Adventure Bike Rider Forum

if it works and keeps working and there are bits reasonably available? or a dodgy half horned donky? a shit show that it takes the BIg red Flag to make one though.

it's got interesting specs weight an power wise shame about the seat height have they announced pricing yet?

8.5k for road and 13k ish for full rally version from what I've read.

It's from an established manufacturer producing a huge volume of bikes.

One problem is going to be that it's such an 'in house' project that tuning services for the suspension etc may not be available. Parts back-up generally, plus high weight and poor durability are problems that Chinese vehicles of all kinds from motorbikes to trucks were famous for, but they do seem to be getting better.

The price for the 'road' version is what I paid for my GasGas 700, so I wouldn't say it's a cheap bike given that the GasGas could pull its headlamp out and spit in the hole.

All three bikes that the factory entered in the recent Dakar finished, so the underlying concept is correct.

The sneering at chinese/asian manufacturing is really out of date, most bikes have asian sourced components and some are asian assembled.

The spec. looks comparable to other similar "rally " bikes and a comparison with the KTM/GasGas/Husky /whatever 700 is not valid.

The closest comparison is the AJP PR7 - which also got sneered at by the Mattinghofren fan boys

Perhaps a company offering what so many have said they wanted - a 450 rally style bike - should be applauded, not criticised?

I had an open mind about the AJP PR7...I like the smaller AJPs and had no reason to dislike the larger one. So I went to have a look.

But the dealer couldn't get the demonstrator to start...and it made exactly the same noise while not starting as my old Husky 610E did when it wasn't starting. Guess what...the AJP uses a warmed-over version of that Husky 610 engine.

Walked away at that point...fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

If I feel the need for a fairing on the GG, then I can get a Britannia Composites one at a reasonable cost....still less than an AJP OTR.

A shame, as I wish AJP well and like what they do.

This is interesting...

https://barebonesmc.com/kove-the-most-e ... d-of-2023/

The big adventure bike could be a winner...as the KTM competitor is built in China anyway

Richard Simpson Mark II wrote: ↑Thu Feb 02, 2023 11:08 am I had an open mind about the AJP PR7...I like the smaller AJPs and had no reason to dislike the larger one. So I went to have a look.

But the dealer couldn't get the demonstrator to start...and it made exactly the same noise while not starting as my old Husky 610E did when it wasn't starting. Guess what...the AJP uses a warmed-over version of that Husky 610 engine.

Walked away at that point...fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

If I feel the need for a fairing on the GG, then I can get a Britannia Composites one at a reasonable cost....still less than an AJP OTR.

A shame, as I wish AJP well and like what they do.

Your Husky 630 experience has clearly damaged you...

I had a SWM 650 - started, ran and performed faultlessly.

Replaced it with a PR7 (mainly because I don't like the 690 but was tempted by the 701). Had my PR7 nearly 4 years with NO problems at all.

Has sat outside all night in - ve temps - started albeit reluctantly, been to France, Spain etc no problem.

Trail riding (a bit heavy compared to an EXC but lighter than a Honda CRF250/300) great in the open, needs bossing in the tight.


However my point was that KOVE need encouraging, not slagging. The world needs an alternative to the KTM range !

I didn't slag them, just pointed out that pro-level racers normally want to work with known brands when it comes to key components like suspension as there is technical expertise from the likes of WP, Ohlins etc that they can easily plug into.
The Kove brand isn't cheap...it's like a Lexus-style premium brand for its parent company and appears to be very engineering-led, which is a good thing, but also means it is head-to-head with established European and Japanese brands.
Having seen previous Chinese bikes, like the WK400, in action, they seem to be heavy and fragile. Kove needs to demonstrate that this is not the case with its products (hopefully the Dakar has helped to do that) and, critically, that the parts and service back-up is there.
There may be enough disgruntled former KTM/Husky/GasGas/Honda dealers around to do that...who knows?

I'm seriously considering the Kove 450 Rally. I've seen a couple of pretty interesting YouTube videos like the one below which do nothing to put me off taking a punt. Plenty of people paid more for the CCM 450 Adventure 9 years ago and many of the larger bike manufacturers use Chinese factories to build their engines and, in some cases, their whole bikes these days.



I'm coming up on two years of owning and riding an AJP PR7 and I'm still in love with it. I will admit that I killed the original battery but that was down to me not knowing how to treat lithium motorcycle batteries. You need to let the battery "warm up" before pressing the go button: this way, the bike has never failed to start, even when left out in the cold and uncovered in the middle of winter for several weeks.



The Kove 450 Rally is expected to be in showrooms during April or May, so I'll be hoping to get a test ride sometime during the next couple of months. Freestyle look to be getting them in.