Kove is a relatively new motorcycle manufacturer from China that's been in operation since 2017. In EICMA 2022, the company made its presence felt in the global stage by unveiling a number of models presumably for the European market. Among the concept bikes showcased by the company were an adventure bike, rally machine, enduro, and sportbike. That said, the company has officially unveiled the 400RR.
Right off the bat, the Kove 400RR is
currently in a class of its own, as it sports a 400cc, inline-four cylinder
engine. This means that the Chinese manufacturer has beat Kawasaki to the
punch, as the Team Green has yet to officially unveil the much-anticipated
Ninja ZX-4R. On top of this, the Kove 400RR has been launched with the
intention of being made available in the international market—a bold move by
the Chinese startup. Nevertheless, the 400RR looks pretty promising.
The design of the Kove 400RR is typical of
most modern sportbikes. It even gets winglets on the front fairing, although
I'm pretty sure a 400cc sportbike won't benefit that much from this type of
aero. There also appears to be an intake duct at the front of the fairing, in
between the two headlights, although it's hard to tell if this is functional or
just a styling piece. Furthermore, unlike the model showcased at EICMA, the
Kove 400RR doesn't get a fancy single-sided swingarm, but rather, a
conventional dual-sided swingarm that looks like it's made of aluminum.
On the performance side of the equation,
the Kove 400RR features a 400cc, dual-overhead camshaft, inline-four cylinder
engine complete with liquid cooling and fuel-injection. The brand claims that
it developed the engine in-house, and that it produces 67 horsepower at 13,500
rpm and 21 lb-ft of torque at 12,000 rpm. Furthermore, the sportbike reportedly
weighs just 158 kilograms, and has a top speed of 220 kilometers per hour, or
137 miles per hour. With all that on the table, Kove has yet to reveal pricing
and availability dates for this model, so stay tuned for that.
