Kove 800X Rally (2025) – Technical Review

For decades China’s fast-growing motorcycle industry has been laser focused on supplying millions of riders in its homeland rather than turning its attentions to exports – but that’s changing fast and the West is seeing an influx of surprisingly capable Chinese-made machines as a result. Kove is one of those new names and has already raised eyebrows with some surprising performances in events like the Dakar rally – and the 2025 Kove 800X Rally is the company’s most impressive-looking road-legal adventure machine yet.

Pros & Cons

2025 Kove 800X Rally - Price & PCP Details

Kove is expected to officially reveal the 800X Rally’s price when the bike makes its UK debut at the ABR Festival at the end of June – but at least one dealer is already listing the model at £8,698 + OTR, indicating that will be the list price when it’s confirmed.

That puts the high-spec, offroad-oriented Rally’s price just £199 higher than the Kove 800X Pro it’s based on, which retails at £8,499, despite a more exotic spec that puts the emphasis on single-rider, offroad use rather than two-up adventure riding.

In terms of market positioning, the closest rival in pricing terms from mainstream brands is KTM’s £9,999 790 Adventure, although it’s closer in spirit to the more road-oriented 800X Pro while the 800X Rally’s stance is near that of the £13,999 KTM 890 Adventure R.

But from China it also faces competition from the CFMOTO 800MT-X – also imminently due to arrive in UK dealers – which shares a similar spec and has a more established brand name, with a list price of just £7,999. Or even the most recently announced Voge DS800X Rally, sitting in between its 625 and 900 equivalents in the range, and for just £6999 + OTR.

2025 Kove 800X Rally - Engine & Performance

China’s rapid industrial growth has been built largely on copying Western or Japanese products – something that’s easy to do as many brands from the West and Japan use cheap Chinese manufacturing for their components and complete products – and the Kove 800X’s 799cc parallel twin engine is undeniably similar to the KTM LC8c twin from company’s 790 range. Unless we put both engines on the workbench, we can know that components from the Kove would bolt straight onto the KTM version and vice-versa, but photos of certainly show that the bolt patterns for the engine cases and covers look the same. Inside, the similarities continue, with Kove using the same 88mm bore and 65.7mm stroke.

Kove isn’t the only Chinese brand to use an engine like this, of course. Rival CFMOTO – which manufactures engine for KTM – also uses its own version of the LC8c in the 800MT, 800MT-X and 800NK models, and QJMotor also makes a variation on the same design for its SRT800RX, which isn’t sold here (yet) but would be another direct rival for the Kove 800X Rally.

In terms of performance, the Kove engine is right where we’d expect it to be, with a peak of 95hp at 9,000rpm and max torque of 59lbft at 7,500rpm. The same engine is already available in the standard Kove 800X. Bosch fuel injection and Euro5+ emissions compatibility show it’s up to modern standards without losing any performance compared to the ‘real’ KTM version.

Top speed is quoted as 131mph, which sounds like more than enough on such a high-riding bike with offroad rubber.

2025 Kove 800X Rally - Handling & Suspension (inc. Weight)

While the main structure of the steel frame is shared with the existing Kove 800X, the 800X Rally makes some substantial changes in the quest to slice 14kg from the overall weight.

The most notable difference is the new rear subframe. Where the standard bike has a welded-on steel subframe, the Rally gets a bolt-on version made using aluminium tubes. It’s lighter but also reduces the bike’s load-carrying capacity (type-approval documents show it’s rated fully-loaded weight is 52kg less than the normal 800X). As a result the normal version’s luggage rack and pillion pegs are removed – this is a single-seat machine.

The suspension features longer-travel forks and a taller rear shock than the stock bike, upping ground clearance to 293mm (it’s 245mm on the base version and 275mm on the higher-riding, but otherwise similar, Pro model). There’s 270mm of travel in the forks and 240mm of travel for the rear wheel, substantially more than most of its rivals. For example, the new CFMOTO 800MT-X has 230mm of travel at each end, while the KTM 790 Adventure has only 200mm of suspension movement available.

The forks are fat, 49mm upside-downers, while the rear shock has a remote reservoir, and there’s adjustable preload and damping (compression and rebound) at both ends.

In line with the bike’s offroad approach and light weight, the brakes aren’t quite what you might expect from a more road-oriented machine. There’s just one 310mm disc at the front, gripped by a two-piston floating Taisko caliper. In comparison, the standard 800X is more in line with its street-biased rivals, using dual discs and radial-mount, four-pot calipers. There’s ABS, of course, but it’s switchable – you can turn off just the rear wheel’s antilock or switch the system off completely for offroad use. During brief stops, if you kill the engine using the kill switch rather than the key, the bike will remember the last-used setting.

Tubed CST tyres are fitted, with a 90/90-21 at the front and a 140/80-18 at the back.

In total, the bike comes in at 176kg ready-to-ride according not only to Kove but to the bike’s type-approval paperwork, which is 14 kilos less than the 190kg of the normal 800X (also going by type-approved mass). It’s also much lighter than the rival CFMOTO 800MT-X, which comes in at 220kg, or the KTM 790 Adventure which is homologated at 218kg wet. So Kove’s claims that its 800X Rally is 30-45kg lighter than its rivals appear to stack up.

2025 Kove 800X Rally - Comfort & Economy

A towering 890mm seat height is the inevitable result of the 800X Rally’s serious approach to off-road ability – so riders with shorter legs might want to turn their attentions to the standard 800X, which comes in at 845mm in its lowest form or 875mm for the higher-riding ‘Pro’ model.

Unlike the KTM 790 Adventure or the CFMOTO 800MT-X, which both use low-slung, side-mounted fuel tanks to carry their weight low down, the Kove 800X Rally has a conventional tank arrangement, albeit one that dives down behind the engine’s cylinder head to maximise capacity without being too bulky.

As a result, the tank does rise more steeply ahead of the seat than on the KTM or CFMOTO rivals, reducing the rider’s ability to sit quite as far forward, although for offroad use you’re likely to be standing on the serrated pegs rather than sitting, minimising that problem.

At 20 litres the Kove’s tank is 2.5 litres smaller than that of the CFMOTO 800MT-X, but both are larger than a typical bike’s so range shouldn’t be a concern, even though we don’t yet have official consumption figures.

2025 Kove 800X Rally - Equipment

You wouldn’t expect a bike as focussed on offroad use as the 800X Rally to feature too many creature comforts – and you’d be right – but there are still some sops to convenience including a large, 7-inch TFT dash that includes all the now-expected smartphone connectivity features, including the ability to mirror the content of your phone’s screen for navigation.

Dual USB sockets – one type A, one type C – are standard, as are LED lights, traction control and protective kit including bars on either side of the fairing and the alloy bash plate under the engine.

2025 Kove 800X Rally - Rivals

KTM 790 Adventure | Price: £9,999

Read more

Power/Torque

94bhp / 64lb-ft

Weight

218kg

Yamaha Ténéré 700 World Rally | Price: £11,920

Read more

Power/Torque

72.4bhp / 50.2lb-ft

Weight

220Kg

CFMOTO 800MT-X | Price: £7,999

Read more

Power/Torque

90bhp / 63.4lb-ft

Weight

220kg

2025 Kove 800X Rally - Verdict

Should you be looking for a lightweight adventure machine that is as adept at crossing a desert or nipping out to pick up a dessert, the Kove 800X Rally has the capabilities to be that all-in-one machine. Though it’s also a motorcycle to whom its owner prioritises the quality of the engine guard over a set of heated grips. Arguably, an unnecessary accessory when traversing the Sahara, mind. But the Kove has ambitions of grandeur with an eye-catching power-to-weight ratio, adjustable suspension, 20-litre tank, and aggressive styling. And of course, that rather keen price tag, unless the lack of brand reputation is a hurdle.

Once we’ve had a chance to ride the new Kove, we’ll let you know our thoughts.

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2025 Kove 800X Rally - Technical Specification

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