New road-oriented spin-off from Kove’s 450 Rally
Kove has already competed in the Dakar rally for four consecutive years since 2023 and garnered some impressive reviews for the 450 Rally that’s the basis of that race bike but a new set of design patents indicates it’s working on a smaller-capacity and more road-oriented spin-off in the form of the 350 Rally.
The name is given on the patent document itself, indicating the capacity drop, but the engine appears to be essentially the same single-cylinder design used on the 450 Rally. Similarly, the frame and swingarm are derived from the existing bike, but it’s all wrapped in new bodywork that both gives it a more road-biased appearance and falls into line with a new family look that’s being prepared to spread across Kove’s lineup.
The ‘Rally’ style comes in part from a large fuel tank that extends down into the bike’s belly, either side of the engine. Along with the near-vertical windscreen there’s no doubt about the bike’s Dakar inspiration. But unlike the existing models, the 350 Rally gets a new nose design with a stacked headlight setup flanked by wing-shaped DRLs, a departure from the twin, side-by-side lights seen on the existing 450 Dakar.
On board there’s a landscape-oriented TFT dash below a bracket that could be used to mount a GPS, but the seat isn’t as brutally tall as the 450 Rally’s, dipping at its centre instead of featuring a flat, motocross-style shape. Road-legal lighting, a licence plate bracket and side reflectors all indicate this is a street model rather than a competition-oriented machine, as does the presence of a side stand.
The exhaust is rerouted compared to the 450, with the header pipe set high alongside the engine’s cylinder head instead of sweeping under the engine. It feeds a high-mounted silencer under the seat.
The new look is expected to be mirrored by several other Kove models in 2027. Earlier this year we saw type-approval documents for the next-generation Kove 800X adventure bike and the Kove 450R four-cylinder roadster, both adopting a stacked headlight design instead of side-by-side lights. Both have also been subject to new design patents alongside the 350 Rally, giving a clear look at the bikes from more angles.
The new headlight design is arguably less distinctive than Kove’s existing family face, with its twin lamps under a frowning brow, but it appears to be a conscious decision to make the bikes more conventional-looking, presumably to expand their customer appeal.
