Test Ride on the new Kove 450 Rally dual sport motorcycle

[@robertbooth5]

Some of the other videos available on KZbin suggest that the settings are stiff from the factory shipment and not often adjusted during the PDI, which is easy to believe. I think worth noting, is that most reviewers that are not pleased with the stiff suspension are 1) riding the bike relatively slowly in respect to its design, and 2) riding the bike light - without the typical camping travel gear/kit and supplies that a rider would take on a week long (or longe BDR tour. In case number 2, this could amount to an additional 40+ lbs of static load on the bike, which would be handled nicely by the realtively stiff factory setting. For a bike like this, I would suggest first setting up the spring sag rate properly for the rider weight (or loaded BDR tour weight), then back off the compression and rebound damping adjustments (front and rear). Then go ride the typical bumpy road your expecting on yojr rides. Bring some basic tools and slowly increase the damping settings until you find your sweet spot. It'll take time, but this is how its done unless you're buying a very expensive bike with electronic responding active suspension. The Kove is not that expensive, so ya gotta do the work. Nice basic review btw. It's good to see some roads from home on these videos.

[@MotoVenturer]

Excellent advice and much appreciated! Fortunately the guys at Tuff City Powersports will be able to assist me to get started, but I'm going to need to learn how to tune it myself to ensure I get the best ride depending upon conditions. I plan to load up on camping gear et al when riding the BDRs.

[@rcafmaintainer3723]

In Europe they say open and close, even in Quebec. To your point, oil changes and other maintenance are dependant on use. I never skimp on oil changes, I don’t believe in extended oil change intervals, oil is the bloodline of the engine. Second, suspension, it sounds like it has motocross style valving, it could use a spring adjustment, and a revalve but that is dependent on the rider. To be honest, most riders who buy “Adventure style bikes” don’t use them off-road to the capacity of their design, just like pickups. What brand is the suspension? Kayaba, Showa, WP?

[@MotoVenturer]

YU-AN forks and YU-AN monoshock. A Chinese brand, but the initial impressions are good. Fully adjustable, and the guys at Tuff City Powersports were able to adjust the setting for me on my second test ride (video coming next soon). Yeah, many people buy things more for the look than for the use, but I plan to take mine truly out and about! :-)

[@rcafmaintainer3723]

@@MotoVenturer i looked more into it, dirt-bike magazine did a review with Jimmy Lewis, he said the forks wee a Showa copy. He actually rode the crap out of the bike and he liked it, for reference he was Dakar racer.

[@MotoVenturer]

@@rcafmaintainer3723 Awesome! Also, I appreciate the reference re "open and close" as I hadn't heard of that before. Cheers.

[@SuT4G4Racing]

Very good video, regarding oil changes, is it true that after the 1st break-in change, then you have to change every 500km until you reach 2000km and after that it is every 2000km? Although depending on which change it seems exaggerated, 2000 reminds me a lot of enduro ones, which are hourly oil changes. Thank you so much.

[@MotoVenturer]

Yes, it is a race bike and those are the oil change numbers as per the manual. Cheers

[@MERMBRAMA]

Set the sag correctly, and adjust compression and rebound for your speeds. It will work great even if you are slower rider

[@MotoVenturer]

Will be trying this next. Cheers

[@addhall5655]

What do they cost?

[@MotoVenturer]

The Kove 450 Rally is about CAD $13K in Canada and about US $9.5K in the USA. Neither cheap nor expensive, but you get a lot of bike for that price.