That’s a very good point.. *”Im surprised it took a Chinese manufacturer to build the bike we wanted”* KTM Honda and others failed to grasp that we wanted a 450 with decent power that had a subframe for camp kit !
And a license plate...and a 4.5+gal tank...and a little wind protection...and an actual wide ratio 6spd gearbox, and maybe a headlight that doesnt completely suck...and good ground clearance...good damping and normal dirt bike wheel travel #s...and EFI....and a seat that isn't super painful to sit on... Kove is doing a lot right from what i can see. I'd like to try one.
Hey man, I'm from southern Michigan, and from a time when they shot Toyotas on the highway. The WWII generation also thought Japan was invading and taking over because they bought the Empire State Building. But they had no problem filling their houses and garages with any-other-country-made junk. I always thought it so very American If the Kove, and maybe that new Indian-made Triumph 400, fit what I want and had a bit of a track record with some parts availability, hey, why not? The cost seems nice for what you get and if I were traveling more, maybe. I am not in any hurry to be a first adopter, though, but this bike may kick the industry in the developmental behind
I appreciate you taking the time to answer questions and respond to the comments we made. I still remain skeptical on the Kove, but also hopeful. Still haven't heard any word from the US GPX dealer (in Utah) on when or if it will be in stock. For the record, I still think you're under estimating the type of terrain that many other riders have and will take a dual sport on. If you are looking for some good examples in Wyoming, try the Albany 5001 trail, the Laramie Peak trail, and the trail between Intermittent Springs and Grays River Rd. (Sorry, I forgot the official trail name). There's plenty of other good (challenging) trails in Wyoming as well, but It can be long stretches in between. Hence the need for a 'lower' maintenance lightweight bike that can hit trails at higher altitudes and still pound pavement and dirt roads for hours. I agree with you that the T7 falls a bit short (and heavy) of the goal when the challenging trails are in play, but it seems liike it might be the closest contender until the Kove is actually available.
Like you said why aren't the other manufacturers making this bike? Yamaha's partnering with Fantic making the XEF450 Rally has me hoping we see Yamaha make a strong return to the Dual Sport category with this style of bike. I believe there's a huge gap in the market right now with only the 690/701 sitting in it and you still need to buy a tank for it to have any decent range.
Not being negative but this kind of reminds me of the release of the Suzuki DRZ350 back in the day. Wait until the actual production models hit the street then decide.
I went to the website that sells the kové. Kind of murky wording on in stock or not. What is the buying process going to be like? How do you register this thing? What is the wait time or does it ship right away? Is it delivered freight to your home? Do you have to assemble it? Is it all the money up front cash and then wait to hope to get one sometime when if maybe? Could you buy the pro version and register it here because there is no emissions etc where I live in PA. and yes you did talk about parts availability. I have a Chinese Baja Dr70 bike and a Chinese Tao Tao 125 quad for the kids plus a 2003 Suzuki jr50. The Baja is tricky getting parts for because it does not really clone from anything even though parts people say Honda stuff will fit but it doesn't. Baja is discontinued but aftermarket still makes parts that might fit if your lucky. I had to tin knock and plastic weld to make body parts to fit it. I have some experience buying Chinese from a USA importer and it is buy wait wait wait oh it shipped today it will be there tomorrow in a banged up carboard box we had it the whole time but you just didn't complain about getting it enough. I guess what I'm saying is that if I'm spending $9k+ it all this shit better be figured out ahead of time and be easy not difficult when you fork over the cash. I want to also be able to call a real person that speaks good English who lives in the continental USA and tell them what part I need and have it shipped that day. If they order 5k bikes save 50 for parts. I'm glad somebody is doing this but thebiggest hurdle will be how new this company is here not how new the bike is. Gov regulations might make this all a mute point and just another non Streetable Chinese dirt bike that they currently don't make anymore. Growing pains. There are SSR dealers everywhere. The SR450S MSRP is $5,499.
All the bikes GPX/KOVE currently sell can be plated depending on the state you live in. They are working on 50 state homologatoion currently for the Rally.
Listening at the estimated price of $9k USD that would be around $12k CAD, such price is way above a new DR650 and KLR650, how does the Kove compares to them? Do you think it would still be worthwhile to consider it against those two?
How often do you check the valve clearance? The manual says every 2000km or 30 hours. This specification destroys my dream of a perfect bike :( Normally I buy a bike to ride it, not for maintenance.
I'm in Africa and our fuel sucks so how easy or hard is it to remove all the emission stuff ie the CAT, charcoal canister, etc is ther anything else?...and then im assuming the ecu would need a remap to richen it up?
Btw, this bike was probably built as a rally bike aimed at Dakar from the ground up. A key figure in the Kove company, Zhang Xue, was born in a poor family and had hard time struggling to start his racing career. He's more of a hands-on, blue collar type of person and a genuine dirt bike lunatic. His passion was definitely critical to the birth of this project---China does have the technological ability to build a bike like this(as complicated as they are, bikes cannot be much harder to produce than supersonic fighter jets can they), but the manufacturers generally don't have the willingness and determination to do so. For me, being built with racing in mind largely explains why its quality reaches such an insane level.
it is not the china made lack of quality perception holding me back from buying this bike its the straight up sending my money to china to buy one part , thats the ONLY thing holding me back , the spec sheet reads like a long time dual sporters wildest wet dream
This Q and A was a great idea!! Thanks for doing it!! Best regards from Brasilia, Brazil.
That’s a very good point.. *”Im surprised it took a Chinese manufacturer to build the bike we wanted”*
KTM Honda and others failed to grasp that we wanted a 450 with decent power that had a subframe for camp kit !
And a license plate...and a 4.5+gal tank...and a little wind protection...and an actual wide ratio 6spd gearbox, and maybe a headlight that doesnt completely suck...and good ground clearance...good damping and normal dirt bike wheel travel #s...and EFI....and a seat that isn't super painful to sit on... Kove is doing a lot right from what i can see. I'd like to try one.
Have a raffle to your members to participate with testing the next Kove, and winner get to keep test bike!
Comment for the algorithm. Really appreciate this content.
The One and Only….
Jimmy Lewis!!!
DiRT RIDEr!
Awesome content ya all are making.
Hey man, I'm from southern Michigan, and from a time when they shot Toyotas on the highway. The WWII generation also thought Japan was invading and taking over because they bought the Empire State Building. But they had no problem filling their houses and garages with any-other-country-made junk. I always thought it so very American
If the Kove, and maybe that new Indian-made Triumph 400, fit what I want and had a bit of a track record with some parts availability, hey, why not? The cost seems nice for what you get and if I were traveling more, maybe. I am not in any hurry to be a first adopter, though, but this bike may kick the industry in the developmental behind
Awesome Q&A thanks mate
Had to switch to the podcast to listen, but I would never have found this unless it was a TH-cam video first.. thank you for the reviews
Welcome aboard!
Great topic!!
The Kove brought me to you. Great session, good info. Thank you!
Awesome! Thank you!
Awesome video 👏
Great job boys thank you
Our pleasure!
Wht luggage brand do you recommend for kove.. My is on order
I like Jimmy Lewis
I appreciate you taking the time to answer questions and respond to the comments we made. I still remain skeptical on the Kove, but also hopeful. Still haven't heard any word from the US GPX dealer (in Utah) on when or if it will be in stock. For the record, I still think you're under estimating the type of terrain that many other riders have and will take a dual sport on. If you are looking for some good examples in Wyoming, try the Albany 5001 trail, the Laramie Peak trail, and the trail between Intermittent Springs and Grays River Rd. (Sorry, I forgot the official trail name). There's plenty of other good (challenging) trails in Wyoming as well, but It can be long stretches in between. Hence the need for a 'lower' maintenance lightweight bike that can hit trails at higher altitudes and still pound pavement and dirt roads for hours. I agree with you that the T7 falls a bit short (and heavy) of the goal when the challenging trails are in play, but it seems liike it might be the closest contender until the Kove is actually available.
Any wind buffeting on the freeway?
Like you said why aren't the other manufacturers making this bike? Yamaha's partnering with Fantic making the XEF450 Rally has me hoping we see Yamaha make a strong return to the Dual Sport category with this style of bike. I believe there's a huge gap in the market right now with only the 690/701 sitting in it and you still need to buy a tank for it to have any decent range.
i agree , i thought about ordering a 701'LR' and doing an adventure bike build on it but my local dealer here said they couldnt even get me one
Keenly anticipating the 2024 Dakar with Mason Klein signed up to ride a Kove. Top ten finish perhaps?
Does the kove have cush drive?
Great listen. Wish volume was higher.
Not being negative but this kind of reminds me of the release of the Suzuki DRZ350 back in the day. Wait until the actual production models hit the street then decide.
And the Production model appears to be even better! See Everide's review.
I think Chinese bikes help prevent price gouging from established brands. Screw copyrights lol
I went to the website that sells the kové. Kind of murky wording on in stock or not. What is the buying process going to be like? How do you register this thing? What is the wait time or does it ship right away? Is it delivered freight to your home? Do you have to assemble it? Is it all the money up front cash and then wait to hope to get one sometime when if maybe? Could you buy the pro version and register it here because there is no emissions etc where I live in PA. and yes you did talk about parts availability. I have a Chinese Baja Dr70 bike and a Chinese Tao Tao 125 quad for the kids plus a 2003 Suzuki jr50. The Baja is tricky getting parts for because it does not really clone from anything even though parts people say Honda stuff will fit but it doesn't. Baja is discontinued but aftermarket still makes parts that might fit if your lucky. I had to tin knock and plastic weld to make body parts to fit it. I have some experience buying Chinese from a USA importer and it is buy wait wait wait oh it shipped today it will be there tomorrow in a banged up carboard box we had it the whole time but you just didn't complain about getting it enough. I guess what I'm saying is that if I'm spending $9k+ it all this shit better be figured out ahead of time and be easy not difficult when you fork over the cash. I want to also be able to call a real person that speaks good English who lives in the continental USA and tell them what part I need and have it shipped that day. If they order 5k bikes save 50 for parts. I'm glad somebody is doing this but thebiggest hurdle will be how new this company is here not how new the bike is. Gov regulations might make this all a mute point and just another non Streetable Chinese dirt bike that they currently don't make anymore. Growing pains.
There are SSR dealers everywhere. The SR450S MSRP is $5,499.
There are SSR dealers everywhere. The SR450S MSRP is $5,499.
All the bikes GPX/KOVE currently sell can be plated depending on the state you live in.
They are working on 50 state homologatoion currently for the Rally.
Listening at the estimated price of $9k USD that would be around $12k CAD, such price is way above a new DR650 and KLR650, how does the Kove compares to them? Do you think it would still be worthwhile to consider it against those two?
Short answer, Yes. Longer answer, ask in chat on Tech Talk Taco Tuesday...
I would like to see a comparison between kove and ajp pr7 the other unicorn
How often do you check the valve clearance? The manual says every 2000km or 30 hours. This specification destroys my dream of a perfect bike :( Normally I buy a bike to ride it, not for maintenance.
Your answer will be on Tech Talk Taco Tuesday #203
I'm in Africa and our fuel sucks so how easy or hard is it to remove all the emission stuff ie the CAT, charcoal canister, etc is ther anything else?...and then im assuming the ecu would need a remap to richen it up?
we'll answer in Tech Talk Taco Tuesday #201
Awesome! look forward to it...I saw on Facebook that Gary is talking about getting some new maps for mods to the exhaust... 🙏
How does the power compare to the Honda crf450rl
We'll answer on Tech Talk show #202
I don’t even like ABS on a car. Too many years of driving on ice without it.
Volume levels are WHACKED
Any idea how it would compare to the ajp pr7?
We'll answer on Tech Talk show #202
What if I tell those saying "not worth 9k" that this bike is sold domestically for around 6000USD....😛
Btw, this bike was probably built as a rally bike aimed at Dakar from the ground up. A key figure in the Kove company, Zhang Xue, was born in a poor family and had hard time struggling to start his racing career. He's more of a hands-on, blue collar type of person and a genuine dirt bike lunatic. His passion was definitely critical to the birth of this project---China does have the technological ability to build a bike like this(as complicated as they are, bikes cannot be much harder to produce than supersonic fighter jets can they), but the manufacturers generally don't have the willingness and determination to do so.
For me, being built with racing in mind largely explains why its quality reaches such an insane level.
Your answer will be on Tech Talk Taco Tuesday #203
@@DirtBikeTest Thx! :D
it is not the china made lack of quality perception holding me back from buying this bike its the straight up sending my money to china to buy one part , thats the ONLY thing holding me back , the spec sheet reads like a long time dual sporters wildest wet dream
We'll answer on Tech Talk show #202
verbose
Dude you know nothing about bikes....
I would like to challenge you to a small debate on motorcycles on our podcast. Will you entertain my request?