It's great to see "small" bikes being taken seriously. Not everyone wants a 700-1300cc behemoth. 450 is a "big" bike to small-bike appreciators. I am very interested in this bike. Can't wait to check one out in person.
I spied a CFMOTO 400cc road bike in the City last week. I can't speak to the reliability, but the finish was exceptional. If it does what the company says on the box it's sure to make Honda and Kawasaki pay attention.I think that we might be witnessing China do to Japan what the Japanese did to American and British manufacturers in the 1970's. Great video.
Read a few people saying the big manufacturers won't build this bike because it will steal sales from their profitable Adventure bikes. Seems so shortsighted. As a dual sport guy I have no interest in an Africa Twin for touring but would be all over a CRF550 or 600 Rally to replace my 450L down the road. Nice to see that someone finally built a dual sport with a decent tank.
I'm always very hesitant to believe what people are talking about online. The most respected internet experts don't have inside lines to what the factories are doing. If the market legitimately asks for more bikes in this category, I'm sure we'll get it. It's really not that it's more expensive to manufacture. It's got a big tank, a down pipe and stiffer suspension. It would be quite the upset to see the big 5 follow in Kove's footsteps.
@@ChuckfromTrueTech Well maybe I'm totally wrong thinking there is a large market for this type of bike. I have no interest in that vulnerable low exhaust but after spending some time on an 890 I'd pay to have that shin height gas tank on my dual sport.
Ditto what you said! I own an Africa Twin and a CRF300l to cover what I like to do. One bike would be nice,(but even at 70, and can’t always pick the AT up)I don’t think I could ever sell it. The 300 sure I could. I’ve been thinking DR650, got to ride one last week, wonderful! Still Looking.
Honda already make at least two bikes themselves that take sales away from the Africa Twin. I can’t see them being worried by a 450 from an unknown manufacturer designed for a completely different part of the market. Why would anyone who wants this sort of rally bike be interested in a bigger, far more expensive adventure tourer in the first place? Have you looked at photos and thought, ‘oh they look similar they must be trying to appeal to the same people?’
Was planning to get the Kove, but now I get to get a lathe too! Appreciate your vid and despite a serious case of shop envy, looking forward to future drops. Thx
The GPX that is a copy is the 300 as you said. The others are not and I’ve owned them all, all quality and amazing bikes. I don’t care that the engine is a copy on the 300, I can’t afford a ktm. Usually it’s only snobby ktm guys who turn their nose up at us lower class people who can’t afford a ktm, but man GPX bikes are amazing.
Awesome video. One of these is on a boat for me right now - the uk distributor was kind enough to send me a tracking link, so I’m watching it like a very slow über - and this feeds right into my confirmation bias algorithm. I took a huge early adopter risk, but I’m very pleased with all the warm UA-cam fuzzies so far. Thank you for your thoughts!
Great video! You hit the points I'm most interested in -- especially the fit & finish and quality aspects of the components and assembly. It's also nice that you actually set up the bike for you personally to ride (instead of just a superficial look like videos from other sources) so that you found out about the non-standard handlebar. I have no interest in illegal knock-offs or poorly designed and made crap but the Kove seems to be a legitimate option because of the aspects that you covered. I appreciate that it has been designed as a new, original bike and that there is more infrastructure than just for manufacturing it behind the bike and brand. I think it's also useful that you have explained in this and your other videos how this bike sits in a new category between off-road/enduro and ADV bikes and what that means in terms of trade-offs and ride characteristcs. Your videos are very well done and truly insightful and useful.
Really appreciate your input on the Kove 450! I think everyone is so excited that a company finally seems to be giving us what we have all been pounding the table for for years that we are all in an intense honeymoon phase. I feel you are doing a great job of staying objective and critical. For me I am looking at this motorcycle as a great small adventure motorcycle for the BDR's, TAT, etc. Other than it maybe not liking to chug down low which might be harder for less skilled riders like me. Looking forward to your future videos!
I think most owners added handguards, you are the first to flag the odd size issue. Seems a bit odd. Maybe some added different bars as well so it wasn't an issue.🤷♂️ Great videos, some others are v sales pitchy, these will sell themselves if they keep up the early reputation they are building.
Hopefully this be good enough and sell like hot cakes for his 2nd year, so all the other MF manufacturers can follow suit and make the same class bike.
❤HI CHUCK LOVING YOUR VIDEOS , FIRST ONE WAS THE TM 300 ENGINE STRIP DOWN , IVE SUBSCRIBED BECAUSE YOUR FEEDBACK/MECHANICAL SKILLS ARE SOLID . EXCELLENT WORK INFORMATION MAKES IT A THUMBS 👍UP FROM ME
Been riding motorcycles since1979 and have never seen a bike without an oil level check. That for me is a monstrous red flag, despite what you said in the dying seconds of the video.
They did have a window type for viewing the oil level when developing the bike but the oil level was only at the very bottom on the window because on the motor design and oil capacity so on the first release bikes they went without a window. Their new race bikes are shown with a window so my guess down the road bikes will have a sight window for checking the oil. @@ChuckfromTrueTech
When you have the whole supply chain in one place, building a relatively cheap motorcycle is not surprising. You just put a motivated CEO behind and you get a motorcycle like the Kove 450 Rally.
Excellent video! Great information on your initial impression from assembling the bikes. I've always believed that quality parts make a quality machine. Low quality or high quality. Nice to hear your view is positive.
I’m so tempt getting this bike!!! Currently riding 2022 Lifan 250 KPX and love it!!! I didn’t order mine, I bought from local power sport dealership so I don’t have to put together ha!!!
If it's more a dirtbike than a DRZ400 off-road and a better ADV bike for short little people than the KLR650 offroad, than it has fulfilled the criteria for the group of people looking for a lighter, smaller more manageable mini ADV motorcycle !!
I wouldn't call it more of a dirt bike than the DRZ400, but the suspension is better. Other than that it feels heavier, significantly bigger and the engine feels like it has about the same power.
Great video. Thank you! I am really interested in this bike. Just waiting for homologation in the USA. Good to know you like the initial build quality.
Great job. I think I had the only one that didn’t start right away and it was a simple fix after I tracked it down. I promptly took it to Moab and thrashed it. It’s been holding up well. PS my oil was low also. And the skid plate is meant for sand not rocks. I’ve been working with Molecule Motosports on a skid plate that will hold up to rocks and trees 😎👍🏻
Great fair comments Chuck, 350km on mine so far including really stupid drop and slid at 70kmhr for at least 50 feet on an fsr. Only slughtly bent one mirror arm and mid pipe hear shield. It brought my attentionnto the brake and clutch perches though and they seem to be decent but maybe the cheapest part of the builds. oh and the one rear signal came off in the slide but I cant count thatagaibst the Kove quality would have been same result in any bike Glad you have three so we have soneone top notch to follow on the Kove specific wrenching. KTM swapable sprockets and shift/brake pedals
on the whiskey hypocrite. Reminds me of all the clowns who would never buy jap crap and blame everything on Japanese. Then they own a Toyota ute made in Japan WTF
What happens when KOVE 2.0 comes out in a year or two and the manufacturer no longer has parts available? Also nobody seems to talk about the lower resale of these bikes and the difficulties even reselling one down the road.... All very important facts in my opinion. With that said great review!!
Those are definitely valid points. I think the resale will depend mostly on the support. Support has been a killer in the industry many times before. We shall see.
I think the nature of these bikes and type of riding means it attracts people who are not afraid to wrench, and who are not overly brand conscious. Betcha there are very few parts that are exclusive to this bike. One guy has done 5k miles across Europe (TET) on it with no issues - the bottom end is a mass produced proven engine, ok if there turn out to be some issues with the top end it is hardly the end of the world on a single cylinder engine. So I don't think resale is going to be an issue. Also, the money is not big, I don't think anyone is going to be stressing about it that much.
Parts supply is an issue for ANY car / motorcycle even from new. I brought a new Yamaha and 3 months later they did not have a base gasket ??? . Resale is only important to people who only ride tar sealed roads on GS and dont want any stone chips or to put many miles on because it affects the bullshit value.[Me on 1198S]
As has been pointed out by a number of youtube moto journalists, including the legendary off road racer Jimmy Lewis, these bikes have a decent, reliable motor, decent suspension, and are a pretty good design. He took a stock one and rode it harder than 95 % of those interested in these types of biKes are capable of riding them on their best day and he said it was holding up just fine and performed pretty well. GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!!
Just the fact they overlooked something as simple as a sight glass for your oil level makes me wonder what else they cheaped out on that you can't immediately see. Seems to look alright at first, will be interesting to see how it stands up long term
I’m wondering if they just change the oil at intervals in Dakar & wanted to eliminate the expense & potential failure point of a sight glass or dipstick.
Designed for racing. Oil is changed on a regular basis by volume. I don’t ever check oil level on my KTMs / Huskys. I dump the oil and add the correct amount every few rides or after a race.
@@ChuckfromTrueTech manufacturers are finally getting the hurry up from KOVE because of their bikes. You know they raced in last years Dakar? They finished 23rd position… but they finished. Many other brands didn’t. People took a lot of notice 😉
The Kove's are a different beast, for sure. I'll also say that the GPX's just get better and better every 6 months. The owner, Gary, really takes a lot of input from the community and puts that into refining those bikes. They've come a long way from your basic China clone.
@@ChuckfromTrueTech moral issues aside they produce a decent bike at a price that's hard to beat. KTM has gone straight to ludicrous plaid with their pricing. $11,000 for a 125 2 stroke. They took the pricing off their website because it's laughable.
I use to take Americans to Chinese factories in China and they would give us a photo of a product and tell the factory to make it as cheap as possible with cheap materials. Then they ship them to the USA to sell. That's where cheap Chinese products came from, Americans.
The reason we all think Chinese stuff is poor quality is that the giant domestic importers demand it so their profit margins can remain excessive and they can reward their stockholders not the average consumer. Canadian Tire is a perfect example in this regard. China will eventually become the next Japan as far as quality.
Not going to happen. China is in a downhill slide, economy-wise and they are headed for big trouble. And not just with their economy. You want to know how bad it is, watch Peter Zeihan, probably the leading geopolitical expert in this country. He will show you what's REALLY behind the Chinese curtain.
A Dakar Version rode the rally Dakar. Not a stock bike. Dont be so naiv. You think a stock Chinese no name suspension or Chinese no name Rims will do it? Sorry you are wrong.
@@chillon2922X i lived in North Thailand for 8 years and am writing this from Chiang Rai. I see Chinese people and Chinese products every DAY. So i will forgive you ignorance on this matter and your stereotypical idea that is out of date on what Chinese engineers and manufacturers can and can't do. I race a Chinese brand carbon frame mountain bike and have won and podiumed many times on it against name brands like Specialized, Scott, Cannondale, Trek etc. I raced off road motorcycles for nearly three decades in the US. The Chinese brand Kove is owned by a very weathy man who is dedicated to building very good motorcycles. There is a very good documentary on him and the project on youtube and yes, they did use their race version for dakar, and it is available for sale to the public right now, just not in the USA quite yet. Its you who are ignorant of this project and the fact that Chinese engineers can produce a very good product. In fact, China is a country with 1.4 billion people and a damn sight more engineers than you realize.. right now, in the mountain bike industry where Taiwan companies have been building bikes for Specialized, Trek, Giant , Scott, and other major brand names, THE COMPANIES IN TAIWAN are sourcing out the priduction of carbon big name brand bikes to China. DID YOU KNOW that here in Thailand, there are plants building Kawasakis? Hondas? Dirt bikes, not just scooters some. KTM models are in the loop to be built herectoo. Kove engineers are utilizing knowledge from existing high end bikes to model and yes, copy parts like the suspension, for instance. With quality alloys that China produces since countries like the US for example no longer produces, China has direct acces to the materials needed for building bikes just asxdurable and nearly as high performance as established companies. Just a sude comment.. China has over 360 walmart stores.. yes walmarts.
@@chillon2922X Do you know who Jimmy Lewis is? If you know anything about offroad racing histry, you should know his accomplishment He made a video which pretty much destroys your stereotypical assumtions about chinese parts on the Kove 450. He rode it HARD..HIS WORDS..harder than you or I could ride it. And he called it reliable bike, with a de ent and reliable motor and suspension even if the sus is sort of a copy from other suspensions, which he points out others also copy ekach other in the industry.... he says the sus works fine.. good enough for me and any with half a brain.
Anyone thinking this is the same as what they rode in the Dakkar is deluding themselves. It's like all the T7 fans saying Pol Tarres is riding one at erzburg when in reality it's nothing like the stock bike. I'm sure the bike is fine but people are really eating up the marketing bs.
... Seat plastic is ivory, front plastic white color... It does not matter - but it does! All manufacturers build bikes with "that will do", it's just that this sort of visible stuff are not so obvious
It’s ancient actually, although I haven’t sent it out for carbon dating so I can’t be too sure about origins. No sparkle on this one, so unlikely any unicorn connections. Not very dense. Lava rock maybe. Coarse & somewhat porous. Projected value varies by the appraiser. Daughter may trade for a piece of string or some chocolate, but the boys believe the price is more in line with other forest artifacts. Maybe a dehydrated mouse carcass or a large leaf.
If you do a bit of research you'll find that most brands are now made in China, assembled elsewhere. Some Hondas are entirely made and assembled in China. Even Harley Davidson is partially made in China and share an engine licence with Zongshen in China. China is very capable of making quality bikes. What you've got to remember is everything is built to a price specification. No matter how much we'd like to think everything made in China is junk the reality in 2023 is most everything is now made there.
Yes Chinese manufacturing is not the problem it's the Chinese _brands_ that target the low end of the market. We see that changing in other areas.. DJI cameras & drones, Milwaukee is Chinese owned.. no reason Kove or CFMoto can't start pushing upmarket if the product is good IMO.
I CHOOSE to own Chinese now because of the fucking shit quality of the asshole legacy auto manufacturers. I have not been let down by that choice but plenty of people i know of have issues with their choices.
Those two bikes are solving very different problems, though. The 450 is (ostensibly) a lightweight rally bike while the Tenere (which I really like) is certainly off-road capable, but weighing in at more than 100 pounds heavier, it’s a sizable lump of steel to manhandle. There’s at least three running the ‘24 Africa Eco Race, so they can do it. But, advertising aside, that’s not really their primary purpose. If Honda had released the Kove and I was shipping for a bike for the kind of riding I enjoy, I suspect I’d buy the Honda, even though part of me would be looking wistfully at the Tenere as I walked out of the showroom. Hard to say without riding the 450 (I’ve ridden a Tenere; it’s a hoot).
I’m a MX guy so been curious about their moto bikes. I wouldn’t buy one but I’m excited for them because the sport needs a decent budget option. & those bar mounts look like clones of the xtrig’s I have on my bike.
@@ChuckfromTrueTech The Triumph and Duck will be so over-priced ($15,000+) that it will only continue the downward slide of dirt bikes due to unaffordability.
@@1vmxracer Triumph's new Speed and Scrambler 400s are made in India and the pricing is pretty low, similar to RE. They may follow this strategy with the MX and dual sport bikes. edit: or they may follow the Husky/KTM high price strategy, remains to be seen, I guess.
The oil check/change issues are an immediate no for me not to mention the multiple copies of Japanese/Austrian parts. Unfortunately I think the copying is the best a chinese company can do at the moment to gain interest from consumers. Perhaps kove will open the doors for itself or other chinese companies to make their own proper motorcycles that aren't in any way a copy and are still decent. Looks like its heading that way
motorbike is not rocket science. So you can redesign again and again jeans trousers, good luck ;) People don't rally but the Dakar feeling make them dream. The big tanks ? I rode Russia and lots of foreign countries with 8L tank... Except crossing Australian desert or big African one, we don't need these big fuel tanks. It will be very occasional and can be fixed by fuel bladders or jerrycans; fuel can be found everywhere and is a good way to make ne friends !! Riding rel ADV, you have to take some rest and doing 500 km pure off road is bullshit... 99% of people on long range riding will take some more usual roads with...fuel pump or at least meet farmers with fuel
Jeeeesus, so it has a front wheel and a rear wheel! What a knock-off, someone already did that!! 😅 Just so you know, most of the products ever made were created as a knock-off, or, better said, improved/upgraded version of someone else's invention. Many European motorcycle brands in 1920s 30s 40s and so were a knock-off of motorcycles brands like Puch. That's how you come to progress, and you'd know that if you yourself were an engineer or a designer. You take what you see and look what you can improve and go from there. Not everyone gets to be a DaVinci level inventor. 98% of us product developers are designers or engineers.
@@xzouixthanks to point the new millennium non sense and lack of culture about industry process and engineering... That is exactly why some brands buy others to get the infos and process. Audi with Lamborghini by example 😊 pity that china is bashed by who is first responsible , by asking them lower quality control, to be able to get cheap products and more benefits. In the meantime, china robots are on Mars 😅😅😅
Service intervals depend largely on how the bike is being used. Of course they’ll be using the most aggressive scenario for their recommended intervals. If the bike is being used as in an ADV application you could safely stretch it further. On my enduro bike I change my oil at about 8 hours of use. Usually that’s about 1-200 km.
Ive heard they are the best made of all the chinese bikes. cF moto seem ok too and they seem better than some of the indian bikes. Theyre cheap in india and i rode an old TVS 165 cc over 100 miles in Rajastan . It was well worn but wasnt tuned so slow basic single cylinder like suzuki GS125 type basic design. Ideal for simple maintenance and reliable cheap transport.
Maybe the wages in your developed countries are relatively high, and the purchasing power is more than wrong. But I really need more than 330,000 off-road vehicles to buy KTM Huswana Honda in China, and kove only needs 70,000, which meets my requirements. The salary is only 8,000. What would you choose?
@@ChuckfromTrueTech Who knows. Terrible oversight. Any bike I’ve owned that’s been used to hammer in the desert all day (lots of WOT) has consumed a decent amount of oil.
intro ...is it possible ? , well millions of asians guys ride useful bikes all day long... ;) Thanks to Western people asking Chinese for decades to produce shit, to earn a lot of money on our back... In the mean time, Chinese go to space and build majority of what you use at home and now with your phone and computer Speaking about aluminium casting and electrical connectors, Japan and European brands have their lot of pbs... Nice video ! I know it was your intro way to hook people ;)
How many new bikes have no way to check the oil level? That would be a non starter for me, if they are too lazy to fit a dip stick, what else have they not bothered with? Maybe im too old, maybe modern bikes with synthetics just ride 5000 miles between oil changes and dont use oil?
It is a very strange conundrum. I do expect that modern bikes don’t burn oil despite going too long between services. The rest of the bike looks well designed with attention paid to details which makes me wonder if there was another reason they left it out. 🤷♂️
The only reason for buying a Chinese bike is cheaper prices, and I agree with the fact that Japanese and European ones are overpriced. Yet I'd choose instead a second hand machine from those main manufacturers. Your proven bike would last much longer and keep a reasonable re-sale price for the future. Used Chinese dirt bikes are a pain to sell even at discounted prices.
The openning statements remind me of ktm , haha, The Owner of Kove over sees the manufacturing and production. Easy could be at least as good as ktm and there flaws. Japenese the bench mark so welcome Kove i say.
Spot on. What sort of quality build is there in the 790/890. Pretty poor track record to date. Look at the EICMA show, Chinese companies are having a go at smaller, lighter adv bikes which Japan refuses to make.
@@MrEtnorb Agreed , i imagine without cheap labour including cheap manufacturers of parts for the euro bikes ,that it is challenging to produce Jap quality models and choices of market desires. Massive cheap labour and production take over currently , not sure we want that.
Why in the world is that third one SOOOO yellow straight out of the box?! I'm an owner as well and mine is showing slight signs of yellowing but not like this one. There posts of other people complaining of the yellowing. It's going to be very disappointing if my bike ends up being a giant yellow turd.
I’m not sure why, but my suspicion is that the rear tank is made of a different type of plastic than the front due to it’s intended water storage capability. I’ve seen lots of tanks go yellow/brown over the years when guys put race gas in them. I don’t know what kind of fuel is in these when they run them at the plant, it smells just like race gas.
The fact there is no sight glass for the oil kills it for me. Very important feature missing. With no accurate way to measure the amount of oil in it I don't see them lasting near as long as the Austrian bikes. Too much can be as bad or worse than not enough oil.
I don’t understand the idea behind no sight glass or dipstick, but people definitely worry too much about oil level. In a wet sump engine you’re going to get oil to every part of the engine as long as the pickup cavity is full. I expect next year’s model will have it though. So weird.
The bikes were crated almost identically to how the Japanese manufacturers crate their machines. Maybe there IS a change coming. Japan did it. Is it possible that there is another "Yamaha" in China, just waiting to be discovered? Right now there are hundreds if not thousands of different Chinese brand bikes and ATVs - finding parts is a nightmare. Perhaps the paring down process has begun and Kove will be one of the survivors - I don't know...
People complain about Chinese products as they type in on their Apple phone . Tools. First model production will lead to refinements. And who offers this style bike in a 450? Ktm 450xc-f ? Ktm exc ? But not with the rally style fairing. How much is the Kove??
I would buy this for 10k usd. If they make it better in the next few years I will bet it will be 12k and up. Inflation is not stopping for a few years. I think the bike looks great. No one is selling anything like it style wise.
The market has to get real and stop w all the cheerleading for middle aged men. Bike has to have road manners..has to have power and suspension to float a @200 lbs rider and some gear both on and off road.. need to be able to do @200+ plus freeway miles.. and all the BS about Dakar..nobody is going to race Dakar. The bikes need to be made for the specific purpose of a dual sport motorcycle.. what does that mean 1st you don't need to own a trailer and 2nd the bike is actually dual sport and you don't need to ride in groups to lift a 500-600lbs pound motorcycle up if you tip over in sand or the woods,or single track.. there has to be a twin sometime!!! Can't be a market canyon between a Kawasaki Versys 300 and a Yamaha Tenere 700.. maybe the Chinese are reading that people want a bike that can actually be ridden off road..
Enduro bikes, no oil stick. And the window to see level ??. Haha, good luck cleaning it and even see something on the trail... Ziplock costs nothing , easy to make a mark to know level, and even z long one can be used to see gearbox level and oil clutch contamination ( for separate engine/ gearbox cases ) stop the drama 😂
I don't worry about the quality at all, it can't be worse than KTM. The potential resale value is a problem tho. If the brand doesn't take off like Kayo didn't then you might be stuck with it in a few years.
To answer your question : NO. Sorry. Not because they are Chinese, but you don't bring top notch quality from scratch. People really think you can do real racing with it out of the box. Aftermarket or known part brands seem to useless. No name, cheap China parts will do it too!! xD
So, you can't check the oil, can't easily change the oil, the plastics don't match, and it costs the same as my Tenere 700. What a freaking JOKE! (pronounced Joe Kay, of course)
It's great to see "small" bikes being taken seriously. Not everyone wants a 700-1300cc behemoth. 450 is a "big" bike to small-bike appreciators.
I am very interested in this bike. Can't wait to check one out in person.
I spied a CFMOTO 400cc road bike in the City last week. I can't speak to the reliability, but the finish was exceptional. If it does what the company says on the box it's sure to make Honda and Kawasaki pay attention.I think that we might be witnessing China do to Japan what the Japanese did to American and British manufacturers in the 1970's. Great video.
We love your daughter’s presentation of the rock ! 😂
Read a few people saying the big manufacturers won't build this bike because it will steal sales from their profitable Adventure bikes. Seems so shortsighted. As a dual sport guy I have no interest in an Africa Twin for touring but would be all over a CRF550 or 600 Rally to replace my 450L down the road. Nice to see that someone finally built a dual sport with a decent tank.
I'm always very hesitant to believe what people are talking about online. The most respected internet experts don't have inside lines to what the factories are doing.
If the market legitimately asks for more bikes in this category, I'm sure we'll get it. It's really not that it's more expensive to manufacture. It's got a big tank, a down pipe and stiffer suspension.
It would be quite the upset to see the big 5 follow in Kove's footsteps.
@@ChuckfromTrueTech Well maybe I'm totally wrong thinking there is a large market for this type of bike. I have no interest in that vulnerable low exhaust but after spending some time on an 890 I'd pay to have that shin height gas tank on my dual sport.
Ditto what you said! I own an Africa Twin and a CRF300l to cover what I like to do. One bike would be nice,(but even at 70, and can’t always pick the AT up)I don’t think I could ever sell it. The 300 sure I could. I’ve been thinking DR650, got to ride one last week, wonderful! Still Looking.
Honda already make at least two bikes themselves that take sales away from the Africa Twin. I can’t see them being worried by a 450 from an unknown manufacturer designed for a completely different part of the market. Why would anyone who wants this sort of rally bike be interested in a bigger, far more expensive adventure tourer in the first place? Have you looked at photos and thought, ‘oh they look similar they must be trying to appeal to the same people?’
You know just what's coming next 😎👌
Was planning to get the Kove, but now I get to get a lathe too! Appreciate your vid and despite a serious case of shop envy, looking forward to future drops. Thx
super cool video, Super entertaining to watch this go together and learn and get input from you on the bikes. Keep it up man!!!!
Thanks for your honest evaluation. Hope we get the Euro 5 model (needed for plating) and a German importer soon. Günter/Nürnberg
The GPX that is a copy is the 300 as you said. The others are not and I’ve owned them all, all quality and amazing bikes. I don’t care that the engine is a copy on the 300, I can’t afford a ktm. Usually it’s only snobby ktm guys who turn their nose up at us lower class people who can’t afford a ktm, but man GPX bikes are amazing.
I love these types of reviews. I'd like to see all bikes reviewed like this.
Awesome video. One of these is on a boat for me right now - the uk distributor was kind enough to send me a tracking link, so I’m watching it like a very slow über - and this feeds right into my confirmation bias algorithm. I took a huge early adopter risk, but I’m very pleased with all the warm UA-cam fuzzies so far. Thank you for your thoughts!
There is enough info now that I think Kove will be a player long term. Hopefully they introduce some real diversity.
Great video! You hit the points I'm most interested in -- especially the fit & finish and quality aspects of the components and assembly. It's also nice that you actually set up the bike for you personally to ride (instead of just a superficial look like videos from other sources) so that you found out about the non-standard handlebar.
I have no interest in illegal knock-offs or poorly designed and made crap but the Kove seems to be a legitimate option because of the aspects that you covered. I appreciate that it has been designed as a new, original bike and that there is more infrastructure than just for manufacturing it behind the bike and brand. I think it's also useful that you have explained in this and your other videos how this bike sits in a new category between off-road/enduro and ADV bikes and what that means in terms of trade-offs and ride characteristcs. Your videos are very well done and truly insightful and useful.
Very much appreciated.
Wow, best summary so far! Thank you
Really appreciate your input on the Kove 450! I think everyone is so excited that a company finally seems to be giving us what we have all been pounding the table for for years that we are all in an intense honeymoon phase. I feel you are doing a great job of staying objective and critical. For me I am looking at this motorcycle as a great small adventure motorcycle for the BDR's, TAT, etc. Other than it maybe not liking to chug down low which might be harder for less skilled riders like me. Looking forward to your future videos!
It’s an easy bike to ride. Tested out the 1.41 map from Kove USA & it’s much better. Not a huge power increase, but much smoother down low.
I think most owners added handguards, you are the first to flag the odd size issue. Seems a bit odd. Maybe some added different bars as well so it wasn't an issue.🤷♂️
Great videos, some others are v sales pitchy, these will sell themselves if they keep up the early reputation they are building.
Hopefully this be good enough and sell like hot cakes for his 2nd year, so all the other MF manufacturers can follow suit and make the same class bike.
❤HI CHUCK LOVING YOUR VIDEOS , FIRST ONE WAS THE TM 300 ENGINE STRIP DOWN , IVE SUBSCRIBED BECAUSE YOUR FEEDBACK/MECHANICAL SKILLS ARE SOLID . EXCELLENT WORK INFORMATION MAKES IT A THUMBS 👍UP FROM ME
Super review thanks not faff around straight to the point!👏
Been riding motorcycles since1979 and have never seen a bike without an oil level check. That for me is a monstrous red flag, despite what you said in the dying seconds of the video.
It’s certainly a weird one.
They did have a window type for viewing the oil level when developing the bike but the oil level was only at the very bottom on the window because on the motor design and oil capacity so on the first release bikes they went without a window. Their new race bikes are shown with a window so my guess down the road bikes will have a sight window for checking the oil. @@ChuckfromTrueTech
the suzuki drz doesnt have an oil sight and its the most dependable bike on teh market. that said i dont trust kove
@@Merc399The DRZ has a dipstick up high on the frame! So....
All my Enduro bikes don t have it. 😊
When you have the whole supply chain in one place, building a relatively cheap motorcycle is not surprising. You just put a motivated CEO behind and you get a motorcycle like the Kove 450 Rally.
Excellent video!
Great information on your initial impression from assembling the bikes.
I've always believed that quality parts make a quality machine.
Low quality or high quality.
Nice to hear your view is positive.
we're gonna need more footage of that important rock, please.
Limited access. Very special for sure.
I’m so tempt getting this bike!!! Currently riding 2022 Lifan 250 KPX and love it!!! I didn’t order mine, I bought from local power sport dealership so I don’t have to put together ha!!!
If it's more a dirtbike than a DRZ400 off-road and a better ADV bike for short little people than the KLR650 offroad, than it has fulfilled the criteria for the group of people looking for a lighter, smaller more manageable mini ADV motorcycle !!
I wouldn't call it more of a dirt bike than the DRZ400, but the suspension is better. Other than that it feels heavier, significantly bigger and the engine feels like it has about the same power.
Great video. Thank you! I am really interested in this bike. Just waiting for homologation in the USA. Good to know you like the initial build quality.
If they can get street legality sorted out this thing will be a major player.
Great job. I think I had the only one that didn’t start right away and it was a simple fix after I tracked it down. I promptly took it to Moab and thrashed it. It’s been holding up well. PS my oil was low also. And the skid plate is meant for sand not rocks. I’ve been working with Molecule Motosports on a skid plate that will hold up to rocks and trees 😎👍🏻
That’s how good parts get developed.
Heckuva nice video. Objective and expert opinions like this are hard to find! New subscriber.
I’ll do my best to maintain the standard. Thanks!
Damn I'm jelaous of your tools and garage
Great video thanks for putting it on
Great fair comments Chuck, 350km on mine so far including really stupid drop and slid at 70kmhr for at least 50 feet on an fsr. Only slughtly bent one mirror arm and mid pipe hear shield. It brought my attentionnto the brake and clutch perches though and they seem to be decent but maybe the cheapest part of the builds. oh and the one rear signal came off in the slide but I cant count thatagaibst the Kove quality would have been same result in any bike
Glad you have three so we have soneone top notch to follow on the Kove specific wrenching.
KTM swapable sprockets and shift/brake pedals
That’s good stuff to know. I’m itching to get the engine apart, but also hoping I don’t need to anytime soon.
Akront Is very good brand. Much used in the 70's and 80's in Europe on Fantic and other Italian brands
Good they're back👍
Your daughter is an amazing helper! Very cute and she was having a blast! Great video but no way will you see a China bike in my shop, ever.
Realy? Do you know ho many bikes already been build in China? Or Thailand or Indonesië. And how many part came from China?
I’m sure there are many others who agree, on both points.
on the whiskey hypocrite. Reminds me of all the clowns who would never buy jap crap and blame everything on Japanese. Then they own a Toyota ute made in Japan WTF
Let's hope the other offerings in the KOVE stable will be of the same build standard.
Thanks for the GREAT info!,
What happens when KOVE 2.0 comes out in a year or two and the manufacturer no longer has parts available? Also nobody seems to talk about the lower resale of these bikes and the difficulties even reselling one down the road.... All very important facts in my opinion. With that said great review!!
Those are definitely valid points. I think the resale will depend mostly on the support. Support has been a killer in the industry many times before. We shall see.
I think the nature of these bikes and type of riding means it attracts people who are not afraid to wrench, and who are not overly brand conscious. Betcha there are very few parts that are exclusive to this bike. One guy has done 5k miles across Europe (TET) on it with no issues - the bottom end is a mass produced proven engine, ok if there turn out to be some issues with the top end it is hardly the end of the world on a single cylinder engine.
So I don't think resale is going to be an issue. Also, the money is not big, I don't think anyone is going to be stressing about it that much.
Parts supply is an issue for ANY car / motorcycle even from new. I brought a new Yamaha and 3 months later they did not have a base gasket ??? . Resale is only important to people who only ride tar sealed roads on GS and dont want any stone chips or to put many miles on because it affects the bullshit value.[Me on 1198S]
As has been pointed out by a number of youtube moto journalists, including the legendary off road racer Jimmy Lewis, these bikes have a decent, reliable motor, decent suspension, and are a pretty good design. He took a stock one and rode it harder than 95 % of those interested in these types of biKes are capable of riding them on their best day and he said it was holding up just fine and performed pretty well. GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!!
KTM better buy out kove asap imho , this is a TRUE chinese unicorn by the boatloads!!
Subbed and liked!!
But what colour would they make it?
Just the fact they overlooked something as simple as a sight glass for your oil level makes me wonder what else they cheaped out on that you can't immediately see. Seems to look alright at first, will be interesting to see how it stands up long term
I’m wondering if they just change the oil at intervals in Dakar & wanted to eliminate the expense & potential failure point of a sight glass or dipstick.
Designed for racing. Oil is changed on a regular basis by volume. I don’t ever check oil level on my KTMs / Huskys. I dump the oil and add the correct amount every few rides or after a race.
Wait and see. Time will tell. They are all new right now.
How cute are your helpers ✅ Great bikes & becoming well known. Will be interesting to see CFMoto version of 450MT will be in Italy today🤔
I’m a big fan of both my helpers.
Looks like exciting things to come in the DS/ADV world in the next few years.
@@ChuckfromTrueTech manufacturers are finally getting the hurry up from KOVE because of their bikes. You know they raced in last years Dakar? They finished 23rd position… but they finished. Many other brands didn’t. People took a lot of notice 😉
The Kove's are a different beast, for sure. I'll also say that the GPX's just get better and better every 6 months. The owner, Gary, really takes a lot of input from the community and puts that into refining those bikes. They've come a long way from your basic China clone.
The Kove certainly is unique. I’m not necessarily against the GPX brand, but it is a knock-off and there are definitely some moral issues there.
@@ChuckfromTrueTech moral issues aside they produce a decent bike at a price that's hard to beat. KTM has gone straight to ludicrous plaid with their pricing. $11,000 for a 125 2 stroke. They took the pricing off their website because it's laughable.
I use to take Americans to Chinese factories in China and they would give us a photo of a product and tell the factory to make it as cheap as possible with cheap materials. Then they ship them to the USA to sell.
That's where cheap Chinese products came from, Americans.
I figure there must be a supply & demand dynamic at play here. We ask, we receive.
akront currently does ktm wheels
I use a Dyna bolt or HKD for hand guards if bushing is a problem
The reason we all think Chinese stuff is poor quality is that the giant domestic importers demand it so their profit margins can remain excessive and they can reward their stockholders not the average consumer. Canadian Tire is a perfect example in this regard. China will eventually become the next Japan as far as quality.
exactly, thanks to point it. needs to be said gain and again
Not going to happen. China is in a downhill slide, economy-wise and they are headed for big trouble. And not just with their economy. You want to know how bad it is, watch Peter Zeihan, probably the leading geopolitical expert in this country. He will show you what's REALLY behind the Chinese curtain.
Apple products are made in China. Quality doesn’t get much better.
Read above and mark my words. @@murphyandmurphybrand
These have already been ridden in Dakkar rally. They are fine motorcycles and their ceo is pumped to make a truely competitive machine.
A Dakar Version rode the rally Dakar. Not a stock bike.
Dont be so naiv.
You think a stock Chinese no name suspension or Chinese no name Rims will do it?
Sorry you are wrong.
@@chillon2922X i lived in North Thailand for 8 years and am writing this from Chiang Rai. I see Chinese people and Chinese products every DAY. So i will forgive you ignorance on this matter and your stereotypical idea that is out of date on what Chinese engineers and manufacturers can and can't do. I race a Chinese brand carbon frame mountain bike and have won and podiumed many times on it against name brands like Specialized, Scott, Cannondale, Trek etc. I raced off road motorcycles for nearly three decades in the US. The Chinese brand Kove is owned by a very weathy man who is dedicated to building very good motorcycles. There is a very good documentary on him and the project on youtube and yes, they did use their race version for dakar, and it is available for sale to the public right now, just not in the USA quite yet. Its you who are ignorant of this project and the fact that Chinese engineers can produce a very good product. In fact, China is a country with 1.4 billion people and a damn sight more engineers than you realize.. right now, in the mountain bike industry where Taiwan companies have been building bikes for Specialized, Trek, Giant , Scott, and other major brand names, THE COMPANIES IN TAIWAN are sourcing out the priduction of carbon big name brand bikes to China.
DID YOU KNOW that here in Thailand, there are plants building Kawasakis? Hondas? Dirt bikes, not just scooters some. KTM models are in the loop to be built herectoo.
Kove engineers are utilizing knowledge from existing high end bikes to model and yes, copy parts like the suspension, for instance. With quality alloys that China produces since countries like the US for example no longer produces, China has direct acces to the materials needed for building bikes just asxdurable and nearly as high performance as established companies.
Just a sude comment.. China has over 360 walmart stores.. yes walmarts.
@@chillon2922X Do you know who Jimmy Lewis is? If you know anything about offroad racing histry, you should know his accomplishment He made a video which pretty much destroys your stereotypical assumtions about chinese parts on the Kove 450. He rode it HARD..HIS WORDS..harder than you or I could ride it. And he called it reliable bike, with a de ent and reliable motor and suspension even if the sus is sort of a copy from other suspensions, which he points out others also copy ekach other in the industry.... he says the sus works fine.. good enough for me and any with half a brain.
@@chillon2922X✊🏻💦
Anyone thinking this is the same as what they rode in the Dakkar is deluding themselves. It's like all the T7 fans saying Pol Tarres is riding one at erzburg when in reality it's nothing like the stock bike. I'm sure the bike is fine but people are really eating up the marketing bs.
Let’s remember they were tested in the Dakar, 3 out 3 to the finish line.
yes, in the last place....when you not racing finishing is not so hard eh?
@@just_one_opinionfinishing Dakar IS very hard, and they didn’t finish last.
... Seat plastic is ivory, front plastic white color...
It does not matter - but it does!
All manufacturers build bikes with "that will do", it's just that this sort of visible stuff are not so obvious
My daughter would be acting identical to yours. Hilarious.
Does it have an electronic oil level sensor? Seems crazy to build an engine with no way to know how much oil is in it.
My daughter would like to know more about the rock. Where did she find it? Is it really old? Does it sparkle? Is it unicorn poo?
It’s ancient actually, although I haven’t sent it out for carbon dating so I can’t be too sure about origins.
No sparkle on this one, so unlikely any unicorn connections.
Not very dense. Lava rock maybe. Coarse & somewhat porous.
Projected value varies by the appraiser. Daughter may trade for a piece of string or some chocolate, but the boys believe the price is more in line with other forest artifacts. Maybe a dehydrated mouse carcass or a large leaf.
If you do a bit of research you'll find that most brands are now made in China, assembled elsewhere. Some Hondas are entirely made and assembled in China. Even Harley Davidson is partially made in China and share an engine licence with Zongshen in China. China is very capable of making quality bikes. What you've got to remember is everything is built to a price specification. No matter how much we'd like to think everything made in China is junk the reality in 2023 is most everything is now made there.
Yes Chinese manufacturing is not the problem it's the Chinese _brands_ that target the low end of the market. We see that changing in other areas.. DJI cameras & drones, Milwaukee is Chinese owned.. no reason Kove or CFMoto can't start pushing upmarket if the product is good IMO.
I CHOOSE to own Chinese now because of the fucking shit quality of the asshole legacy auto manufacturers. I have not been let down by that choice but plenty of people i know of have issues with their choices.
The kove 800 looks great
Most people don’t know the huge lineup they have planned. There’s a ton of bikes that may be on the way.
@@ChuckfromTrueTech I'll definitely be keeping an eye out, thanks!!!
The performance in China market is KTM engine+Yamaha T700 setting.
I want to see more of that rock
Maybe I’ll do a full critique in the future.
Nice
touch the dream
The wider skid plate is because in the race version there’s a small water tank there
Ah! That makes sense! Thanks.
Which battery powered driver are you using for assembly?
Snap-on.
could you tap out the handle bars and use bolts to put the barkbusters on?? I've done that on other bikes
You certainly could.
Of course there all positive comments. The supreme leader wont allow dissent😂
Over $12,000 and you can guess/check the oil with a ziptie? Sounds like solid idea. 👍
Yep, and for about $1000 more, you can get a Yamaha Tenere 700.
Those two bikes are solving very different problems, though. The 450 is (ostensibly) a lightweight rally bike while the Tenere (which I really like) is certainly off-road capable, but weighing in at more than 100 pounds heavier, it’s a sizable lump of steel to manhandle. There’s at least three running the ‘24 Africa Eco Race, so they can do it. But, advertising aside, that’s not really their primary purpose. If Honda had released the Kove and I was shipping for a bike for the kind of riding I enjoy, I suspect I’d buy the Honda, even though part of me would be looking wistfully at the Tenere as I walked out of the showroom. Hard to say without riding the 450 (I’ve ridden a Tenere; it’s a hoot).
I’m a MX guy so been curious about their moto bikes. I wouldn’t buy one but I’m excited for them because the sport needs a decent budget option. & those bar mounts look like clones of the xtrig’s I have on my bike.
I agree 100%. More legitimate options are good for everyone. Looking forward to seeing the Ducati & Triumph offerings too.
@@ChuckfromTrueTech The Triumph and Duck will be so over-priced ($15,000+) that it will only continue the downward slide of dirt bikes due to unaffordability.
@@1vmxracer Triumph's new Speed and Scrambler 400s are made in India and the pricing is pretty low, similar to RE. They may follow this strategy with the MX and dual sport bikes.
edit: or they may follow the Husky/KTM high price strategy, remains to be seen, I guess.
The oil check/change issues are an immediate no for me not to mention the multiple copies of Japanese/Austrian parts.
Unfortunately I think the copying is the best a chinese company can do at the moment to gain interest from consumers.
Perhaps kove will open the doors for itself or other chinese companies to make their own proper motorcycles that aren't in any way a copy and are still decent.
Looks like its heading that way
motorbike is not rocket science. So you can redesign again and again jeans trousers, good luck ;) People don't rally but the Dakar feeling make them dream. The big tanks ? I rode Russia and lots of foreign countries with 8L tank... Except crossing Australian desert or big African one, we don't need these big fuel tanks. It will be very occasional and can be fixed by fuel bladders or jerrycans; fuel can be found everywhere and is a good way to make ne friends !! Riding rel ADV, you have to take some rest and doing 500 km pure off road is bullshit... 99% of people on long range riding will take some more usual roads with...fuel pump or at least meet farmers with fuel
The Chinese version of R&D (research and development) is more like "Rip-Off and Duplicate"...
Jeeeesus, so it has a front wheel and a rear wheel! What a knock-off, someone already did that!! 😅 Just so you know, most of the products ever made were created as a knock-off, or, better said, improved/upgraded version of someone else's invention. Many European motorcycle brands in 1920s 30s 40s and so were a knock-off of motorcycles brands like Puch.
That's how you come to progress, and you'd know that if you yourself were an engineer or a designer. You take what you see and look what you can improve and go from there. Not everyone gets to be a DaVinci level inventor. 98% of us product developers are designers or engineers.
@@xzouixthanks to point the new millennium non sense and lack of culture about industry process and engineering... That is exactly why some brands buy others to get the infos and process. Audi with Lamborghini by example 😊 pity that china is bashed by who is first responsible , by asking them lower quality control, to be able to get cheap products and more benefits. In the meantime, china robots are on Mars 😅😅😅
@@babar69110 All Kove motorcycles have successfully finished Dakar this year, so I believe they are doing something right.
What’s your thoughts on the service intervals?
It’s 2000 km for valves and oil , that’s more Mx figures than adventure bike
Service intervals depend largely on how the bike is being used. Of course they’ll be using the most aggressive scenario for their recommended intervals.
If the bike is being used as in an ADV application you could safely stretch it further.
On my enduro bike I change my oil at about 8 hours of use. Usually that’s about 1-200 km.
@@ChuckfromTrueTech
Thanks for the answer! Really appreciate it
The current CF Moto line up is very usefull ' so yes China is already building great bike's
Ive heard they are the best made of all the chinese bikes. cF moto seem ok too and they seem better than some of the indian bikes. Theyre cheap in india and i rode an old TVS 165 cc over 100 miles in Rajastan . It was well worn but wasnt tuned so slow basic single cylinder like suzuki GS125 type basic design. Ideal for simple maintenance and reliable cheap transport.
That´s some wierd attachment on the Barkbusters. My Acerbis guards have the offset type thet can take much more play.
I have those too. I’ve got a box full of hand guard bits. Never had to machine adaptors before. 🤷♂️
@@ChuckfromTrueTech strange, but i had the same issue on my DR650 (thin steel), faster job to just change the bar ;)
Just a frugal Dutchy, why risk reliability for a few bucks? Is it really that much cheaper?
That really depends what you’re comparing it to. Against a 500 or a 690 it’s actually very similar. Against the KTM rally models it’s half the price.
Maybe the wages in your developed countries are relatively high, and the purchasing power is more than wrong. But I really need more than 330,000 off-road vehicles to buy KTM Huswana Honda in China, and kove only needs 70,000, which meets my requirements. The salary is only 8,000. What would you choose?
Was hoping this was the mx 450. They claim 65hp and only like 215 pounds.
looks like a decent road bike... way too bulky especially up front for any kind of moderately serious trail riding
No way to check oil...WTH!
Ya. Pretty weird.
I would buy one if it came in the original paint scheme they used at the Dakar. I am sure I would gain plenty new "friends" around here.
I don’t know what the original scheme was, but there are 3 colour options.
@@ChuckfromTrueTech the Chinese Flag ...
@@ogoshikimura5621 Just ask them for the China sticker kit?
You can’t check the oil on a bike that’s built to be hammered on in a desert setting?!
I’m as surprised as you are. Maybe they just want you to change it more often? Maybe an engineer had a bad experience with a sight glass? 🤷♂️
@@ChuckfromTrueTech Who knows. Terrible oversight. Any bike I’ve owned that’s been used to hammer in the desert all day (lots of WOT) has consumed a decent amount of oil.
intro ...is it possible ? , well millions of asians guys ride useful bikes all day long... ;) Thanks to Western people asking Chinese for decades to produce shit, to earn a lot of money on our back... In the mean time, Chinese go to space and build majority of what you use at home and now with your phone and computer Speaking about aluminium casting and electrical connectors, Japan and European brands have their lot of pbs... Nice video ! I know it was your intro way to hook people ;)
Good bike?
Seems good to me. Time will tell.
Can i get one in a box too?
🤷♂️
It boggles my mind that you need to check oil level on this bike with a zip tie... The base NC450 engine has a sight glass.
Very good video
How many new bikes have no way to check the oil level? That would be a non starter for me, if they are too lazy to fit a dip stick, what else have they not bothered with? Maybe im too old, maybe modern bikes with synthetics just ride 5000 miles between oil changes and dont use oil?
It is a very strange conundrum. I do expect that modern bikes don’t burn oil despite going too long between services.
The rest of the bike looks well designed with attention paid to details which makes me wonder if there was another reason they left it out. 🤷♂️
Quite hard to do shoulder checks with off road helmets … please put at least one mirror on …
We’ll put mirrors on after we put plates on.
Those years and years of chinese vibe has been due to years and years of instant koolaid
*Not a china bike but a legitimate motorcycle*
The only reason for buying a Chinese bike is cheaper prices, and I agree with the fact that Japanese and European ones are overpriced. Yet I'd choose instead a second hand machine from those main manufacturers. Your proven bike would last much longer and keep a reasonable re-sale price for the future. Used Chinese dirt bikes are a pain to sell even at discounted prices.
This will all be interesting to watch over the next few years.
IMO Because it states ‘Akront’ doesn’t mean it is actually Akront. It’s Chinese, it could be anything with Akront painted on it.
I would usually agree, but the rest of the bike is so “non-Chinese” that it would be a departure from my expectation.
The openning statements remind me of ktm , haha, The Owner of Kove over sees the manufacturing and production. Easy could be at least as good as ktm and there flaws. Japenese the bench mark so welcome Kove i say.
Spot on. What sort of quality build is there in the 790/890. Pretty poor track record to date. Look at the EICMA show, Chinese companies are having a go at smaller, lighter adv bikes which Japan refuses to make.
@@MrEtnorb Agreed , i imagine without cheap labour including cheap manufacturers of parts for the euro bikes ,that it is challenging to produce Jap quality models and choices of market desires. Massive cheap labour and production take over currently , not sure we want that.
Why in the world is that third one SOOOO yellow straight out of the box?! I'm an owner as well and mine is showing slight signs of yellowing but not like this one. There posts of other people complaining of the yellowing. It's going to be very disappointing if my bike ends up being a giant yellow turd.
I’m not sure why, but my suspicion is that the rear tank is made of a different type of plastic than the front due to it’s intended water storage capability. I’ve seen lots of tanks go yellow/brown over the years when guys put race gas in them. I don’t know what kind of fuel is in these when they run them at the plant, it smells just like race gas.
@@ChuckfromTrueTech by the way, I do not have that weird flex in the bar mounts you showed in your video. Is that on all three models?
When I got one, it was very yellow and after a couple days it went back to pure white. It apparently off-gasses when it's out of the box.
The yellowing plastic accents the diarrhea green trim nicely. 👍
Chinese have been making bikes for others for years.
I have a Artic cat 4 wheeler with a Kymco engine in it???
Kymco is the best
Take the exhaust off to change the oil ? Hilarious.
We’ll see how it goes. 🤷♂️
It’s a rally bike so there are compromises to do what they need to do.
Bro hasn't uploaded in a while can someone check whether after his ride with kove did he make it out alive? 😂
The fact there is no sight glass for the oil kills it for me. Very important feature missing. With no accurate way to measure the amount of oil in it I don't see them lasting near as long as the Austrian bikes. Too much can be as bad or worse than not enough oil.
I don’t understand the idea behind no sight glass or dipstick, but people definitely worry too much about oil level. In a wet sump engine you’re going to get oil to every part of the engine as long as the pickup cavity is full. I expect next year’s model will have it though. So weird.
Don't you know the amount of oil when you insert the oil dipstick and take it out?
The bikes were crated almost identically to how the Japanese manufacturers crate their machines. Maybe there IS a change coming. Japan did it. Is it possible that there is another "Yamaha" in China, just waiting to be discovered? Right now there are hundreds if not thousands of different Chinese brand bikes and ATVs - finding parts is a nightmare. Perhaps the paring down process has begun and Kove will be one of the survivors - I don't know...
It’s interesting to watch it unfold.
The yellow disappears.
The tanks turn white again?
When I got mine, the rear tank was very yellow. It took a couple days, but yes - it turns white.
@@ChuckfromTrueTech
hi, how are you? any chance you can provide me whit the distributor contact info????
www.kovemotocanada.com/
People complain about Chinese products as they type in on their Apple phone .
Tools.
First model production will lead to refinements.
And who offers this style bike in a 450?
Ktm 450xc-f ?
Ktm exc ?
But not with the rally style fairing.
How much is the Kove??
The 690/701 is the most similar bike I can think of. The Kove is very different from other bikes in the 450 class.
Not sure what the Kove is worth.
I would buy this for 10k usd.
If they make it better in the next few years I will bet it will be 12k and up.
Inflation is not stopping for a few years.
I think the bike looks great.
No one is selling anything like it style wise.
Kove, this car is about 70,000 RMB in China.
No way to check the oil level easily. Seriously???
Anything Chinese is to be immediately considered dodgy.
I’d say anything communist should be approached with extreme caution.
As a China person, it is very interesting to see it.😂
The market has to get real and stop w all the cheerleading for middle aged men. Bike has to have road manners..has to have power and suspension to float a @200 lbs rider and some gear both on and off road.. need to be able to do @200+ plus freeway miles.. and all the BS about Dakar..nobody is going to race Dakar. The bikes need to be made for the specific purpose of a dual sport motorcycle.. what does that mean 1st you don't need to own a trailer and 2nd the bike is actually dual sport and you don't need to ride in groups to lift a 500-600lbs pound motorcycle up if you tip over in sand or the woods,or single track.. there has to be a twin sometime!!! Can't be a market canyon between a Kawasaki Versys 300 and a Yamaha Tenere 700.. maybe the Chinese are reading that people want a bike that can actually be ridden off road..
You hit the nail on the head. Hardly anyone will race the Dakar or any other actual race with this. It’s a DS bike.
The fact that you cant check oil level put me right off.That is a basic must have
Enduro bikes, no oil stick. And the window to see level ??. Haha, good luck cleaning it and even see something on the trail... Ziplock costs nothing , easy to make a mark to know level, and even z long one can be used to see gearbox level and oil clutch contamination ( for separate engine/ gearbox cases ) stop the drama 😂
you should learn how to use microphone correctly
jumping audio volume
Honestly, looks janky when you look past the lighting
Don’t look so janky from up close.
I don't worry about the quality at all, it can't be worse than KTM. The potential resale value is a problem tho.
If the brand doesn't take off like Kayo didn't then you might be stuck with it in a few years.
Definitely a concern! Who knows what these things will be worth in a few years.
To answer your question :
NO.
Sorry.
Not because they are Chinese, but you don't bring top notch quality from scratch. People really think you can do real racing with it out of the box.
Aftermarket or known part brands seem to useless. No name, cheap China parts will do it too!! xD
So, you can't check the oil, can't easily change the oil, the plastics don't match, and it costs the same as my Tenere 700.
What a freaking JOKE! (pronounced Joe Kay, of course)
I would trade those deficits in a heartbeat to have the Kove suspension on the T7.