Don’t small importers get passes from transport Canada? Beta and SWM come to mind. I can understand all the hate for China given the current environment but, the US seems to be getting these bikes on dealers floors and moving them so; what happens there normally happens here. I would gladly be the Guinea pig for a small 4 cylinder ripper at a bargain basement price with KYB suspension and radial Brembo’s given all the good feedback these bikes are getting on other forums.
Kove 450-RR
- Thread starter TK4
- Start date
Mad Mike
Well-known member
Finishing Dakar is a feat! But Kove had a small sample running with the objective of finishing, not racing. Finishing without racing makes the goal a 1000 times easier.
Call me when they finish 1 bike in the top 30.
Afaik, no exemption at all for small numbers of vehicles imported. Thou shall comply with FMVSS if you want to sell an on-road vehicle. If you sell an off-road only vehicle and they believe you that it will never be able to be licensed, you have a little more leeway. They can choose to force compliance if they don't believe your intentions.
Off-road Vehicles – Are They Regulated?
Learn about vehicles, importing off-road vehicles into Canada
"If compliance to the applicable standards is not shown, the vehicle cannot be manufactured or imported into Canada"
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That's one way of looking at it. But why pick an arbitrary number 30? Because the first Kove finisher finished outside the Top 30?
Another way of looking at it is the number of high profile entrants who finished *behind* Kove.
Of 150 entrants, only 90 finished. And if you look at the final times of the Kove finishers vs all other competitors: +13 hours. That's a solid mid-to-upper level result against some big names who weren't just trying to finish, but win as well. And this was their first time out and they finished *ABOVE* well established names and machines.
Let's not diminish their feat. A lot of people in the know sat up and took notice.
Top 30 for a rookie team of unknown riders on a brand new stock motorcycle is a big ask, but they did finish 40’sh ahead of a lot of KTM’s and Huskies with talented rally riders. That is very impressive if you ask me, like I said sales are taking off in the States, and I believe their 790 adventure is being manufactured on the same line that KTM has them build their 790 adventure.
TK4
Well-known member
I'm thinking they're doing a drop ship via the U.S. importer - good for both sides.
TK4
Well-known member
Nope - DOT approval from the U.S. may get them a rubber stamp but they still have to jump through the hoops.
Well that’s not good given the current news about China but then again Trudeau seems to love them so who knows what will happen, I guess we can only hope to see them land here because I don’t think I would pony up for the Kawasaki 400/4 just yet.Afaik, no exemption at all for small numbers of vehicles imported. Thou shall comply with FMVSS if you want to sell an on-road vehicle. If you sell an off-road only vehicle and they believe you that it will be be able to be licensed, you have a little more leeway. They can choose to force compliance if they don't believe your intentions.
Off-road Vehicles – Are They Regulated?
Learn about vehicles, importing off-road vehicles into Canadatc.canada.ca
"If compliance to the applicable standards is not shown, the vehicle cannot be manufactured or imported into Canada"
Sales are taking off? How much koolaid have you been drinking? All I can see is coming soon. I can't find a single example of a delivered bike in the US. Damon "sold" a crap ton of bikes but I doubt a single one will be delivered.
There are people on ThumperTalk that have them already, also check YouTube for reviews. There is a whole other world out there if you look. I’m not pushing the koolaid on these bikes I would just like to get my hands on one to try it out, is that bad?
I'm not a member at thumpertalk. I can see people that have them in South Africa and Asia. Just to be clear, I'm not arguing that Kove is complete vaporware but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it approaches that in north america.
It appears GPX Moto will be distributing them in North America and they are all street legal
There is a GPX dealer on the 115; I think I will stop in there tomorrow
There is a GPX dealer on the 115; I think I will stop in there tomorrow
Let us know what you find out.
Where did you get your bollocks on all of them being street legal? From your link "The First 70 models will be imported as “Competition offroad models” and NOT street legal in all 50 states. ". So the first batch (that haven't arrived yet) will never be street legal in the US.
From a comment on the Kove FB group (I can't assess how accurate this comment is) "But neither version will be EPA approved yet so they will come as off-road and you will have to make them street legal on your own. Super easy on some states like AZ, NV, SD etc but maybe not so easy in CA.". So non-EPA approved means we won't see it on-road here for quite a while. Canada can't rubber stamp a necessary approval that doesn't exist.
That link is a year old. I’m just relaying what I’ve seen on YouTube; definitely not a definitive answer but it is what’s out there at the moment, but on a positive note there are a lot of on road tests of these bikes coming out of the American market so, they are at least on the road currently in the USA which is a very good sign.
Kove has a 321RR competing against the Ninja 400s and R3s in WorldSSP300 this year. They're running at the back of the field, but the bike is getting a surprising amount of camera time and the announcers are being rather kind when it's on screen. They're not last in the rider's championship standings, which is probably stronger praise than it sounds.
It's kind of neat to see a manufacturer actually use racing like the Dakar and WorldSSP300 to prove themselves and improve on their technology. I don't think race participation makes any difference these days for established manufacturers in established markets, and the withdrawal of Suzuki and the waning influence of Honda and Yamaha in MotoGP suggests that they don't think there's much return on investment either. But for a new/unproven manufacturer it makes sense. I would have never even known what a Kove was without the SSP300 coverage.
I don't see them having huge success with any street-legal bike in Canada without some kind of trustworthy servicing model like certified local repair shops, and a reliable internet parts inventory.
But if the 450RR really did show up at half the price of a Ninja ZX4RR, then that would be tempting for a trackday toy even if it wasn't street legal. Aside from the price, it claims to be 50 pounds lighter than the ZX4RR. The drawback would be the complete lack of aftermarket support, unless they intentionally make some parts interchangeable with some other popular model. Hopefully the suspension would already be compatible with existing aftermarket stuff, but you'd want race fairings, rearsets and engine case covers at a minimum.
It's kind of neat to see a manufacturer actually use racing like the Dakar and WorldSSP300 to prove themselves and improve on their technology. I don't think race participation makes any difference these days for established manufacturers in established markets, and the withdrawal of Suzuki and the waning influence of Honda and Yamaha in MotoGP suggests that they don't think there's much return on investment either. But for a new/unproven manufacturer it makes sense. I would have never even known what a Kove was without the SSP300 coverage.
I don't see them having huge success with any street-legal bike in Canada without some kind of trustworthy servicing model like certified local repair shops, and a reliable internet parts inventory.
But if the 450RR really did show up at half the price of a Ninja ZX4RR, then that would be tempting for a trackday toy even if it wasn't street legal. Aside from the price, it claims to be 50 pounds lighter than the ZX4RR. The drawback would be the complete lack of aftermarket support, unless they intentionally make some parts interchangeable with some other popular model. Hopefully the suspension would already be compatible with existing aftermarket stuff, but you'd want race fairings, rearsets and engine case covers at a minimum.
So…. first off let me address the adverse discourse surrounding Chinese products for sale on this side of the Pacific; I fully understand the viewpoints expressed on here given our governments subservient relations with the CCP, given that, we are all motorcyclists with a passion for motorcycles. Now the good news; I was at the CFMoto dealership this morning and I am on the list for the 450ss, it will be on the dealers floor in 3 weeks at a price of $9700 with a full 5 year comprehensive warranty (kind of unbelievable). So to the naysayers never say never.
I have no concern with the origin of the bikes, my concern is new market entrants have a tendency to pull out and leave their vehicles unserviceable and worthless. I wouldn't buy a modern Peugeot or Renault in NA either unless it was cheap enough to be almost disposable. Most peoples exposure to chinese vehicles are the garbage and completely unrepairable turds sold at Canadian Tire and similar. They are cheaper than branded competition but have very high total cost of ownership as they break quickly and cannot be repaired so they are dumped as scrap in short order. Hopefully better chinese brands like CFMoto can deliver quality vehicles and support to start changing public opinion.
TK4
Well-known member
CFMoto is the exception rather than the rule. They have been here a very long time selling mostly generators, ATVs and UTVs, with an aborted initial effort into 2-wheelers that ended around 5-6 years ago. There is an established dealer network, parts supply chain and most of all credibility. Hats off to them for doing it the right way.
