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#dirtbike #racing #offroad #rally #rally For about two weeks, we’ve been riding the wheels off a Kove Rally and we love it. This is more than a dual-sport bike cast in the image of a rally bike–it’s a legitimate machine that you could take straight to a real rally. Two of them finished Dakar in 2023 and Mason Klein will ride one next month at the 2024 edition of the ’s legitimate to ask what a rally bike is in the first place. The FIM has a long list of very specific requirements for Dakar and other events, but the core must have a single-cylinder motor with a displacement limit of 450cc. For practical purposes, it has to be a real dirt bike that’s capable of going very far and very fast. It seems odd to us that no one else is offering a bike like this. KTM, Husqvarna and GasGas all make limited runs of semi factory bikes for support riders. Honda’s rally bikes are complete works bikes, and so are the Hero Dakar Kove Rally is made in China, but clearly has a very strong western influence. The motor is a double overhead cam, four-valve 450 with a six-speed gearbox. The bottom end was from an earlier model but everything from the base gasket up was developed for this bike. The fuel system is what makes it different from anything else out there. There are three tanks with a combined capacity of 7.9 gallons. It all feeds automatically to the left front tank, so there are no fuel-management issues. The bike has a small frame-mount fairing, a down-swept exhaust, a massive carbon-fiber skid plate and instrumentation that includes a small tablet behind the windscreen. The bike has full lighting and equipment for street use. Currently it meets Euro 5 emissions requirements and is undergoing the process for approval in the U.S. For now, it falls into that gray area where it can be licensed in some states, but not the more uptight ones (i.e. California). It even has anti-lock brakes (which can be disabled). The suspension comes from a company called Yu-An, the brakes are Taisko and the tires are CST. The components don’t look like typical Chinese parts–either knock-offs or outdated. All are well finished, compact and perfectly motor is decent, but nothing to get excited about. Remember, this model has full emission equipment and a super quiet exhaust. It feels fairly plugged up. It makes decent power in the middle but doesn’t rev very far–KTM and Husky dual-sport bikes aren’t much better. The motor still has very clean EFI mapping with no dead spots and very little popping. It has a number of peculiar characteristics, such as very little engine braking. We learned to like it. We even took the bike around Glen Helen’s National track, where it was fine–just not fast. We understand there is a full-dirt model called the Rally Pro which does away with all the restrictions and makes about 10 horsepower more. We might have one of those to test down in the future. For now, we will keep riding the Kove for a test in the March, 2024 print issue of Dirt Bike. As of right now, we feel it sets a new high-mark for Chinese motorcycles. Subscribe to Dirtbike Magazine: FREE APP DOWNLOAD Apple: Android: = Amazon/kindle: Follow Dirtbike Magazine: Dirtbike Magazine Website: Dirtbike Magazine Facebook: Dirtbike Magazine Twitter: Dirtbike Magazine Instagram:
