4/30/23
Historically, Chinese-brand motorcycle imports have been less than impressive from fit and finish to reliability and performance, and even fundamental design. Two decades ago there was a glut of cheap knock-offs being sold in strip malls and auto parts stores. But recently there have been some Chinese companies putting out quality machines and a handful have made it to our shores. CFMoto offers a full line of bikes for sale here and, thanks to its relationship with KTM, has achieved some legitimacy in the US market.
Kove Motorcycles is the latest Chinese brand to make a splash, but in a different way than CFMoto. Rather than a lower-priced option to the current models on the market, Kove has brought forth a type of motorcycle that until now was only really available to professional racers: a 450cc rally bike.
The price tag for a KTM 450 Rally Replica racer is around $30,000 (there are only 70 units available per year—worldwide); Kove’s FSE 450R Rally is just $8,999. At an amazing one-third the cost of a KTM it has most of the requisite gear for a racer: a 52 hp DOHC engine, 12 inches of suspension travel, carbon-fiber skid plate, and 8.0-gallon fuel capacity. But how does it perform?
I headed out to Dumont Dunes in California’s Mojave Desert to find out. After a full day of flogging the FSE 450R Rally, I was left impressed with its performance and value. Read my full test here.
And while we are talking about rally-inspired motorcycles, here’s a handful of articles on machines that have “rally” in their names. While they may not be full-on Dakar racers, they do have some qualities to earn the badging.
As always, there’s more than we can fit into this email. Check out cycleworld.com for additional tests, reviews, and news.
Ride on,
Justin Dawes
Executive Editor
