Voge's in Vogue: The PH's newest bike brand

motosynthesisph
Feb 20, 2021
6 min read

From experience, the first ten minutes of a ride will tell you everything you need to know about a motorcycle – how it feels in the straights, the stops, and the turns. Many riders would figure out the pros and cons associated with this bike particularly for them – ergonomics, practicality, and even useability.

But sometimes, one comes to a realization during a test ride – that ten minutes isn’t enough.

During the 2019 Inside Racing Bike Festival (IRBF), I came across a nondescript little booth that housed a set of three all-white motorcycles from a company that hadn’t entered the market yet. The first to catch my eye was a 300cc Sport bike that would come to be known as the 300RR. As I approached the bike, I initially thought the booth was empty; no attendees were looking at the display, so when I leveled up with the bike, and saw the other two – a 500cc Street naked and a 150cc underbone – I was spotted by the company’s representatives, who introduced me to the brand called Voge. After the hi’s and hello’s, I got down to brass tacks and started asking them about the bikes - displacement, seat height, and other pertinent specs.

Eventually, I got to the question that everyone asks when they see a new bike – “Where can you buy one?” The answer: Nowhere… yet.

Fast forward to 2020, and Voge is officially in the country as Voge Philippines, importing the 500R and the 300RR, as they were seen in the motorcycle festival almost exactly one year ago. After the 2019 IRBF, a group of motorcycle distributors asked the representatives if they were willing to leave the display bikes, along with whatever other motorcycles they had brought but not displayed, for research purposes. Part of this research was effectively torture testing by doing the 5,000-kilometer Philippine Loop, along with a year’s worth of daily and leisure riding, amounting to 15,000 kilometers with regular maintenance.

Let’s get down, then, to the nitty gritty of the bikes. Right now, Voge Philippines has three bikes on offer for the Filipino Rider – a 471cc, parallel twin-engined Street Naked called the 500R, and a pair of 292.4cc, single cylinder motorcycles called the 300R and the 300RR respectively. I had the opportunity to test ride the 500R, and the 650DS, a 652cc Adventure bike they’re still considering bringing to our shores.

Sartorial Street Naked

So the first offering from Voge is the expressway legal 500R. While talking to Bobby, one of the Marketing representatives of Voge, we got to talking about parts availability for their offerings, and what he’s told me is that the 500R shares many off-the-shelf components with currently existing bikes.

This engine, though, is something altogether quite special. While it may only have 46 horsepower and 42.5 N-m of torque, the parallel twin sounds almost like a Four cylinder motorcycle engine, giving a deep, baritone rumble all the way to about 9000rpm, where many Four cylinder bikes would only just get started. Which would be better, though, is like comparing apples to oranges – it doesn’t compute. The 500R is something of a large displacement commuter bike, while a Four cylinder bike is a little wider and inevitably a little more cumbersome.

The exhaust note of the 500R, dare I say, is throaty, and deep. It echoes off the metro walls all the way through the rev range, where it goes from a deep growl to a baritone bellow – more than enough

to put a wide grin on your face, and fill your ears with music.

The seat height, at 785 millimeters, is very friendly for Filipinos. At my height of 5’7, I could comfortably flat foot the bike with both feet. The seating position is also fairly comfortable for a street naked motorcycle. While I prefer a more upright seating position, I found the 500R to be more in tune with aggressive riding – hunched over the tank, arms slightly in, and mid-rear controls for the feet make it feel more sporty than your typical city commuter.

One of the things you notice as well is how close the tank is to your chest when you ride. That’s when you realize that you’re sitting within the bike, instead of on it – the seat height may still be fairly high off the ground, but you sit low in the frame, effectively becoming part of the center of gravity. This translates buckets of feeling through the handlebar and pegs, giving the rider a good amount of feedback about the road, and this translates in an almost telepathic cornering ability. The bike is so in tune with the rider’s movements that oftentimes you don’t realize that you’ve started leaning with the bike into turns. This innate, almost instinctive connection with the bike is part of what makes the 500R a great bike to ride.

The 500R, though, is a different animal compared to the 650DS. Where the R had an aggressive, low slung seat height and frame, the 650DS had a more upright seating position with a taller seat. That low slung frame that gave the 500R gave it a low center of gravity, making it pretty agile in the corners, is a stark contrast to the high-riding 650DS.

Ready for Adventure

With the 650DS, the first thing anyone should know is the seat height – 805 millimeters. For the average Filipino, that’s just slightly over the limit of what’s comfortable. Even I had trouble keeping the bike upright, which says a lot given that I was wearing a pair of boots that put me close to 5’9. Safe to say it’s not the bike for the vertically challenged.

The 652cc Rotax derived engine, though, is sure to throw any rider into a giggling fit. With 50 horsepower and 60 N-m on tap, the 192-kilogram bike is hefty, but not slow. The five-speed manual transmission lets the bike stay in the power and torque band even in the lower gears, making it a lively ride between the lights. The same five gears that give you good acceleration also make it a capable cruise machine, keeping the RPMs low when cruising, but still have good pull for those quick overtakes. The exhaust note on the bike was a wonderful cacophony that rumbled like a V-Twin, sending the shockwave through the rider’s body - a reminder that there was more fun to be had.

Moving on to the ergonomics, the 650DS is a class act, with a fully upright seating position and wide, well-positioned handlebars. As an adventure tourer, the seating position is important to maintain rider comfort on long journeys, and though I had the bike for just a little over an hour, it’s definitely made a good impression. The seat cushion was also very supportive, and comfortable.

The suspension of the 650DS would, in my opinion, be the bike’s shortcoming, but it’s not the dealbreaker you might think it is. On the contrary, the suspension does a very fine job of ironing out bumps and potholes, and with 200 millimeters of ground clearance, the bike definitely won’t be scraping on the ground any time soon. However, the soft suspension carries a penalty in suspension travel, which isn’t as good as it can be – rebound over particularly bad speedhumps means that the suspension bottoms out sometimes. Again, not a dealbreaker. Definitely, if you’re in the market for a comfortable adventure bike, the suspension rebound won’t ever cause you grief. But if you intend to make this “adventure bike” earn that moniker, just keep in mind that bumps at speed might be unsettling for the bike, and consequently the rider.

All in all, the 650DS is great bike, for anyone looking for an entry level adventure tourer, and while it isn’t yet destined for our shores, it would certainly arrive to welcoming arms.

Changing Tides

The 500R and the 650DS are just the start of Voge’s entry into our market, with other bikes still “in research.” Perhaps one round of torture testing wasn’t enough? With the level of quality seen in their offerings, Voge is really challenging the stigma that Chinese brands have poor quality, and while this door was opened by CFMoto with their own offerings to the market, it’s only really now that we’re seeing other brands come in, saying “Don’t count us out just yet.”

Only time will tell if Voge will find its market foothold, and while many opinions are changing, the harsh reality is that there aren’t enough to ensure longevity at the moment. If they play their cards right, and take care of their customers, soon enough Voge will be a force to be reckoned with.