Thoughts on the Kove 450 Rally whilst riding through the Richtersveld

[Milan]

joh this is such a cool bike! thx for al the effort with the write up

 

[roxenz]

Great great report! The last time I read a "road test" of any kind of wheels that may be comparable to this effort, the writer might have gone by a name such as Plato or Marcus Aurelius, or such. Very long time ago, if ever.

 

[Snafu]

Excellent @Kamanya

The KOVE is a great bike

I have heard about this guy below and his bush cooking

He looks like a riding god and a finely tuned athlete - those calf muscles at full stretch

A 3kg fillet and roast veggies in the middle of nowhere - would love to meet him

I hear that like most chefs he is a difficult grumpy C…t

Skorsies en Patat, jy beindruk my Ingelsman!!

 

[Jacko]

Great write up, mate.

You're still a talented writer and an A-grade adventurer.

 

[Fuzzy Muzzy]

Lekker man.. took me back to the area and why riding there is so amazing

Nice write up.. thats a heavy 450 jowzer but by all accounts worth it

 

[Kamanya]

Apparently they originally didn't come out with a cush drive?

This one had one...

 

[Fuzzy Muzzy]

@Kamanya I was reading with interest what you were saying about being hyped up into having a big bike, and I nod my head when you were explaining all the benefits and downsides to a big bike and I know you have a wealth of experience on a big bike. Taking a fuel bladder is an easy fix to the range and yes we carry everything to accomodate wild camping so a big or let's say a bigger bike is handy as it deals with everything you throw at it without feeling frustrated.. ive also been looking into smaller adv bikes as you mention, when you get into some technical riding like we did recently in Lesotho, I was crying for a lighter, smaller bike to go explore up a riverbed.

I have the Africa Twin and have tried over and over again to find a small adv bike that can give me the same kind of adv experience and so far its just not possible without taking a bike and spending plenty k on upgrading it to where the twin already is. Just 2 months ago I bought a XT660 tenere thinking that I could go down in size but I just couldnt get used to it and sold it after 500km, not to say that its not a very capable bike, just didnt jel well with me even though I got it for cheaper than a 300L so instead of thinking I was overbiked I just thought that a bigger bike does everything with ease.

As for the R200k pricetag, , that is right up there with some serious competition like a T7 or a one/two year old Twin, the question becomes would you rather adv ride on long trips into places like the Richtersveld loaded with a Kove or a T7? I know you cant always argue price point as a new CRF450R hits R150k new which is more expensive than what I got my Twin for and the bikes just cant be compared but in this economy 200k for a 450 is a chunk of change even if its priced into the market.

Kove may be a really nice adv bike but its certainly not light, we are about teh same height and weight, i'm glad it performed well.. I see you used a giant loop for some clothing & food but where do you put your tent / sleeping bag / etc, is there a subframe worthy of taking some weight in technical areas? or will it buckle after some riverbed riding? That 75kg limit is that all subframe?

I may have missed it but what is the service intervals like on this bike?

For looks and quality it looks like a 10/10..

 

[Kamanya]

@Kamanya I was reading with interest what you were saying about being hyped up into having a big bike, and I nod my head when you were explaining all the benefits and downsides to a big bike and I know you have a wealth of experience on a big bike. Taking a fuel bladder is an easy fix to the range and yes we carry everything to accomodate wild camping so a big or let's say a bigger bike is handy as it deals with everything you throw at it without feeling frustrated.. ive also been looking into smaller adv bikes as you mention, when you get into some technical riding like we did recently in Lesotho, I was crying for a lighter, smaller bike to go explore up a riverbed.

I have the Africa Twin and have tried over and over again to find a small adv bike that can give me the same kind of adv experience and so far its just not possible without taking a bike and spending plenty k on upgrading it to where the twin already is. Just 2 months ago I bought a XT660 tenere thinking that I could go down in size but I just couldnt get used to it and sold it after 500km, not to say that its not a very capable bike, just didnt jel well with me even though I got it for cheaper than a 300L so instead of thinking I was overbiked I just thought that a bigger bike does everything with ease.

As for the R200k pricetag, , that is right up there with some serious competition like a T7 or a one/two year old Twin, the question becomes would you rather adv ride on long trips into places like the Richtersveld loaded with a Kove or a T7? I know you cant always argue price point as a new CRF450R hits R150k new which is more expensive than what I got my Twin for and the bikes just cant be compared but in this economy 200k for a 450 is a chunk of change even if its priced into the market.

Kove may be a really nice adv bike but it's certainly not light, we are about the same height and weight, i'm glad it performed well.. I see you used a giant loop for some clothing & food but where do you put your tent / sleeping bag / etc, is there a subframe worthy of taking some weight in technical areas? or will it buckle after some riverbed riding? That 75kg limit is that all subframe?

I may have missed it but what is the service intervals like on this bike?

For looks and quality it looks like a 10/10..

I too struggled to get my head around lightweight adventure maths till I actually did it. They're super fun, but in a different way. I still like my big bike, but I do like my choices of ride now.

A 660 weighs the same as a T7 and both are just 15kgs less than a 950. They are on the fat side of middleweight?

A bladder on a big bike adds way less than 100km of range on most heavyweights, this thing has 600km in it.

Middle or Heavyweight bikes do very well on the open stuff, they're fun but hard on the heavier stuff, very difficult on the tight and technical things. But that's just one aspect of the differences.

Lightweights open up possibilities and options away from the groomed spaces. Importantly, they alter the mindset of a trip.

Doing a trip on the 500-class bike and packing along all the stuff you'd normally take on the big bikes is defeating the point. Packing ultra-light will be the game.

A sorted 500 EXC with all the additional tanks, lights, cush drive, USB charging, suspension work to balance the heavier weight, seat and subframe work, etc. is what this bike is competing against not those two you mentioned. Such a KTM is going to cost a bit.

As for cost, it's not just the sticker price, it's the price per km that shrinks radically the lighter you go. My 525 has only just had a new rear tire from the one before it that had been on since the last stage of the 2015 Amageza!

My stretcher went in the bakkie. The other 3 guys were on 500 enduro bikes with zero luggage.

 

[Hardcore]

I saw it in the flesh today, for about 10 minutes, before the next guy fetched it to take to some show or something. It looks pretty good. I want.

 

[Puls0nic]

Lately there's just been more and more bikes I want. Is this the biker's curse?

I want:
Triumph Scrambler 1200
Honda Trail 125
Kove 450
Aprilia Toureg

 

[Lars]

I just got a 2006 KTM 640 Adventure. 145kg dry weight, 28l tank. Took it to the Eastern Cape Bash last weekend. What a revelation. Light, powerfull, incredible fuel range. Really good suspension. Was great on the gravel and also good on the tar bits.

 

[Rough Rider]

The Kove 450 Rally.





Out of the blue, Conrad from @Off Road Cycles called me to ask if I was keen to ride the new Kove 450 through some desert for a few days and then to give an honest opinion about what I thought of it. Well, if you know Conrad, that wasn’t exactly how he said it, he has a much more masterful command of the more colourful aspects of language. But, regardless, I needed no time to think about it.

“Yes of course! Just say when!”

I have followed this bike with great curiosity since, out of the blue, it was first entered in the Dakar. Everyone laughed up their sleeves when these unheard of Chinese bikes with three rookie riders pitched up at the start line for the 2023 edition. There is no more brutal test of a machine than the Dakar Rally. It looked the business. It had the right lines, very similar to the Factory KTM Rally, but… “it IS Chinese” was what everyone was thinking.

When all 3 bikes made it to the finish line, all the laughing stopped and everyone wanted to know what was this little bike all about?! Was it just a rebadged KTM in camo or what?

View attachment 893236

Well, here’s a small hidden detail that I think speaks volumes about the bike. I was fixing a puncture, (Roofing nails!)





when from the back whilst groveling in the dirt I spied this in the rear tanks moulding;



That’s finger mouldings in the rear tank for grabbing the back of the bike. No cut out or extra grab handle. Just a unique feature that is all form and function born of people doing the right things for the right reasons. This philosophy is apparent in the rest of the bike. There are no short cuts or cheap shots. Every aspect of the bike just oozes quality and engineering all directed at a singular purpose – a lightweight desert racing machine aimed at the Adventure rider.

Since then some of the biggest names in the adventure and racing crowd have given the inputs on this bike, the internet is awash with reviews and owners stories. There is very little of anything but praise for the little 450. For a first time effort, they seemed to have done something outstanding.

And now, with just 10 of them in the country, I was getting to take the little beast into my favourite part of the world – the Richtersveld. I’d have 3 days to learn what there was to know about this unicorn. I met up with it in Sprinbok



and rode it to the Orange.





The short story is; I think it’s an outstanding bike from almost any point of view or context with remarkably few cons to all the pros I found!

Anyway, lets back track a bit...

For years, for me, it was only a litre class bike or nothing. I would go where I wanted and have that glorious V-Twin KTM 950 drag me into and out of places that often involved tons of sweat but a lot of fun. There were very few places I wouldn’t go. I was young and brave and helpfully, strong.

More, I didn’t think that Dual Sport Adventuring was possible on anything smaller than 800cc class bikes. Why? Because you needed to carry a good amount of stuff, be able to cover vast distances, be comfortable, be dependable, have range, good lights, have excellent suspension, be good at the rougher stuff whilst still capable of 150kph sustained cruising to shrink the distance between here and way over there.

To get to this, even the standard very capable KTM 950 beast I had, needed bigger tanks, reworked suspension and upgraded lights to get it to where I wanted.



It was ingrained into me that bigger was always better. I think it’s intrinsically a failing of the male ego and enhanced by the South African gene. Motorcycle Manufacturers for the western markets have made the most of this trait and given us these monsters that, whilst made to leap around by the Chris Birches and GS Challenge winners types, eat tires and make us mere mortals crap ourselves when the adventure turns off the smooth gravel stuff. It takes full on commitment to take some of these behemoths far off the beaten track.

There are not a lot of people who will ride 200 plus kg bikes through km’s of thick sand, along rutted steep jeep tracks and definitely none who strayed more than 300km from fuel. Sure, it’s fun to slide around smooth gravel sideways and shrink distances between towns by hours, but they are a limitation.

They don’t slow down well in emergencies.
They don’t get much more than 5000km from a rear if you baby it and definitely no more than 3000km if you beat on it.
They require masterful levels of competence to explore the wilder places.
They’re expensive and expensive to maintain.
They don’t get much further than 300km per tank.
There’s a LOT of bike to pick up.

Then, not that long ago, maybe 8-10 years ago, there started to appear the mavericks. People who shucked their monsters and started to adventurise their 500 enduro machines. They had realized that they were overbiked. The lightweight bikes in the market then that were marketed as dual sports, simply didn’t have the quality suspension or the horsepower package. The best of them was probably the dependable but boring DR-Z400 Suzuki Or the Honda 250L and later the 300 l/Rally. They simply lacked a bit of oomph and suspension was, um, adequate.

Nope, it was easier to adventurise proven packages than try increase the performance of what was available. Mostly, everyone bought an enduro machine and then added long range tanks, better seat, better lights, beefs up the subframe to take luggage, maybe add oil and charging capacity. It’s wasn’t a cheap exercise. But, now there was almost nowhere one couldn't point ones nose at.

The less travelled wonders of the Kaokoveld, Richtersveld, Trankei, Botswana, Tankwa, etc. opened up to mere mortals.

Trouble was, that getting to those places was far better with a trailer. These ex-racing bikes make terrible long distance open tar tourers. 120 is about their limit. They’re a pain in the arse in this department, literally.

Until then, I turned my nose up at all of these until I was asked to come test the Honda 250 Rally.



At first ask, I thought it would be a joke until I took it for a spin for a few days in the Tanwa Karoo. The light bulb went on – Many of us are simply overbiked… we’ve bought into the hype and as a result are limited and doomed to stay on the more beaten tracks. “Hmmmm, that track looks promising, BUT… can I turn it around? Will I drop it? How thick is the sand? What’s the climbs like? Where’s the next fuel? Etc.

And so started my education on adventuring on smaller bikes.

I have my ex-Amageza KTM 525 that was a blast to race, but really opened my eyes to the joys of adventuring on lighter bikes.



Sure, a downside is that long distances on tar require patience and good mirrors, but once into the places to explore, they come into their own. It’s exactly the right tool for those more off the beaten tracks. They leave the big bikes in their dust whilst being MUCH safer and far less effort to go into the wilder parts, not to mention MUCH cheaper. A simple example, a rear tire can last years on these bikes rather than days on the bigger ones.

It's not even a comparison anymore, the bigger bikes become the limitation and the liability. Sure they have 120hp and ABS, and and and... but it becomes a survival mission on them rather than fun. Long after the big bikes have turned back, even a half fit, deeply middle-aged old fart is still beaming away exploring the wonders of our worlds.

But, and this is a big but… there are almost no 500 class production dual sport bikes that can really go off the beaten track, except the rare AJP7 and one other I can’t remember at the moment. KTM could have raided their parts bin from their 450RR Factory Dakar bikes years ago and filled in this untapped corner of the market.

Well, shame on them, Kove took the plunge, forged their machine in the worlds toughest race and then set it free. Bully for them! They have the 450 Rally and the full fat 450 Rally Pro. I had the Rally.

I knew it had to be good, but I wanted to see for myself. Who will this bike suit? What will it be very good for? What’s the pro’s and cons of the thing?...

You missed the mark big time by not discussing the 650 class bikes, the 690, 610 are the ideal bikes and give you a bit of both your wants and needs.

 

[Kamanya]

I just got a 2006 KTM 640 Adventure. 145kg dry weight, 28l tank. Took it to the Eastern Cape Bash last weekend. What a revelation. Light, powerfull, incredible fuel range. Really good suspension. Was great on the gravel and also good on the tar bits.

Not to quibble, but its dry weight is advertised as 158kg’s. Still, an outstanding example of what a lighter adventure bike should be.

KTM should have kept going lighter as they went bigger. All that development in the Dakar wasted.

 

[Kamanya]

You missed the mark big time by not discussing the 650 class bikes, the 690, 610 are the ideal bikes and give you a bit of both your wants and needs.

Those are, in my books, middleweights. This bike is not that.

A 690 is a heavy bike compared to this class of bike.

 

[Lars]

Not to quibble, but its dry weight is advertised as 158kg’s. Still, an outstanding example of what a lighter adventure bike should be.

KTM should have kept going lighter as they went bigger. All that development in the Dakar wasted.

I had her on a scale. Came up with 145kg with an almost empty tank.

 

[Chrisjgvn]

My kinders se erfporsie is in gedrang...

... klaar besluit dit sal my volgende upgrade wees ...

 

[sidetrack]

I just got a 2006 KTM 640 Adventure. 145kg dry weight, 28l tank. Took it to the Eastern Cape Bash last weekend. What a revelation. Light, powerfull, incredible fuel range. Really good suspension. Was great on the gravel and also good on the tar bits.

Just watch the motor berings

 

[Rough Rider]

Those are, in my books, middleweights. This bike is not that.

A 690 is a heavy bike compared to this class of bike.

Yes, but it's the happy medium between the two, we all know there is no one perfect bike.

 

[BuRP]

It will certainly do long distances and definitely in more comfort that than an Adventurised 500.

After having done around 5K km's on mine (a tour in the southern Drakensberg, Lesotho & Transkei plus a tour of the Kaokoland I just came back from) that bit is the understatement of what you (well!) wrote - the Kove leaves the 500 in the dust on long stretches and does this really very comfortably so, unless you want to fight the - bit lighter yeah - 500 at those speeds.
Also, the Kove's suspension comes into its own then, on the Lesotho 'roads' I found out that doing 70-ish was cumbersome if not irritating, so I sped up to 100/110 .... way more comfy, and then also the bigger hits are handled as non-issues, those suspenders are truly great
Namibia's sandy roads ditto, choosing a bike for such is a no-brainer - and I own both. On pavement the Kove simply shines, and on the oem tyres it even leans quite a bit!
No doubt the slightly higher weight plus cushdrive play a role here too, add my thicker comfy-seat for great touring.

You've mentioned it already but let me repeat it here - it's not an Enduro bike! (Duh, I know, it says Rally on the sticker )
For steep shitty rocky stuff I'll have my 500 thank you - less wide at the bottom, and lighter so easier to pop the wheel up. The Kove will do this all though but less eager, plus it's wider and heavier so you'll fight more then.
That loooong tank though is awesome to have, and it does not make this bike bulky at all

 

[Kamanya]

After having done around 5K km's on mine (a tour in the southern Drakensberg, Lesotho & Transkei plus a tour of the Kaokoland I just came back from) that bit is the understatement of what you (well!) wrote - the Kove leaves the 500 in the dust on long stretches and does this really very comfortably so, unless you want to fight the - bit lighter yeah - 500 at those speeds.
Also, the Kove's suspension comes into its own then, on the Lesotho 'roads' I found out that doing 70-ish was cumbersome if not irritating, so I sped up to 100/110 .... way more comfy, and then also the bigger hits are handled as non-issues, those suspenders are truly great
Namibia's sandy roads ditto, choosing a bike for such is a no-brainer - and I own both. On pavement the Kove simply shines, and on the oem tyres it even leans quite a bit!
No doubt the slightly higher weight plus cushdrive play a role here too, add my thicker comfy-seat for great touring.

You've mentioned it already but let me repeat it here - it's not an Enduro bike! (Duh, I know, it says Rally on the sticker )
For steep shitty rocky stuff I'll have my 500 thank you - less wide at the bottom, and lighter so easier to pop the wheel up. The Kove will do this all though but less eager, plus it's wider and heavier so you'll fight more then.
That loooong tank though is awesome to have, and it does not make this bike bulky at all

On the more open gravel stuff after a few days, the 500 rider will beg to swap with the Kove. The 500 will do 100 all day, but it's crap. The Kove will sit at 120/130 all day and it's a joy.