I've just ordered a Kove and one of those racks, so this has been a really useful video! I have experience fernangling Chinese manufactured bikes, so it's not a huge surprise to see it required a tickle here and there.
If it helps, I understand the quality control has got a lot better in the last year and now many fit and come with the correct hardware. I hope yours is one of those!
Yup, I did wonder if the hacked holes would be visible but all good I think. In other news, the channel just passed 10k subscribers. Some have been around for longer than others, so than you for being an early adopter!
I would seriously recommend using loctite on all bolt's due to the probability of thread tolerating being low. You won't need to over tighten small bolt's.
The small bolts have my stainless nylock nuts. For the rest, I will put loctite on them, but I’ll probably paint the cuts first and then refit it properly.
Hi Andrea, I watched your full series of the 3 hundy and look forward watching your series with the Kove. You struck the downside of quality on the rack but as you said, it is durable. Good video cheers.
At least I could make it fit. If the holes needed to be in a place where there was already a cut out, that would have been annoying. As it is, you can’t really tell now that it’s on. I’m taking it to ‘The Lightweight Adventurers Festival’ this weekend, so will get some opinions from adventure riders on what they think.
Great way for enlarging/lengthening a round hole nicely is to put a round file in a drill and use it spinning whilst you move up and down. That way you can 'steer' your hole and don't end up taking too much out. Glad you overcame the problem.
Like all things new KOVE and it's accessories will take time to evolve its quality. Just like the Japanese in the 70's.. I can't wait until we have them in Australia. Also what new new variants will introduced in KOVES future
Yup, this is all early stuff. I’m hoping some of the UK manufacturers decide to make bits for the bike, but I guess that depends on the available market so probably more bikes needed before it’s worth them investing.
You had to give it the Andre upgrade to make it fit. That's great that you had those Billet aluminum washers there. Once you got those main mounting holes slotted that works really good. Definitely those lower brackets could have used the mounting nuts being welded on them. It actually does look good once you've got it done looks really strong
I appreciate your ability and willingness to engineer these work-arounds. Looking forward to seeing this rack in action, with the panniers, etc. in place. I really like your Kove. I’m probably substantially lighter than you, so anything you can do on the Kove, I can probably do on my CRF300 Rally. I’m going to visit my local Honda dealer, and see if they have the new TransAlp 750 in stock. Happy Trails!
I like your attitude, Andre. If that solid rack doesn't fit perfectly, you make it work. With a new bike on the market there is not an awful lot of accessories available. Enjoy your first ride with luggage, Günter/Nürnberg PS: Pity I can't get the Kove in Germany yet, no importer/dealer, no EU5 homologation yet. I am tempted by this bike (to replace the venerable Transalp 600)
This is going to be a very interesting project. I enjoyed your crf300 rally build. It helped me with my crf300l. Thank you. Can Kove offer good customer support and spare parts? Others have failed unfortunately. My PR7 springs to mind. I hope the project goes well. Looking forward to people putting some mileage on those quite powerful 450 motors. Thanks for posting. Good luck.
Thanks. I’ve been talking to an oil analysis company today, so will be getting four samples checked. I’m interested to know what the service intervals really should be. I’ll get them done at 300, 900 and 2000 miles. Then, depending on the analysis at 2000, I’ll run the next lot of oil for 2/3/4K miles and have it tested again. Part of me would quite like to see what the oil is like after 4K miles…
Another Great video Andre and much appreciated. If you do get around to sorting the machined washers and a nut and bolt bag, I would buy one straight away! Whats next for the Kove video set up!!
I’ve had an offer for some machined spacers. I’m at a festival this week but will do a drawing and send it over next week. I also have the phone mount, various protection parts and would like to balance the front wheel. That’ll keep me busy for a few evenings and weekends.
@@PeakMotorcycles Festival First! sounds like we ordered similar items - mine was just impulse buying to offset the waiting time! Most of it seems ok and useful its just a pain that things are either missing or in the wrong place. Keep us posted on the spacers and bits package - i am trying to get the aliexpress guys ( INY motorcycle accessories ) to send some more - maybe the wait wil be in time for the bike to arrive😁
Andre, very informative! I do think it would make a great lightweight adv bike. Tusk makes a soft rack bag setup with a cutout for the fuel cap on a 690 adventure. Might look into that. Also...how much does your scale weigh?
I’ll look into the Tusk, but I already have a set of Enduristan Blizzard Panniers, so I’ll probably try those first. That scale will do 5kg I think. I have been considering getting some beam scales so I can weigh bikes, but they are a bit more expensive than kitchen scales 🤣. Not impossible, but as I finish my day job at the end of this month, I should probably get another job before I buy some. (I am hoping to have at least a few weeks gap to catch up on videos before I go back to work but we shall see)
Where did you get those sweet Torx wrenches? BTW thanks for sharing your Kove experience so far! Also if you want to send me the dimensions i would be happy to make up the spacers for you.
They came from Dilworth & Morris Engineers Merchants, in Chapel-en-Le-Frith. They were a bit of an impulse buy when I was picking up some bolts. I did wince a bit at the price, but they are rather good. They are also available from Amazon and elsewhere. I’ll get some links. (I just need to remember the brand… I’ll update this comment when I’ve found them) For the spacers, that would be great. Happy to pay for them of course. I’ll do a drawing. Where shall I send it to? (You can email admin@peakmotorcycles.com if that’s easier) Thank you!
I think those are 'Gearwrench' torx drivers, I've got some Allen keys that look similar.Your triangle bolts are 'CSK' or countersunk. It's not a proper adventure bike without some custom fettling of parts.
They are from a company called Bondhus and are available as hex and torx: UK: Torx amzn.to/3XUkAUY Hex amzn.to/46Qqz1g USA: Torx amzn.to/3Oi5wxb Hex amzn.to/3JXvCDq (For full disclosure, these are affiliate links. It doesn't change the price for the customer, but if something is purchased they give a bit to the channel!)
The bolt hole tolernace is low due to the folding process being poor. The material profile would cad designed and routed. The folding would be done by jig... the best thing is to give this data back to the supplier. You will surprised how the feedback does help... they do have a huge desire to succeed
Would be nice to know if there is a metal subframe of any sort or is it just plastic? The brackets look very thin and i wonder if those inserts will hold. Definetly only lightweight luggage will be allowed. Put some edge protection tape on the non exhaust side in case of a fall.
Hi, I'll have to take the rear fuel tank off mine to be sure (I haven't got to that yet...) but I did take a look at all of the workshop manuals, and as far as I can tell, there is no metal subframe. I'll let you know when I've taken the rear fuel tank off mine. www.kovepower.com/servicing--downloads.html#/
I haven’t ridden a 450MT I’m afraid. They look great but until they’re available, your guess is as good as mine for how suitable it would be. I think it would be fine, but that’s without riding one.
Hello there. I don't know if you realise, but you don't really need a rack on the bike, you can use a rackless type of luggage, and despite the popular beliefs, the rackless luggage DO NOT need a rack.
I know, and no need to shout 😉 I have rackless luggage, and have been using it for a few years. I have Enduristan Blizzard Panniers and have used it both with and without a rack. I also know that while you don’t need a rack, it does make fitting them easier, and having conveniently located points to attach to rather than hooks round plastics or webbing down to the footpegs makes things a lot easier. Also if you occasionally use a dry bag on top, it can be attached to the rackless luggage, but it is more secure and easier to fit with a rack.
Mine came from the ‘Good Motorcycle Accessories Store’, so avoid them! That said, they, like many others, are just resellers so others may sell the same rack. If you do get one and it’s missing the right spacers for the rear fuel tank, I have one spare set and also one spare exhaust bracket. Good luck!
Hi, thanks for the video, it will be very useful when the dealer finally delivers the bike to me! the luggage rack from Aliexpress has already arrived. One question: what bags do you put on the roof rack? Do you have any suggestions on the brand and model of bags that would go well with this rack? Thanks again. Tazio
Thank you. Perfect, because I already have the original KTM soft side bags mounted on my KTM 1290 SuperAdventure R, and I believe that they are none other than the Enduristan Blizzard with the KTM brand because they are identical.@@PeakMotorcycles
Do not forget to put longer bolts in when you have the correct spacers made!!!!! The std bolts are threaded in a certain length for a reason, and when mounted through the rack with spacers they should go in the same depth.... so they need to be longer! Not all of us are handy but better have those racks milled out to the correct 'length', better and loads neater than your McYvered hacking, sorry to say ;-)
I think you are overestimating the suppliers competence when it comes to bolts… even with my spacers, there is more thread showing than with the OEM bolts. As for milling out the holes, I think you have a lot more free time than I do. I’m making these videos and editing them late at night and live in the middle of nowhere so spending several hours of travelling to find somewhere to do it, their time to tidy up a few mm of aluminium for something that doesn’t materially change the rack and also cannot be seen is a price I don’t think I’m willing to pay. Happy for others to do as they wish though, so would be interested in seeing yours when done. Cheers!
Another great vid. I do have a question I seen your Honda in the background. I have a ‘22 CRF300L Rally and I’m from the states. Would you have any idea on how I could get my hands on the OEM LED turn signals?
I’d try Bikerzbits in Thailand. Their website is pretty good and Emmet can get most stuff in a few days. I’ve had a dozen orders from them all problem free.
Are there any concerns that if the bike falls/crashes on it's right hand side that the exhaust taking the impact might then damage their rear mount which appears to be bolted directly into the fuel tank...a small (or big) crash could then result in damage to the fuel tank..?....I think the Yamaha T 700 had a similar issue with the exhaust
Possibly, but then it has to pass scrutineering for the Dakar, and if there was a doubt it would probably be raised there. They don’t want someone taking a tumble and getting a ruptured fuel tank in the desert.
The Paint Quality of the Ali stuff is crap, It look nice and black in the beginning but give it a year or so and it will turn blue, again arsy thing to fix with some quality spraypaint, but worth noticing, Otherwice nice videos, I been watching all your Kove videos since i concider getting one myself.
I have a local powder coating company. I’ll probably have them have a look at it. If they can strip the paint and powder coat I’ll do that, though I’ll probably take a grinder to all the sharp edges first if I do. Otherwise, as you say, some decent spray paint.
Hi, They are! (I'm always surprised when people ask about them, it happened before after a CRF300 Rally video). They are from a company called Bondhus and are available as hex and torx: UK: Torx amzn.to/3XUkAUY Hex amzn.to/46Qqz1g USA: Torx amzn.to/3Oi5wxb Hex amzn.to/3JXvCDq (For full disclosure, these are affiliate links. It doesn't change the price for the customer, but if something is purchased they give a bit to the channel!)
As for having spacers machined, you'll probably find someone sells the right size stainless bushings on eBay. What are those folding torx wrenches you use? That look nice...
They are from a company called Bondhus and are available as hex and torx: UK: Torx amzn.to/3XUkAUY Hex amzn.to/46Qqz1g USA: Torx amzn.to/3Oi5wxb Hex amzn.to/3JXvCDq (For full disclosure, these are affiliate links. It doesn't change the price for the customer, but if something is purchased they give a bit to the channel!)
If I'm not mistaken, it sounds like a well thought out and engineered bike, being fitted with a much lower? quality part, that may possibly rust? fairly soon? Is Kove likely to offer such a part (of higher quality), sometime soon?
I think you’ll have to ask them that question. It’s aluminium, and though it’ll oxidise where exposed, it won’t rust like cheap steel. I doubt Kove will do anything though as it’s hardly a requisite for rallying. I expect other third parties will start to release things when there are more bikes out there and customers to sell to.
Not easily…. There’s no sight glass. There is a suggested mod from the US to drill a small hole into the crankcase cover bolt hole and then put a copper washer on the bolt, so you can check the level by removing the bolt and seeing if a drop comes out. I haven’t done that to mine yet though. For now I’ll get used to draining 1.6L and refilling 1.6L!
Would it worry you less if it had a saddle bag on top? (I fitted it for the video more to show it than use it, but it’s probably no more dangerous than metal panniers or a pillion peg left out. I will be careful. Thank you for your concern.
@@PeakMotorcycles metal panniers are also a massive no go at least for the kind of offroad I expect to do with my future kove! I think the exhaust side make sense, anyways the exhaust would hit your legs first. But on the other side, it just feels adding an unnecessarily dangerous spot for no reason. I don't think almost any soft luggage is designed to be supported in the bottom
And this concerns comes after breaking my knee with an engine crash bar in a low speed crash, since then I pay a lot of attention of what pieces on the bike can break my bones if they fall on top of me 🤣
Are you sure? It’s written Kove, not Kové. I’m not saying you’re wrong, or that I’m right, but I also believe that you shouldn’t criticise someone for their pronunciation, as it means they have read it. I was going to ask Kove when I see them at EICMA. I’ll let you know what they say.
@@PeakMotorcycles I didn't mean to insult, just letting you know brother. This video can be found on their website for Kove USA. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XCaOrtSqkg0.html
Absolutely! Everyone likes different things, which can only be a good thing, as there’s so many different bikes out there. It would be boring if we all liked the same thing!
It is. Especially when you’re short on time, and what should be a 20 minute job, drags on. And so does the video editing…. Anyway, it looks good when done, and if it helps one person, it’s worth it. (I am always amazed at why 1000 people would watch that video in the first 11h when there’s so few bikes out there. It’s either because of my charm and good looks, or something else…. Ok, definitely something else 🤣)