Jesse Ziegler | December 13, 2024
Kove first hit my radar in 2022 when a group of employees/racers came out of nowhere to race—and finish—the Dakar Rally on 450cc rally bikes nobody had ever seen. The bikes absolutely looked the part of a mainstream factory rally bike. Consider my interest piqued.
The Kove 800X Rally is actually fine with this.
Photos by Jason McCune and Ziegler
Since then, we have tested the 450 Rally bike variants, and Kove has been making noise in the light adventure, dual-sport and ADV world. They even have some off-road/MX bikes. But the 800X Rally is by far their loudest statement yet. I rode a pre-production version over two tire-destroying days at the 2024 Giant Loop Ride in Central Oregon.
Built around a 799cc parallel-twin powerplant, one very familiar to KTM 790/890 Adventure and CFMoto Ibex 800 E observers, the Kove has good, recognizable power (95 horsepower claimed). That’s where similarities to other bikes on the market stop.
Kove is going minimalist with the 800X Rally to radically strip bodywork and hardware to make this machine a true adventure hooligan. Think of a modern-day KTM 950 Super Enduro as inspiration.
The stance is right for a fight. This bike looks and means business—if that business is destroying tires.
A claimed dry weight under 370 pounds puts it on the ultra-light adventure side of things. And with front/rear suspension travel specs of 10.6 and 9.8 inches, respectively, and over 11 inches of ground clearance, the bike has plenty of bounce in its step. This bike identifies as a dirt bike.
My mule was missing some functionality—the display unit didn’t work and ABS switching wasn’t functional. But that’s okay because the plausible deniability of my speed and not having ABS were good things on the off-road routes we chose. Also, I’m not sure the exhaust packing was up to spec. Honestly, it didn’t have any exhaust packing or muffling. Like, none. The bike was far from new or final (the seat fell off), but it gave a nice taste of what’s to come, like a lot of rear tire abuse.
Angry LED eyes set the tone for the Kove’s attitude.
The Kove 800X Rally makes almost zero traction in most off-road conditions and you can feel the rear tire being chewed down below you with every blaring rasp of engine pulse. The bike actually stops accelerating in the dirt because, well, the tire just—can’t. It makes a helluva dust show, though! It also had a very aggressive engine brake once the throttle was chopped.
So, the overall character is rowdy. Power delivery is a little on the lean side (maybe the blown-out muffler carries some blame), but the Bosch EFI overcomes that quickly. Despite its fun noise, the exhaust note here is way overboard for normal riding; it’s a nuisance (but super fun); again, this muffler was blown out!
A huge front rotor and a brake brand you’ve never heard of do a fine job of slowing the 800X Rally down.
When you get a bike with this much power, without a lot of mass, the chassis has a lot of responsibility. Kove did a good job harnessing the power and making a stiff steel platform for an exciting riding. The 49mm fork bolted up is decent at everything and damn comfortable in technical riding. No issues with the shock, either.
This is a fun bike to investigate. High-end touches like LED lights, machined billet triple clamps, integrated USB plugs (both kinds) and a big vertical display screen mix with component brands only Kove has shown us before (Yu-An suspension and Taisko brakes, for example). Word on the street is the 50-state street-legal version of this beast is expected in January 2025. Hopefully, we get another ride.CN
This part says the quiet part (twin-cylinder dirt bikes sound the most amazing) out loud. Really loud.
2025 Kove 800X Rally Specifications
| MSRP |
$11,999 |
| Engine |
Parallel-twin, 4-stroke |
| Valvetrain |
4-valve, DOHC |
| Displacement |
799cc |
| Bore x stroke |
88 x 65.7mm |
| Cooling system |
Liquid |
| Max power |
95 hp claimed at 9000 rpm |
| Max torque |
59 lb-ft at 7500 rpm |
| Fuel injection |
Electronic fuel injection system, 46mm throttle body |
| Transmission |
6-speed |
| Electronics |
Switchable ABS |
| Chassis |
Steel perimeter |
| Front suspension |
49mm inverted fork, adjustable compression and rebound |
| Rear suspension |
Piggy-back Monoshock, adjustable spring preload, rebound, high and low-speed compression. |
| Front brake |
Single 310mm disc, Taisko dual-piston caliper |
| Rear brake |
Single 240mm disc, single-piston caliper |
| Wheelbase |
60.8 in. |
| Seat height |
35.2 in. |
| Fuel capacity |
5.0 gal. |
| Weight |
397 lbs. (wet) / 363.8 lbs. (dry) |
