I might get flack for asking although I haven't really seen anyone mention this; how would this fair to also use as a daily commuter? Yes of course I know the 800 would be better suited for it, however very curious to hear some thoughts.
My Kove 450 Rally February 2024
- Thread starter BuRP
- Start date
Oh @1985xr200 , the bearings checked out fine, I'd say 'of course'.
Cleaned the lot, re-lubed the assembly with a thin smear of waterproof grease and put it back in the bike.
Looks spikkerish again now I must say, was a bit dusty because I left it standing neglected for a few months.
Oh, the battery was empty, a Li-Ion one nogals!
This battery has circuitry in that switches it 'Off' before whatever draws current can draw it to zero, they don't like this.
Never had this in any of my KTM's.... and also, my CTek chargers (meant for normal LeadAcid batteries yeah) did not "take" this battery, so I bought one for this type of battery - that's me, I want to be able to charge these batteries myself, so just get the tools required.
This probably means that the Kove's Dash (like the clock etc) draws a bit of juice when parked, and my KTM's (300 & 500's) do not do this.
Oh well, as I now have a charger for them I gave them all a quick (this charger does a quick job, under 3 hours to get them to 'float') charge so all of them are fine now
Cleaned the lot, re-lubed the assembly with a thin smear of waterproof grease and put it back in the bike.
Looks spikkerish again now I must say, was a bit dusty because I left it standing neglected for a few months.
Oh, the battery was empty, a Li-Ion one nogals!
This battery has circuitry in that switches it 'Off' before whatever draws current can draw it to zero, they don't like this.
Never had this in any of my KTM's.... and also, my CTek chargers (meant for normal LeadAcid batteries yeah) did not "take" this battery, so I bought one for this type of battery - that's me, I want to be able to charge these batteries myself, so just get the tools required.
This probably means that the Kove's Dash (like the clock etc) draws a bit of juice when parked, and my KTM's (300 & 500's) do not do this.
Oh well, as I now have a charger for them I gave them all a quick (this charger does a quick job, under 3 hours to get them to 'float') charge so all of them are fine now
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Flack?
Fukkem!
Somewhere earlier in this thread I've already mentioned that this bike rides so well on roads (paved yeah) that it would make a hoot of a commuter.... and I still say that!
You're hard pressed to find something narrower, ditto for 'bigger tank', and powerwise you'll be off at the robots way before the herd. But also, a detour or so becomes a non-event, it (so I have heard, really now...) skips pavements like nothing else!
The weight you see, only a genuine plastic is lighter - but, but, these do NOT have an ignition key!
Neither a Steering Lock - and this bike has both!
So there, YES, commute on it during your work trundle, and take it on the weekend there where you've not been yet!
The tyres it comes with do it all also, they grip rather well on paving too, in the rain even - and last doing this!
Look above, that's 5000 km's of (mainly offroad yeah) use, and although I wanted new one's @Muffin Man was a bit surprised with this, he thought they could do more - which they can yeah, but I've got a long trip in mind so nope, new ones please.
Right, ready for the next 5000kms!
Some battlescars visible but that's normal, de rigeur life for an offroad bike.
I'm busy sourcing a plastic plate for under the carbon bellypan, will see how that goes, Amerrikuh....
Also looking for a new fresh sticketset, dunno yet what I will find that will suit me.
@Muffin Man , where did you get yours from?
Some battlescars visible but that's normal, de rigeur life for an offroad bike.
I'm busy sourcing a plastic plate for under the carbon bellypan, will see how that goes, Amerrikuh....
Also looking for a new fresh sticketset, dunno yet what I will find that will suit me.
@Muffin Man , where did you get yours from?
Muffin Man
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Ruben from Bandit Graphix helped me..
![Professional First Aid Kit, Trauma First Aid Kit with Labelled Compartments Molle System for Car, Hiking, Backpacking, Camping, Traveling, and Cycling[New Upgrade]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41uCkwNilAL._SL500_.jpg)
Did Sirk not show all the designs he has already?
Also heading there early tomorrow to drop mine off for it's service, so you can sommer adjust the suspension for meNope.... but he will tomorrow!
It started Saturday morning 6h00....
... all packed for a trip.
My Crocks give away there's an overnight planned somewhere.
@Xpat (if you know him fine, if not he's our always-riding local non-Russian) had asked if I'd be interested to ride his Botswana Border route again - which I had done with him on my 790 Adv R in 2019 on which I was less happy with the sandy bits.
But now I'd do it on the riceburner, this nomer dropped by Martin in Jericho earlier this year, and sand is a non event, bring it.
He'd be on his 690 for this trip.
We met at the Pinehaven Sasol filling station down the hill on the N14 in Krugersdorp at 7h00.
From there tar to Koster, then we got onto dirt to the Marico Oog - a spot of beauty new to me, with a few houses for accomodation also: nice!
Thomas told us we were allowed to scuba-dive to only 30 meters, and that the hole was 120m deep .... which really surprised us. Once there Martin quicky googled and it turns out it's only 12m deep, a small mistake I reckon
Anyway, beautiful there, with crystal clear water, you can see even the small fry hiding inbetween the water lilies.
From there more West, not sure where we all rode but somewhere up and over a small escarpment...
... onto a rather large undulating plain sort of, where there were a surprising lot of succulents growing plus other plants, flowering - this area must have had quite a bit of rain, it would not look like this otherwise.
No pic, I anyway took only a few, the wide one's are from Martin.
We rode on, and we did not see any further proof of recent rains, the whole area was dry and dusty.
Martin knows this area so well he'd not bothered to bring a GPS, and with the myriad of tracks there we lost out bearings a few times.
Nothing wrong with some bundu bashing though, so we did our share of "it must be that way" and tried to bash our way through the thorns. Losta Haak & Steek there also, and because I have mousses in I used the smaller bushes for traction rather than trying to circumvent them, but doing all this I was wondering how Martin did this, as he's got a front tube and a TubLis on the rear.
All went well enough though, we popped out onto a tar road full with parked trucks & trailers, kilometers of them waiting to cross the border.
Anyway, we circumvented Madikwe Game Reserve to our overnight stop, and here Martin suggested I ride ahead of him, in fact he will wait a while - so he can see some game on the other side of the fence.
My exhaust is a little anti-social you see, scaring away any game as soon as I stop or go slow. Oh well, fine with me, I'm anyway the last to see a T-Rex grazing on a Whale, and also I couldn't care too much about that anyway... so I roared off to the lodge.
Only somewhere today I asked him if he actually did see game, but he said naah, not really .... serious, see pics below, that's "naah"...
I - really! - didn't see anything of this, I just roared past - I wanted coffee!
At the lodge the owning couple were present this time, and she indeed made a coffee for me.
He suggested a cold beer of course - which I had later, and later, and yeah, later also.
Martin rocked up a lil later and we had a great eve, with some unexpected interesting conversations - I mean, it's not every day you meet a 69 y/o who's doing his Doctorate now do you?
We braaied of course, and had pap , vleis & sauce - lekker!
This morning after some coffee we left.
The plan was to have lunch at Beestekraal, which we reached over a mix of tar & dirt.
Somewhere there I found Martin stopped to take some pics of a small herd of Buffalo loafing almost against the fence, so I of course stopped also, I don't see Buffalo too often.
Martin also decided to have a pee there, and as soon as he unzipped the Buffalo suddenly moved on.
He then bragged that they must have seen his tackle and thus got scared, but those who know me will recognize that my too good manners prevented me from saying 'Hey, we're upwind from them, time to wash your undies'.
We reached Beestekraal traversing long wide dirtroads...
..... where Martin discovered a he had a flat front tyre.
Oh well, a bite and a milkshake first!
We put a new tube in his tyre...
... and then left, each our own way: me home, he via some canal roads first also home.
My bike needs a wash now...
... and yes, that leaky stuff on the tyres is the mousse-grease leaking a bit - all normal, that stops, has probably already now.
This was a 867km trip in total, through a gorgeous part of our country, full of nature and game too.
We did invite a few others to come along but nope, they were otherwise occupied.
If you're one of them and read here, eat your heart out
Thanks Martin, was awesome again!
... all packed for a trip.
My Crocks give away there's an overnight planned somewhere.
@Xpat (if you know him fine, if not he's our always-riding local non-Russian) had asked if I'd be interested to ride his Botswana Border route again - which I had done with him on my 790 Adv R in 2019 on which I was less happy with the sandy bits.
But now I'd do it on the riceburner, this nomer dropped by Martin in Jericho earlier this year, and sand is a non event, bring it.
He'd be on his 690 for this trip.
We met at the Pinehaven Sasol filling station down the hill on the N14 in Krugersdorp at 7h00.
From there tar to Koster, then we got onto dirt to the Marico Oog - a spot of beauty new to me, with a few houses for accomodation also: nice!
Thomas told us we were allowed to scuba-dive to only 30 meters, and that the hole was 120m deep .... which really surprised us. Once there Martin quicky googled and it turns out it's only 12m deep, a small mistake I reckon
Anyway, beautiful there, with crystal clear water, you can see even the small fry hiding inbetween the water lilies.
From there more West, not sure where we all rode but somewhere up and over a small escarpment...
... onto a rather large undulating plain sort of, where there were a surprising lot of succulents growing plus other plants, flowering - this area must have had quite a bit of rain, it would not look like this otherwise.
No pic, I anyway took only a few, the wide one's are from Martin.
We rode on, and we did not see any further proof of recent rains, the whole area was dry and dusty.
Martin knows this area so well he'd not bothered to bring a GPS, and with the myriad of tracks there we lost out bearings a few times.
Nothing wrong with some bundu bashing though, so we did our share of "it must be that way" and tried to bash our way through the thorns. Losta Haak & Steek there also, and because I have mousses in I used the smaller bushes for traction rather than trying to circumvent them, but doing all this I was wondering how Martin did this, as he's got a front tube and a TubLis on the rear.
All went well enough though, we popped out onto a tar road full with parked trucks & trailers, kilometers of them waiting to cross the border.
Anyway, we circumvented Madikwe Game Reserve to our overnight stop, and here Martin suggested I ride ahead of him, in fact he will wait a while - so he can see some game on the other side of the fence.
My exhaust is a little anti-social you see, scaring away any game as soon as I stop or go slow. Oh well, fine with me, I'm anyway the last to see a T-Rex grazing on a Whale, and also I couldn't care too much about that anyway... so I roared off to the lodge.
Only somewhere today I asked him if he actually did see game, but he said naah, not really .... serious, see pics below, that's "naah"...
I - really! - didn't see anything of this, I just roared past - I wanted coffee!
At the lodge the owning couple were present this time, and she indeed made a coffee for me.
He suggested a cold beer of course - which I had later, and later, and yeah, later also.
Martin rocked up a lil later and we had a great eve, with some unexpected interesting conversations - I mean, it's not every day you meet a 69 y/o who's doing his Doctorate now do you?
We braaied of course, and had pap , vleis & sauce - lekker!
This morning after some coffee we left.
The plan was to have lunch at Beestekraal, which we reached over a mix of tar & dirt.
Somewhere there I found Martin stopped to take some pics of a small herd of Buffalo loafing almost against the fence, so I of course stopped also, I don't see Buffalo too often.
Martin also decided to have a pee there, and as soon as he unzipped the Buffalo suddenly moved on.
He then bragged that they must have seen his tackle and thus got scared, but those who know me will recognize that my too good manners prevented me from saying 'Hey, we're upwind from them, time to wash your undies'.
We reached Beestekraal traversing long wide dirtroads...
..... where Martin discovered a he had a flat front tyre.
Oh well, a bite and a milkshake first!
We put a new tube in his tyre...
... and then left, each our own way: me home, he via some canal roads first also home.
My bike needs a wash now...
... and yes, that leaky stuff on the tyres is the mousse-grease leaking a bit - all normal, that stops, has probably already now.
This was a 867km trip in total, through a gorgeous part of our country, full of nature and game too.
We did invite a few others to come along but nope, they were otherwise occupied.
If you're one of them and read here, eat your heart out
Thanks Martin, was awesome again!
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Nice Bart, moet bieg, die feit dat die mousses nou 6000km gehou het en nog nie eers n hickup van die Koewee nie, eks impressed!
Tut tut, not quite..... on Hardy's Kaokoland trip, right at the beginning, it blew the fuse of the fuel pump's circuit, annoyingly preventing it from starting! Still dunno what that was. has not repeated yet, but yeah, that's the grand total of hickups.
The CST tyres I have on now, the hard-rubbered 3-ply ones the real Rally-version Kove comes with, are very good!
They grip well on anything thus far, are good in sand also (should come as no surprise I reckon), and the wear they show now, after some 870km, is less than I would have expected - half of this trip was on tar, add to that my trip to the meeting point.
The 60-odd highway km's I did to Krugersdorp, in the cool morning yeah, was at a constant 120 km/h.
Martin does not hang about, he proved himself faster than what I remembered.
Following Martin - which' dash is completely non-functional as it turns out - we did between 105 - 118 km/h the whole day, and doing that, on that hot tar, I was a bit wary about.... so I hung back at ~110, Martin just had to wait at the turnoff.
On the dirt road sections we did same speeds, but I reckon these are cooler as their colour is lighter.... and it's more fun anyway.
The bike just floats over all the shit, and only standing up over large undulations (I tend to sit most of the time) is all that's needed to remain comfortable.
Looking below I expect a high mileage again, we'll see
Oh, fwiw, these hard-compound rally tyres are good yes, but on tar they 'lean' a bit less than the OEM CST tyres the bike comes with - well, 'less', I think they are less sure-footed on pavement, hence me being less brave.
They're way better offroad, that's for sure - but that's no surprise as the OEM ones have more rubber I think, they're a compromise sortof.
So, for those aspiring Agostini & Sheene during their daily commute, the OEM tyres are better on Kyalami (even when wet) than these rally knobs - and they last well!
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I am sorry if I missed this in the earlier postings, but what is the "comfortable" cruising speed on the road with the Kove 450 please ... that happy spot where she hums along and feels most comfortable on.
Depends on the gearing I reckon!?
In std OEM form the rear's a 49T, which Offroad Cycles changes to 51 - that's fine, especially so when you're at the coast, it runs noticeably better there.
I did mount a 53T rear, for reason that there's a bitofagap between 5th & 6th gear.... which now is just about absent!
My 'lekker' cruising speed now is around 125 km/h - but, being wary of my mousses (which Michelin says can do 130 all day yeah), I only do this on shortish stints, up to Max even, but on longer roads/highways I top it at 120, or less if it is really hot (like last weekend).
If I'd kept the tubes it comes with I'd be sitting at 130 all day, it then sings 'lekker'.
And now that I think about it, that lil screen must do something as I can't remember being plagued by what some call buffeting, it all is fine
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Het jy al die Vmax gekry met daai 53T?
1x getry naby Rustenburg, was rond 148 glo.... maar is nie iets wat ek gereeld doen nie of behoefte aan het.
Buitedien, dis nie n faired superbike nie ne?
Buitedien, dis nie n faired superbike nie ne?
We did invite a few others to come along but nope, they were otherwise occupied.
If you're one of them and read here, eat your heart out
@FredK , @Psycho Porra , @Muffin Man + Mike (dunno his nick), @Off Road Cycles (meaning Sirk), read here - and weep if you will say no!!!
And, if there's any other Kove owners here, make yourself known and pitch in here please???
How about all us Kove pilots go do the same/similar ride like @Xpat & me did as per my above report, on the weekend of Friday-afternoon 29 November, Sat 30 Nov & Sunday 1 December?
Of course Martin himself is most welcome to come lead this pack but I'll leave that entirely up to him.
The idea is to .....
sleep Friday at the Marico Oog (swim, braai, joll) - which isn't too far from our suburbia so is a short ride,
then ride the Botswana Border pieces on Saturday and stay over in Camp Moselasela,
and Sunday we track back to Beestekraal, have lunch there and then we all go home thereafter.
This ride is a roundabout ~800km mix of tar & offroad, not technical and very scenic, and those with an eye for such will see some game also
Time aplenty so zero hurry for anyone in the group, we'll ride at a relaxed pace which all can do easily.
Who's in for this????
Muffin Man
Puppy
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2012
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@FredK , @Psycho Porra , @Muffin Man + Mike (dunno his nick), @Off Road Cycles (meaning Sirk), read here - and weep if you will say no!!!
And, if there's any other Kove owners here, make yourself known and pitch in here please???
How about all us Kove pilots go do the same/similar ride like @Xpat & me did as per my above report, on the weekend of Friday-afternoon 29 November, Sat 30 Nov & Sunday 1 December?
Of course Martin himself is most welcome to come lead this pack but I'll leave that entirely up to him.
The idea is to .....
sleep Friday at the Marico Oog (swim, braai, joll) - which isn't too far from our suburbia so is a short ride,
then ride the Botswana Border pieces on Saturday and stay over in Camp Moselasela,
and Sunday we track back to Beestekraal, have lunch there and then we all go home thereafter.
This ride is a roundabout ~800km mix of tar & offroad, not technical and very scenic, and those with an eye for such will see some game also
Time aplenty so zero hurry for anyone in the group, we'll ride at a relaxed pace which all can do easily.
Who's in for this????
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