Pro bike: Romaniacs champion Mario Román's ultimate CFMoto 450MT

In case you've been living under a rock, hard adventure is now all the rage, and now for the second year, Red Bull's bike- and body-destroying Romaniacs has opened its entry list to those on big bikes. Chinese brand CFMoto (or Ibex for our American readers) pulled a clean sweep this time around, winning all three of the adventure classes, with Mario Román leading the charge in the top-tier 'Ultimate' category, dethroning last year's winner, Pol Tarres. Here's the in-depth look at his bike, with a few words from the man himself. 

Román described his 450 as 'almost completely standard.' We'd argue his race-winning machine is a fair way from the bike you or I can walk into a CF showroom and part with £5699 for.

That said, the headline statement is this; the build is essentially stock as far as major engine work or non-bolt-on chassis alterations go, and everything the Spaniard has changed could feasibly be imitated – albeit while incurring a hefty spot of credit card debt. Factory suspension doesn't come cheap, afterall... 

The majority of the work has been carried out across three areas; namely, getting rid of as much of the 195kg mass as possible, tweaking the ergos, and generally making the whole package more capable and stronger to boot. FYI, tn the main image above it is even more standard than usual, pictured wearing it’s OEM wheelset, not those he ran in Romania.

‘The Magician’ (as some call him) has been working with CFMoto in a development role since January 2026. He does this alongside his day job contesting the Hard Enduro World Championship (HEWC), as part of his self-run MR74 team. Since then, he and his mechanic Biel have set about crafting a race winner from the cheap-as-chips Chinese adventure tourer. 

"We’ve done a lot of testing," Román told Enduro21. "Almost all the development work has been done by us, researching and figuring things out. 

"Despite the bike being almost completely standard, the performance we’ve achieved with the few changes we’ve made has been incredible. 

"I raced one event at the Pascuet Offroad Center, one round of the Spanish Championship and the Bassella Race… So I haven’t done many races, but I’ve honestly learned a lot. Those events allowed me to spot many things, and I’ve also trained quite a lot, but I didn’t expect to come here and beat Pol, who is a legend in this discipline. I’ve felt fantastic this week, and the bike hasn’t had a single problem." 

What are the most significant changes? 

"[One of] the biggest difference comes from the wheels. They reduce the weight and allow us to fit enduro tyres. That’s the most important change, together with the suspension. Those changes alone completely transform the bike," he added.

Román’s wheelset comes courtesy of Danish firm SOS Racing Parts, saving 6kg compared with the OEM hardware, built on narrower-than-standard Excel rims to allow for his Plews EN1 Extreme tyre and mousse combination (on that subject, check out just how much he hammers his tyres in the picture below, taken on the final day of Romaniacs!). 

Forks used are 48mm (compared with the 41mm standard KYBs) Showa units, fettled with Andreani cartridges. We didn't catch the exact travel of these, but given the longer rear shock used, we'd expect them to be in the region of 250mm of travel. Speaking of which, an Öhlins shock sits out back, bringing with it an increased ride height of 30mm – the extra loftiness reportedly isn't so great for technical parts, but makes up for that with stability and support at higher speeds. 

"It's not that the standard suspension is bad, but with the forks we're using and the speeds we ride at, they absorb absolutely everything," Roman added. "Then there's the enduro handlebar. Ultimately, the enduro wheels and handlebar, together with the suspension, already make a huge difference. After that, it has an Akrapovič exhaust and an ECU." 

Engine, performance and weight savings 

The aforementioned de-catted full titanium Akra pipe and custom ECU aside, there's not a great deal to mention on the performance side of things. Unsurprisingly, Román is running a shorter-than-stock final drive ratio (though we didn't catch the specifics) for a bit of extra snap in the tight stuff, but we're informed the motor's internals are untouched and remain as they came from CF's Hangzhou manufacturing facility in China. 

Excess weight has been dropped by removing much of the bike's road-going gubbins, with the indicators, number plate holder, side stand, and pillion footrests all consigned to the spares box. We wouldn't be surprised to see the ABS pump has been stripped and binned to shave a kilo or two – if he hasn't, it wouldn't be doing a deal but adding dead weight, as both front and rear brakes are plumbed directly from the master cylinders to the calipers (and there are no speed sensor rings present anyway). 

On the subject of stopping, a Brembo set-up replaces the J.Juan standard equipment. Discs come from Mario's longtime braking partner Galfer, with the front 270mm disc protected by an aluminium guard. No guard at the rear, interestingly, though a quick scout on Google suggests one doesn't actually exist for the 450. 

An AXP HDPE plastic skid plate and linkage guard is in place to keep the CF's sump and water pump intact, while additional protection from the good folks at Polisport – case protectors, swingarm guards, and hand guards – is also on hand to stave off the abuse that hard enduro (or hard adventure in this case) brings. 

Keeping control 

Because there's no ride-by-wire throttle wizardry going on with the 450MT, Román is able to run a billet throttle housing. He's also binned off the key, fitted a quick-release fuel cap, and independent starter and kill switches on the left and right sides of the bars, respectively.  

One Gripper provides his bars, here in a Mid bend (he runs the Low on his 300 Husqvarna) as well as a high grip seat cover stretched over the standard foam base. The lengthy stock clutch lever has also been sacked for a single-digit unit - we didn't catch the brand - and for footpegs, Roman uses a set of Akrapovic Ti 'Adventure' pegs.  

What's next? 

"We’ll continue researching and learning in this discipline," Román said. "I’ll do a couple more races this year, probably in Spain. We wanted to race Minas Riders with the CFMoto, but it clashes with Roof of Africa and Turkey, and I don’t think we’ll have enough time. We’ll look into it. 

"For now, we’ll continue with the hard enduro season. The work the brand is doing is honestly incredible. CFMoto’s support here has been spectacular. The team of mechanics was unbelievable. I had never had 15 mechanics available to me before. It was incredible."