LONG TERMER: Voge 525DSX

Simon Meyer’s been putting the miles on the middleweight adventure motorcycle. Here’s how he’s getting on:

The Voge 525DSX will likely have many of you scratching your heads. If you’ve not had your ear to the ground, you may well have missed the firm’s European debut back in 2020. It was a surprisingly well-received 471cc parallel twin, very similar to Honda’s CB500X. 

It should be no surprise that the bike was sorted, as Voge is a subsidiary of the massive Chinese company, Loncin. It knows a few things about motorcycles, building somewhere north of three million bikes a year and as many engines, including quite a few for BMW. 

Voge has really thought about the needs and wants of an adventure bike owner. There are crash bars; full luggage; Metzeler Tourance tyres as standard; Nissin brake calipers; and fully adjustable KYB front forks. The ‘proper’ parts can only add to the bike’s value and, of course, the confidence in anyone thinking of buying one. There’s even a centre stand and  handguards, too. That’s not something you can say of every other adventure bike on the market.

It’s not surprising that the bike feels quite light – this is, of course, just a 500 after all, and I had been riding around for the previous week on a monstrous Harley. The seat’s comfortable, and the ergonomics make you feel part of the bike as you snugly squeeze behind the fuel tank. The 7-inch colour LCD dash is great, with lots of info. More than you might need, to be honest. Along with the normal speed, odometer, rev bar and fuel gauge, there is also a tyre monitoring system, gear indicator, and air temperature readout. There is also a side stand warning indicator (which works well – oops). 

I still need to explore its Bluetooth functionality. This will give basic satellite navigation, which will certainly come in handy for some of the rides I have planned. It also has an onboard dash cam, capable of 1080HD capture which I’m yet to take advantage of.

So far, most of my miles have been backwards and forwards to the office – when I am not on dad duty for the school run – but first impressions are good. The gear change seems smooth, as does the clutch. And those Nissin dual 298mm floating discs up front and the 240mm rear brake give you plenty of confidence. ABS is also switchable to three positions.

The oversized bodywork – which is of true adventure bike proportions over the 494cc powerplant – offers good weather protection, supplemented by the fact that the windshield is adjustable, with twin springs allowing you to change position up or down. 

It’s been a very positive start, and I’m looking forward to getting even better acquainted over the coming months.