Kove 450 Rally review: ultimate unicorn or Chinese crap?︱Cross Training Adventure

Cross Training Adventure
Cross Training Adventure
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Published 2023-11-17
crosstrainingenduro.com/ Our Kove 450 Rally review. Three days of testing three Kove Rally bikes on all sorts of terrain. So... the Kove FSE450R. It's generating a lot of hype. The first models went to social media influencers and they are raving about it. Other riders are saying it's another cheap Chinese motorbike that will rust, break down or fall apart like earlier Chinese models. Some of the influencers are actually quite well paid so we watch their Kove FSE450R Rally reviews with a big dose of healthy scepticism. Long term reliability? Welcome to Cross Training Adventure, we are into all things dual sport and adventure on the east coast of Australia. We simply won't know until there are lots of independent long-term FSE450R reports from owners. The quality certainly looks good from initial inspection. Keen on adventure riding in Australia? Check out our vids. Instead, he decided to create a rally motorbike and send a Chinese team. All three Kove Kove FSE450R bikes finished the race. A lot of Chinese manufacturers are copying the designs of other brands without permission. But it's good to see the Kove 450 Rally appears to be an original design. Our team did find a few issues with three solid days of riding for this Kove 450R review. More on that later. A quick bit of history. The Kove 450R Rally has been created by a Chinese business man who says he always dreamed of riding in the Dakar race. We aren't sure about their other models. Kove have an 800cc adventure motorbike that is based on the KTM 790 engine. Check out our reviews of various adventure bikes and dual sport bikes. Copied with permission from KTM? We don't know. They also have a 500 adventure motorbike which largely copies the Honda CB500X. This is just a rebadged Chinese copy that a pile of manufacturers are rebranding as their own... without permission from Honda to copy the engine. Admittedly the huge fuel capacity of 31 litres is partly responsible. But the Kove still weighs about 145kg without fuel... heavier than a DRZ400. Our test rider, Chuck Harder, assessed the Kove 450R Rally purely from an enduro perspective. Back to the Kove 450R Rally. Many are hoping it is just a high performance enduro motorbike with a rally fairing and big fuel tank. If you like dual sport riding in Australia then you might like our adventure riding vids. These guys will be disappointed with the weight and lack of power. The wet weight is actually more than a Suzuki DR650. If you are a dirt rider we highly recommend watching Chuck's full Kove 450R Rally review. However, that's not the full story. Our next test rider, Dallas Shannon, assessed the Kove from a dual-sport and adventure riding perspective. Interested in the Kove 450 as a dual sport or lightweight adventure motorbike? See Dallas' full Kove Rally review. A few things contribute to the Kove's potential in this respect. The massive 31 litres or 8 gallons fuel capacity. A healthy 1.6L oil capacity for less oil changes. The detuned engine should theoretically last longer. And features such as large radiators, twin radiator fans and an oil cooler should help too. A quick look at the Kove 450R Rally engine. It's interesting to see you can buy the entire engine for just USD1900... in its original detuned mode. Suspension on the Kove 450R Rally is from Chonquing Yu-an, a Chinese company we have never heard of. Their motto? Reduce shock and become smooth. The suspension certainly works better than the website suggests. It has been set up for Dakar so dirt riders will love it. It is not Kove's design, they are using the NC450 engine from another Chinese manufacturer but in a higher state of tune. It's the Zongshen NC450 which Zongshen use in their own hideously ugly RX4 adventure model. Zongshen have also licensed its use in the new Fantic Cabarello. Dual sport riders will probably find it's too firm and may want softer springs and revalving. Kove have opted from Japanese brakes from Nissin, and Bosch EFI made in Europe. With their focus on reliability it would be interesting to see if they couldn't find reliable Chinese parts in this respect. What problems did we experience over three days with three Kove 450s? A small oil leak from the oil cooler and also a fuel leak through an overflow pipe. Easily fixed. We suspect we were to blame as we assembled these motorbikes from the crate. There was a small electronic glitch with the speedo and we would get an overheat warning signal when nothing was wrong. And if the motorbike goes on its side there is some kind of cut-off which doesn't allow the Kove to be restarted immediately. We think the last two issues are very minor glitches that will probably be resolved quickly. What about Kove 450R Rally long-term problems? We simply won't know for at least year until some owners have high mileage and can provide independent reports.
#kove450rrallyreview #kove450rally
All Comments (21)
  • @crosstrainingadventure
    KOVE CEO RESIGNS! WHY? No reasons given, lets hope he wasn't protesting about cost-cutting measures or patent infringements by copying other manufacturers. motorcyclesports.net/kove-zhang-xue-steps-down-as-… The politics of buying a Chinese motorbike? Some riders refuse to buy a bike made in China. Others have no problem if it's cheap and reasonable quality. We have discussed this in previous videos. Here is our main discussion. ttps://youtu.be/B407_Zi8T6A 1 hour live chat! Replies to your Kove questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFyaI9X0fcM Chuck Harder's enduro perspective https://youtu.be/cT6R9RGK2Lk Dallas Shannon's ADV perspective https://youtu.be/87vE1X0sTxE Modifying enduro bikes for ADV? https://youtu.be/WuljTwZKZns
  • @LucasJJulien
    I simply cannot understand why Honda and Yamaha etc have not made a bike like this. Honda 300 rally is too underpowered, and the jump to T7 and KTM 890 is too extreme. Whoever makes these first is going to be hugely successful, and if it's Kove, hats off to them for being smart and bringing this to the market.
  • @asherlito3801
    my only hope is kove 450 sells well and forces yamaha KTM and Honda to make rally bikes for the market. I think rally dual sports is the thing missing from the offroad market since the gap between dual sport and adv is rather large.
  • @OverlandTheSlowWay
    5,000km on/off road my Kove 450 Rally, ridden for a month across some of Europes TET . 100% reliable. I would agree with most of the review. Power is "enough" , suspension is good, weight carried low even with full ranks so feels lighter. The fuel range is really a game changer when you're traveling in less populated areas. Build and design quality is up there imo. Overall it's a fantastic bike.
  • @agustincuevae
    30.000 km in 3 years with the nc450 motor on the caballero rally, very hard riding, off road at the Andes mountains in Ecuador and like 5 desert racings by the coast the motor it holding fine
  • @carlosteixeira7053
    Great video! For sure that ultimate unicorn that you are searching is the AJP PR7, perfect handling and just enough power. Please bring a review to the channel!
  • @davidfindlay5432
    Poor Kove. People seem to think this bike has to rally like a KTM 450RR bike, cut up an enduro track like a WR250F, head across the countryside like a Goldwing, be as reliable as a Honda Cub, yet be sold for peanuts on every street corner. Hey, I went for an EXC500 to "adventurize" because I don't even know if it's coming here or not [ To OZ ]. But I also say bravo! to Kove, it looks like a pretty decent first up crack at a bike that a lot of people have been whining about, since forever. Fuel and oil capacity, twin radiators/fans, reasonable engine power, fairing/screen, decent seat/suspension, there's a lot to like.....
  • @ChaohsiangChen
    I'm impressed with your ability to say Chinese and Italian names. The KTM 790 engine prolly is made by CF moto who has the license.
  • @WhatTimeIsIt369
    Man!! I have been waiting for this review from you. Let's watch!
  • @moussacompaore6576
    Super 👍 Enfin une série de test réaliste et sans intérêt financier . Merciii à toute l’équipe . Vous êtes les meilleurs essayeurs et vous savez rester neutre ❤
  • @tazyt3388
    its good to see a new brand playing the game guess well see how they workout mate 👍
  • @mxbadboy263
    I went on the Kove USA importer website last night (11/28/2023) and there's a long disclaimer statement that states that the Kove Rally is a closed course competition bike only and is not for use in off road area's (California) or for street use. IMO that means it does not meet EPA regulations. One commenter wrote that the BMV could not find his vin number in the system. I know someone from Utah or similar states might have got a plate for it but that's not the real world.
  • @mechanicalman1068
    Seems cool I guess, if it’s actually street legal. For the weight, it seems like a sort of 690 without the big price tag and electronic rider aids. Kinda makes me miss the old Husky TE610 and 630. Others have mentioned the pointlessness of the big tank. I disagree. I like to take pretty un-aggressive multi day backroads trips in the Sierra and Cascade ranges. It’s nice to not have to get off route to dip into to town for fuel. Could take hours and detailed planning in some areas.
  • @jdhart111
    as always an excellent well thought out review!!you do a fantastic job!!thank you!
  • @950boy2
    Buddy of mine has just got a LPR732 from Lyndon Poskitt, now that is the bike right there. Its the perfect package albeit a bit pricy. 690 rally engine bored out with wide ratio gearbox on carb (if you choose) ,adv fairing all proven and developed by Lyndon.
  • @thedougies8322
    I am genuinely intrigued by this bike…only been riding adv a short time & after initially swallowing all the marketing hype around the heavy powerful adv bikes I’ve done a complete U turn on what I want…lighter more off road biased with modest rd power but enough for dirt riding. Don’t have a dirt bike background so compared to what I’ve ridden up to now 167kg wet is light. If the price is low enough in Oz should be enough left in the back pocket for any mods. American rally rider Mason Klein is riding a Kove in the next Dakar….can’t be complete shit lol
  • @samcrdx8016
    A mid size ADV is always a welcome addition. CF Moto also recently launched a similar motorcycle and I heard the Himalayan has also been renewed with a complete makeover.
  • @kaosadventures
    Would love to test one out possibly have it as a third bike in the shed I’m guessing it will be cheap enough
  • @truthseeker6649
    it doesn't matter whether this bike was made in china or zimbabwe. every bike manufacturers should do what japanese and european manufacturers do : win races, prove long-term durability and provide after sales support. there are no shortcuts like buying influencers on youtube.
  • @sk8lucas
    The tip-over behavior is a safety thing. My Yamaha XTZ250 did that too. You had to turn it off and on again.