Loncin engine does have character in a raucous way. My previous V Strom was a great bike, but the DS definitely is a safer well balanced bike in comparison. Ride safe buddy 👍
Great review, really enjoyed it. Firstly looking at my old stomping ground, I moved away 10 years ago. And then giving a real life review of the bike, far too many reviews are all sweetness and light. Nice to hear “real” observations and thoughts on what you think.
Just out of interest why not show any adjustments you make to show how it’s done and a brief snippet of the bike camera just to show the quality it produces.
Keep up the good work, really enjoy your input
@@andrewdyson4255 Glad you enjoyed and, sure, will include a bit of bike cam on the next one. Good idea! Ditto the suspension adjustment, tho is very easy and just a spanner to the top cap.
I’ve never ridden the Voge but did have two 750GS think the Voge engine is more or less the same or the next slightly bigger iteration anyway. The first 750 a 2019 was a bit snatchy in anything but dynamic but the next a 2022 was all sorted and could ride in any mode. Took them all over Scotland, the UK and Europe two up with no problems. The quick shifter worked very well but like most BMW’s there are differences between bikes some good some not so good. Back to a boxer now with a few other smaller bikes as well. I’m sure the Voge will prove to be a good bike but time will tell about the quality of the materials used and how they fair in the longer term. I ride for Blood Bikes and we recently added two CF Motos to the garage, the high miles they’re expected to cover will be a good test for them as well.
I had a test drive the wind buffing was really bad 5ft 10.
Had a good look at this at Motorcycle Live and thought it looked really underwhelming compared to the likes of the CFMoto 800MT thingy, which is odd as they’re actually quite similar?! The CF was cheaper too as I recall whilst being similarly, if not better spec’d.
I need to do a proper comparison with the CF Moto but IIRC the Voge has a more ‘adventure’ bias with the 21-inch front wheel and longer travel suspension. But as road tourers/all rounders they are indeed a close match. Cheers! /Dan
You should get the 4.7 download done
Thanks for the update.These real life use stories are quite useful.Ordered mine here in Spain few weeks ago for a April 2025 delivery.How long are your daily commutes?Are you planning any longer holiday trips to get multi day highway miles in?Are you using the luggage set in weekends and if so is the quality ok?regards Rob
@@robertkoper3039 Commute is a 75-mile round trip with a real mix of roads taking in town, bit of open moorland road, short bit of motorway and then city filtering so a good test. Luggage is really good quality and will be a part of the next video which is going to be a couple of days of mid-winter riding in Scotland if all goes to plan. Stay tuned for more on that.
Spanish dealers seem to be doing brisk business as well - quite a few of the other owner vids I see are ex-pat Brits running them there. And why not!
Backing off the front preload does not make the fork springs softer, that’s a physical impossibility. You are just sitting the front forks further into their compression stroke.
Good luck at the ‘Pedant Of The Year’ awards. I’d definitely vote for you 👍
@GarrettMaple 😉
Let me see you adjust the headlight angle. What are the wheels like to remove? Does it have a centre stand for lubing the chain? What's access like to remove the air filter or the tank, what price are spares & can you get them?etc etc...what a limp review
How often do you watch reviews where they remove the wheels???
@peterfullarton5690 Unfortunately few...it's what long term ownership involves though & real world relevant
@@peterfullarton5690 😂 But, to the OP, stay tuned as this is an ongoing series. Centre stand is standard as well. 👍
Does the dash still have the glaring mistake of saying "Mlies" instead of "Miles" ?
I follow quiet a few people riding the voge as im looking to get 1 and when it comes to the firmware update they are all saying the 4.7 is a huge improvement and makes the engine run and work alot smoother. I get you not wanting to do it but maybe take it to the people your borrowing the bike from see if they will do it. At the end of the day to do a fair review wouldnt it be better the review the bike at its best especually with the bike being very new to the market.
@@anfhunt2009 Agreed, like you I’ve been following people who’ve done it and I’d be failing in my duties as a reviewer not to give it a whirl. It just annoys me when phones, computers, apps and even now cars and bikes nag you for updates when you just want them to get on and work! But when I get a spare moment I’ll get it sorted!
Agreed 👍
Thanks for replying. I totally agree re updates on computers and phone. I do find it refreshing being able to install updates yourself on a bike rather then having to pay a dealer stupid money to do it. Lol it has been possible to do it yourself on some bikes I did it in my hypermotard but it requires a laptop and special cables which aren't cheap and you only use once where as doing it from your phone much easier. Keep up the great work I love your real world reviews m8
Someone new to the game has watched several others to play it out so they get more bikes to “review”…. 🤣🤪🤣
Since when has a 900cc bike been a mid-size!? 😮
You have been commuting a couple of months on this bike and haven't adjusted the headlight yet? I didn't need to hear more.
Ha! None of the drivers in my stash QUITE fit the narrow gap between the additional mudguard AND have the depth to reach the adjuster screw. Trust me, I’ve been to the depths of the toolbox but nothing quite does it. I’ll fine something one day!
Luckily my own bike is devoid of tech and that's the way i like it but then I've always been a neanderthal when it comes to tech. For me less is more but obviously we're not all the same i couldn't be doing with all that malarkey.
Me too. Thats why I went for a 2016 Tracer. Just ABS - nothing else.
Mate, maybe you should practise more before recording yourself. The pauses are dreadful. You could have halved the length of the video had you prepared what to say.
Not very interesting.
Thanks for the feedback and sorry it wasn't to your tastes but I've gone for the one-take, conversational monologue thing as 'my style' for these vids, and I deliberately don't edit them down so as to (hopefully) get the viewer along for the ride and to join me in the moment. Which sounds pretentious I realise, and obviously didn't work for you. Maybe I'll try one with a tighter edit and see how that works - nothing ventured and all that! Cheers! /Dan