Ayup everyone.
You might have seen the latest marketing film via MCN, I am saying nothing about them being a bit late to the party, but there are a lot of questions I can’t get answered and some information I have found that no one else seems to be talking about.
The Power
First, one of the things everyone has been waiting for. On MCN’s dyno the Kove 800X Super Adventure put out 81HP at the rear wheel, which from a claimed 94 at the crank seems more than the 10% loss I would have expected, but is probably a fairly accurate figure.
If you prefer it is in video form here
The Weight
Then we come to weight. The weight with a very full tank, is now confirmed at 195Kg with all the standard fittings like the protection bars included, but it isnt clear if that was the standard or Pro model, it wasn’t the Rally because that isnt here yet.
The Comparison
What do those figures mean? And how do they stack up against the Tenere 700 and Tuareg 660?
Well James E from Devon on the UK Tenere Forum gives us some accurate figures for once and I have to credit him for his detailed breakdown, it is better than Yamaha’s.
On the scales the weight of the Tenere 700 was 214kg with a full tank of fuel.
But his bike isn’t standard so there are a few adjustments.
Yamaha Crash Bars an extra 5kg exactly which are included on the Kove and its overal weight.
Yamaha Heavy Duty Skid Plate an extra 3kg exactly that replaced the stock plate which is about 500g, so net weight difference is +2.5kg. There is a standard plate included on the Kove which looks a lot better than the standard T7 one, but not as good as the heavy duty one.
End can and link pipe were swapped from the stock ones, with a saving of about 2kg.
And the tyres will be a few kg’s extra compared to the Pirelli’s.
So, while this isn’t 100% accurate, a fully fuelled wet weight on a standard bike would be around the 205kg mark, but is closer to 215kg with crash bars and a heavier duty skidplate.
I can’t find anyone who has done the same for the Tuareg 660, but the spec is 187kg dry with an 18litre tank, so that gives us around the same 205kg point. And the 80HP at the crank the Aprilia produces equates to around 70HP at the back wheel max.
So the Kove 800X Super Adventure comes in at between 10 and 20kg less than both the Tenere 700 and the Aprilia Tuareg depending how you want to compare it. And it gets more power than both.
Also there is plenty of talk about how the Kove doesn’t get so top heavy when the tank is full. The tank is concentrated more in the space behind the engine for sure.
The Future Availability
So, beyond that, what more can be said right now?
Well, GPX will continue to control sales and distribution of the 450 Rally, at least for now, but they will not be acting as distributor for the Kove 800X Super Adventure.
In April 2024, Kove Moto Holdings Ltd in Hinkley in Leicestershire was incorporated at companies house. Then in May, a 2nd company was incorporated as Kove Moto Ltd.
The first address used for Kove Moto Holdings was at a local Rugby club near Hinkley, whereas for Kove Moto Ltd, an address in Nuneaton was used, but shortly after, the registered address for Kove Moto Ltd was moved to the Hinkley address.
Then, we had an announcement from MCN that a UK wide distribution point was to be set up in Oxford somewhere. Now, in the latest press release they are saying that 4 dealers will be appointed, one for the North, one for the South, One for the East and I imagine one in Wales for the West of the country.
This seems to show they’ve obviously realised a single point of distribution wont work, so I guess that is something.
With little information other than the name of the director of both companies, I started to dig a little and reached out to the director personally via his other companies. But so far I have had no answers at all.
A website has now gone up and we are told that someone called Lee Westbrook is dealing with enquiries but that is something I literally only found today, so I eagerly await a response, I cant find any industry experience he has outside of Surron, but at least he does seem to like MX in the bits that I have found about him.
The New Boss In The UK
The new director is a man called Andrew Shepherd who runs several companies and is a director at the company who control UK distribution for Surron electric motorcycles. He is also a director at ALL-4 LIMITED who operate a sales and hire company dealing with Polaris side by sides.
What I didn’t find, which was what I wanted to see, was any previous connection to the motorcycle industry.
And as I said, what I haven’t had is any answer my enquiries so far, but I will keep you posted.
I have been trying to find out about details of the engineering changes that have been made to the engine. This is what I have been looking for most.
Luckily, I do have my contacts elsewhere, and a small amount of ability to understand spoken Chinese.
So we do have some information, but still not enough for me.
The Engine
One of the things I have been concerned about is the now well established issues with wear on the cams and associated surfaces in the head of the KTM 790 and 890 engines. Ive never been a fan of plain bearings and this does remind me of the debacle with the early VF750 Honda’s.
Cams made from cheese are nothing new, but KTM seem to be refusing to take any responsibility on this at all. And with their guarantee having so many exclusions, it leaves owners who ride with a serious long term issue.
Part of the problem does appear to be ineffective hardening on some of the surfaces, but it does appear that the oilways to some of the cam bearings are less effective than others. This would mean looking at redesigning the oil feed path, or possibly increasing oil pump pressure.
So far, what I have seen shows that Kove have redesigned the cam followers using a DLC low friction coating, and this might solve one issue, but unless the redesign has gone further, it may create others.
It doesn’t alter the self eating cam issue.
The Suspension
The next question I have been waiting on answers for is about the suspension. I know the suspension is Kayaba, we know they are fully adjustable and we had the travel figures. They are included in the video linked above if you don’t know, but there is more I wanted to know.
What you might not have heard, is there have been issues with the Kayaba suspension used on the Tuareg 660 front end. This highlights an issue I have been talking about for longer than the Tuareg, and I will go into it more at another time, but the industry has come up with all sorts of marketing Bull crap to try and convince people that it is a great idea to separate compression and rebound damping, so one fork leg controls compression damping, and the other controls rebound damping.
What this means is if I am 4 hours away from home and a fork seal decides to let the contents of the front end empty itself, there will be either no compression damping or no rebound damping, as one of the forks can’t work without any oil in. That would make for a horrible and potentially dangerous ride home or calling a breakdown wagon. Neither options are ones I like.
My question, was has the same system been used on the Kove, and unfortunately, it appears that it is a similar split system, and despite loving Kayaba suspension in general, this makes me concerned. Especially when there have been so many reports of poor quality control on the assembly at Kayaba with the Tuareg.
There have been all sorts of problems, and the worst I have seen were distorted pressure plates and even cartridges being installed the wrong way up.
I will keep you posted as things progress and I will keep feeding back reports from customers happy and not so happy in other countries too.
Nellis our Scandinavian friend in China is still loving his and I will link him in the description.
The Kove 510X has a proper system with both rebound and compression damping in both fork legs, so I don’t understand why the 800X Super Adventure models have the split system other than its cheaper.
Anyway
What Happens Next
It seems for now, Kove Moto UK are content to keep pushing the marketing of the 800X Super Adventure via MCN, and I probably haven’t done myself any favours by being so blunt, but as you know, that is my way.
I have heard too many years of marketing bull to take any notice of that.
What I can also reveal, is that even though we haven’t had the first 3 models yet, there is also a new Kove 800X Super Adventure Touring model coming out, I have no idea when it will get to the UK., but the main difference just seems to be a 19” front wheel and hard cases included.
There is no news as to if we will get the 500, 510 or 525X Adventure bikes, the four pot 400RR Sportsbike or the 250cc and 450cc MX bikes.
I assume with the Surron connection that we will probably get the Kove electric bikes at some point now though.
It does seem a bit odd that distribution is being split between the 2 companies, and I would like to know more about what has happened since April when I was told the 800X bikes for the UK were on their way.
Who knows what the future will hold,
What I am sure about, is that I am more likely to listen to the existing owners in different countries than the journos who we all know are paid off in one way or another.
For now, all we can do is continue to wait, still.