New Adventure Bike Review, Kove 450 Rally v Yamaha Tenere 700, Adventure Bike Riders First Thoughts 

Hi Dave..... Great to hear from you again mate. Yes Africa is creeping up now. Starting to get the jitters but will still be giving it our all. Thanks for the support matey 🙂

Hi mate. Well I guess we are part of the few early pioneers who have actualy taken a chance on the KOVE. Im no great You tuber but trying my best. Hopefully, I will get a little better at this stuff over time. The main reason is to document the upcoming ride on the T7's from UK down the west side of Africa to Cape Town, South Africa. We should set off in January as soon as I have certain visas in place. Fingers crossed we make it. Neither of us have ever done a trip like this before so we will be way outside our comfort zone but it will be interesting to try and complete it and hopefully inspire other riders to have a go at something similar. I agree with you regarding the T7. I wont be looking forward to mine laying down when it does but I guess its all part of the adventure. Thank you so much for the comment and watching. Keep in touch and lets hope our KOVE's turn out to be as good as I hope they will. :)

If you have an opinion on how the kove act during long onroad section with high speeds, count me in! Offroad the kove is the winner i guess so if it comes close to the t7 on onroad situations the Kove could be the bike for me...

The Kove behave very well at high speeds. I have just done a 4 hrs motorway ride from Cornwall to Reading. 70 all the way, both wheels have been balanced - did not need to stop for fuel but I did have quite a sore bum! Just ordered a sheepskin.

Hi Jay. You’re bang on. Paul had a stiffer rear spring installed due to the fact he’s a big heavy chap. He’s going to be adjusting the settings to hopefully settle the bike down. Thanks for your input. Everything helps. 👍👍

Hi Mario. You’re height is perfect for both bikes. Yep Africa is getting close. Gulp 😬. Thanks for the good wishes. 😊👍👍

I meaned Im to tall for all sport bikes (I Like to go fast)😅. Anyway I ended on Duke 690 '15. Considering to switch to DR650SE or KTM690 enduro + supermoto wheels for both. Kova is not in My price range for the moment :(

Africa now done matey. Check out the first two episodes if you need something to put you to sleep ;)

That’s very kind. Paul & I were next door in Vietnam a year ago on the mountain trails. I wasn’t doing any U tube stuff then but we have since used some footage and a couple of our previous videos now include the footage. Laos is on our agenda for the future but it’s Africa next starting in January for about 3 months. Please stay tuned for what chaos that’s going to bring. I’ll be able to give some real world reviews on the kit, bikes, tyres we will be using. Thanks for your comment, offer and interest. It’s nice to know a few people are with us on this journey. 😊👍👍

And I’m assuming your a fellow scouser 😂

So sorry for late reply mate. Im not too techy and didnt realise I had some comments on here. I did not lower the T7. I adjusted the rider sag to max specified and softened the compression a bit. Having now taken her through Africa she has naturally softened up and lowered naturally a little more.

I’ve just ordered the bike the other day, tried the Honda and the Suzuki but prefers the lowered Yamaha. Picking it up September 👍 hope you enjoyed your trip

@@iangriffiths9930 It was absolutely epic mate. I love my T7 too. Enjoy September early xmas present ;)

Hi buddy. On the section of duel carriageway / highway I did (25) miles it was fine. I’m going to do a long road / highway test ride shortly to evaluate comfort, wind and handling. Hope it will help you. I’ll get the video up asap. 😊👍

@@derekcharlton4764 How did it go on the long highway test?

@@inrptn I did Approx 100 miles road. It did become uncomfortable on the backside but not horrendous. I will be putting up a short video soon and showing the comparison between the enduro seat, CRF 300 seat, Kove and Tenere seats. If planning on using the Kove for big mileage I would suggest seat modifications to increase comfort as it is fairly narrow. 😉👍

@@derekcharlton4764Thanks! I hope seat concepts and / or Fisher will start offering seats for the Kove

6500rpm great on runs , I am running a 52 rear and still holds 70mph np

Hi Nick. Perfect. Which is exactly why I purchased it. You can put some miles in on the road before things get a bit uncomfortable behind. 😉👍

Hi mate teh other reply was me. I didnt realise my replies were going from personal email. Sorry

Hi Jake. I’m just back from a 14,700 mile ride from UK to Cape Town on my T7 with Camel ADV auxiliary rear tank. We did ok on fuel. Unfortunately my Mosko bags are still with the T7 on a ship so I can’t do a set up check for you but I’d imagine we can easily make them secure.

@@derekcharlton4764 Hi, thanks for the reply! The Africa trip must have been amazing! Did you have any troubles at all? I will watch some of your videos, but at the moment there are rolling blackouts in Ecuador making wifi a bit sketchy!

@@Muddlingthroughmotoadventures Hi buddy. Sorry for late reply my notifications had failed !!! It certainly was. Full episodes 1 and 2 out now. Nothing amazing as we are no pros at this. Done more for posterity. Lots to follow ;)

Arnold Minimum Rear Rack with R&G side racks. Just did a little bit of spacer and bolt length alterations to make it work. Wanted to ensure the bags were off the silencer and auxiliary fuel tank. 😉👍

Hi mate. Update. Now removed the R&G side racks and just using the top arnold rack. Mosko bags fine on Camel Auxilary Tank and re positioned silencer guard to keep bags off it. All good and a little less weight.

Hi and thanks for the message. I understand your thoughts on the points you raise. My next test is going to be a road and motorway ride to see how it performs and feels for comfort, wind buffering and performance. However, as I am running it in I will probably only go up to 60/70 mph depending on what rpm its at in top gear. I will attempt to do a good 100 to 200 mile round trip and that should give reasonable feedback. I will try and complete this asap and post another video which will hopefully be useful to you and others. I'm also getting prepared for a a 10,000 mile ride on the T7 from UK to South Africa starting off in January. It will be two of us on T7's with different tyres. Id love to take the KOVE but feel thats asking a bit much of it just yet. Im not a top you tuber just real world everyday rider but hopefully what I record will inspire others to do something a bit scary and enjoy the adventure. Thanks again mate.😊

@ABRLoons Thanx again, I will be waiting for the video :-). As to whether or not your a 'top youtuber', to me honest and real life youtubers are of most value, If I where you I wouldn't bother so much of how it 'looks'. To me that is not the most important factor of a youtube video. Thanx again en have fun with preparing for South Africa.

@@cowsnorff Top man. I will try and get that ride done asap but first impressions is we will definately need some modification or covers for the seat for distance. I know many people complain about the T7 seat but this is a rally bike so its not as good for comfort. I'm 77kg so the T7 dosent bother me but I have a feeling this will feel a little more unfriendly on the bottom. Thanks again. Safe riding. 🙂

Yes. I’d very much doubt I’d attempt this alone even with a light bike. Going way out of our comfort zone but I guess this is part of the adventure 😬. 👍

Have you considered the Kove 800X Pro Adventure by now? It looks suitable for long-distance runs and adventure riding! However, test reports are still very limited for this bike.

Hi mate. Id actually love to take the KOVE but the T7 has been prepared specially for the trip and at this stage I think I will feel a little more comfortable being on the T7 until the KOVE has had a little more time in the real world. I have quite a lot to deal with simply travelling this route as it is so going with the safer option for now even if it is heavier. Thanks for veiwing and your comment. Hopefully with a little more time our videos will improve. The big trip is rapidly approaching and we have never done anything like this before. Ill try and update as we go. Wish us luck 😬

​@@ABRLoonsI've just finished a month long ride on my Kove 450 Rally, Yorkshire to Transylvania, about half off tarmac on TET. Zero problems. I'm also not so young, so the lighter bike helps on the tougher stuff. Carried all my camping gear no issue. Maybe not a great motorway cruiser though...

Totalled 4,500km

Great. How many Km/h are comfortable on the road?

@@marcutrillogibert9154 It's fine for a couple of hours or so, after that you need to start swapping cheeks 😉

Definately 5'8" mate last time i measured myself :)

Morning Shawn 😂 Yes I get your point. I’ve done this as a number of people who are showing interest in the kOVE on FB groups I’m in are wondering if it can be used as an adventure bike. As I’m currently going to be using the T7 to travel through Africa I thought I’d try and give a little perspective on the KOVE as a lighter alternative. Ie : is it another CRF 300 Rally but better !!!!! At this stage it’s far to early for me to say but it’s certainly a good bike but is it the bike you’d use on a big adventure? Well I guess time will tell but for now I’ll stick with T7 and hopefully push the Kove into something later down the line. I’m no specialist mate. Just trying to give a real world view of it. Hope that helps mate. 😊👍

@@derekcharlton4764Very relevant comparison as people are trying to figure what works, across different classes of motorcycles.

Thanks for that point. Yes I’m doing my best with a little humour thrown in as we all need more of that in life. Both these bikes are mine and I’m not sponsored so will tell it as it is from my personal perspective Adventure riding, trail riding and road / highway way stuff. Thanks again 😊👍