2023 Kove FSE 450 R Rally REVIEW! - Unicorn is Here
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- čas přidán 30. 10. 2023
- The Kove FSE 450 R Rally is an eye opening bike. It answers many of the wants and needs of the dual sport rider. Good power, light weight, thoughtful design for easy maintenance, great suspension, highway capable, and amazing off-road. I am surprised a new company beat the Japanese to the punch in this part of the motorcycle market. I thought I would like it but it is truly great!
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I’m hearing nothing but great reviews about this bike
what a truly amazing place to be able to play on bikes, you guys are blessed - enjoy
Absolutely! New Mexico is full of thousands of miles of accessible trails. Every time we ride we feel very lucky to have such a playground.
@@SWTrailsAndWheels I live in AZ and I really want to do the NM BDR!
This (new tech) and the AJP PR7 (old tech) are two of the cooler bikes out there.
Will be interesting to revies tbe nes CF Moto 450 MT when it comes out. What be lightweight and as powerful as that, but really looking forwards to it being released since KTM killed their 490 adventure.
I agree. The kove feels the same weight as my wr250r. And the power band shape is similar, I felt right at home on the Kove. Easy to ride. And easy to ride fast.
Good to hear a second opinion that matches my perception. Still holding out to see how reliability turns out after a few more are out in the wild.
I Really agree with you about the Xr650 Comments too. The Wr250r, drz400, dr650, xr650,crf450l once fitted with a huge 20L safari tank feel way heavier then the kove. The magic is the mass centralization and the low slung rally fuel tanks.
Yup, those fundamental design elements are difficult to duplicate in the aftermarket.
I bought the Kove to replace my WR250R. I wanted longer legs on the pavement portions to get to the trails.
Sure sounds like Jimmy Lewis at Dirt Bike Test is right in stating the Kove is a good replacement for the WR250R. I'm not hearing about any reliability issues yet but it will take quite a bit of time for it to come close to the Yamaha's bullet proof reputation for reliability. It's so good out of the box though that I may become a willing guinea pig.
I actually wish the Kove had a taller 5th and 6th, I test rode the one with the 51 and it was brilliant off road and easily hit 100kph in 4th at red line. Id love to see 5th and 6th a bit more spread out to bring the 120kph cruise rpm down.
Totally agree better to wait 1/2 years
Here in Spain Im waiting to try one and see if it can replace my truly WR250R
Spain has some amazing, beautiful roads and dirt trails! Visited for the first time last year. Not to mention great food, incredible historical beauty and friendly people :)
Awesome and as a fellow WRR rider, I really appreciate the commentary/comparison. IF the Kove would replace your WRR for dual sport use, would you keep the 250F as a lighter-weight trail bike?
The 250F is tough to beat for the desert enduro and occasional forest single track I do. I would definitely keep it around. It appears to cover a different use case. Thanks watching and commenting!
The kove was so good off road. It easily replaces a wr250r. The F is another 50lbs lighter then the wr250r and has more bottom end snap. its hard to beat an F
China has jumped into that gap in the market, well done!!!
Their products keep getting better and better and in many cases they are leading with original ideas instead of copying.
I would really love to consider one of these when I am ready to trade in my ktm 390 adv. I live in the desert also and there's so many beautiful places to explore that are remote and the trails are not maintained at all. This seems like the perfect adv bike if it turns out to be reliable in the long term. How's that seat for long rides if you've done any?
We haven't done any long rides yet, more than a couple of hours, but I can tell you I didn't really notice or think about the seat much. That is a sign that it is fairly comfortable. A bad seat is annoying almost immediately.
I had a wr250r and the problem is when on a trip with rear bags it won’t pull top gear in a headwind.
Yes, in some situations I find I can reach a higher top speed in 5th gear on my WR250R: uphill at highway speeds, headwinds, and on fast desert dirt roads keeping up with a couple of KTM 790 Adventure Rs ;)
I’m waiting to see how much it will sell for in Australia
Whatever it costs, I expect it will be a good value in pretty much any market. Hope that turns out to be the case in Australia!
it survived the Dakar rally should be pretty reliable
That was definitely a good test to help improve durability in the production bikes. I believe things did break but they were able to repair quickly and keep all bikes going.
You might want to check the Kove failures at Dakar 2024. Tons of failures. In 2023 finishing the Dakar on 80th place means nothing. Any stock Japanese 450 would "Finish" any Dakar Rally.
How do you feel about the seat height? I'm not sure which one would be right for me with my 176 cm, do you have any advice or input?
I'm 183cm and Bo, the owner, is 188 cm. For us the standard (tall) seat height feels fine, especially since dirt focused suspension compresses quite a bit when sag is set up properly. If I was 176 cm I would likely still start with the tall bike because I wouldn't want to lose suspension travel. If too tall I would then look at a low seat and maybe adding a modified linkage and sliding fork tubes up in the tripple clamp. This approach would still maintain full travel.
Nice video. What is the Kove 450's gas mileage?
Expect to get 40 to 50mpg depending on how aggressive you are and how technical the terrain is.
How do you check the oil?
You use a 5" long zip tie, dip it down the oil filler cap and check for oil on the tip. Kove really needs to add a dipstick at least!
@SWTrailsAndWheels
That's what I thought and why I asked the question.
Laughable amateurs. There is no way to check unless you change it.
Good luck.
the gearing is amazingly long
Makes sense for a rally/adventure bike, gearing down a bit for more technical riding could make sense.
Makes me wish I had 14k to drop on a bike.
This Kove is under $9k and you can get a nice WR250R for under $5k.
Too heavy to be a unicorn
There's a price to pay for that amazing fuel capacity and highway capable power. When possible, just fill the tanks partially and you can save tons of fuel.
Actually - do u have any idea of what the actual weight of this 450 is? Ive seen it posted 145kg dry, 145kg wet, and 145 kg without fuel. Which one is it?
Also just realized that KOVE has changed the maintenance intervals. They are now only 1200 miles for oil, filter, and valve checks. Well off from the initial claimed 5000 miles. These maintenance intervals puts this bike back into the extended maintenance enduro range (think CRF450RL), and far out of the unicorn discussion. Still not sure about exactly how much it weighs... like the maintenance intervals, kove keeps switching the numbers.
@@Weltbummler23 Where did you see those interval numbers?
@@inrptn manuals on both kovemoto and gpxmoto sites list 2000km/30 hour intervals for both oil and valve checks (and 50% of that for extreme conditions). I heard its only temporary, they are gonna change the manual in the future, but thats what they are now.
A full fairing desert bike that is as slow as a DRZ but weights as much as a DR650, is no Unicorn. Woods and trail riding requires low end power, making peak power a 9000rpms is nightmare on tight trails. Not to mention your Unicorn is made with Communist slave labor from a country that wants to destroy yours. Dakar hasn't been kind to the Kove this year either.
It would smoke a dr650 and the drz in the desert. The suspension, chassis, ground clearance, fuel capacity, and intended terrain and off road speed are on a different level from those bikes.
@@Matthew-zw9su In stock form I might agree, until the Kove breaks or bucks the rider...then the antique Suzuki's will just cruise past you. I have a DR650 all moded with Cogent suspension and only have $6k in it. I can do 100mph on flat desert for hrs. with 6.6 gallons. You can even buy rally towers for it to look like you "cool" people. DR'S and DRZ's have been globetrotting for decades with legendary reliability. BTW, how many of the Kove finished Dakar this yr? Looked to me like a clown show. Maybe they should spend their time and money on research and development instead of paying CZcamsrs to push their bikes.
I bought one.i sold it two months later at a loss
There junk dont waste your money..
What issues did you find?