Category: Kove 450 Rally

Was trying to align the engine mounts to refit the fuel tanks and noticed that the engine mounts undo when you turn them slightly.

To fix this I added a nut to the back of the rubber bush so that it was locked in placed, I also straightened the aluminium plate that the tank bush slides on.

When removing the engine mounts I discovered all the engine bolts were heavily corroded, so have been replacing them with stainless bolts. Looks like the Kove is fine till it gets wet then just starts to corrode due to lack of grease on bolts.

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Bolt sizes can be found out from Kove USA, sadly the UK version is a bit crap and looks like its edited by someone who doesn’t know how to manage websites or optimise them.

Parts are slowly arriving from Uncle Wang and AliExpress, so some minor upgrades will be happening as well as fixing all the issues.

 

Repairing the rear light loom where it had been pinched was straight forward. I cut off the loom wrap then depinned the connector, I hate ktm style mini connectors, and added shrink tube over the insulation damage. Don’t forget to put the silicon seal back.

To depin I used a pin which I gently slid into the connector under the locking tab. Its very easy to break these connectors if you don’t take your time.

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Made more progress at getting the bike back together, also had delivery of more stainless bolts.

Fitted the rear tank back on, but had issues with the tank breather tube being split and its a really tight fit plus the threads in the frame required cleaning with a M8 tap.

Whilst refitting the rear light and number plate assembly I noticed the rear light cable had been pinched by the cable guide, so will need to shrink tube over the top as the copper core is exposed.

Replaced stacks of bolts with stainless ones, fitted the new number plate light and rear mudguard. I swapped out the chain adjust screws for stainless nuts and bolts – M8 x 55mm.

I then discovered the lower chain guide block is distorted, I managed to straighten it using a plastic mallet, but the aluminium is so soft it will happen again so will be swapping it out for an Acerbis one from rugged roads

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One thing to note is from the state of the original rear tank is the moulding holds water and will cause corrosion of all the bolts, so make sure you remove it and grease all the bolts before its too late.

If I start with FFS, you might get an idea of how it went.

I separated the cush drive from the wheel and looking into the cush drive I could see its a spacer, seal, two bearings and a spacer, the inner one I had to remove with a slide hammer.

I tried removing the bearings with my bearing puller and heat with zero movement, then went out to my small press and pushed them out successfully. You’ll see from the photos the state they were in and both were seized. The only come out from one way so make sure you’ve got the cush drive upside down, as there’s a lip on the inside.

Next to the wheel, removed the cush drive rubbers and an o-ring then lots of heat and managed to get both bearings out with my bearing puller. Again both bearings were shot.

Also several of the spacers I’ve encountered so far have such tight tolerances that they’re a press fit and most have worn through the anodising.

I’ve ordered new bearings, Koyo, and seals from an online bearing shop. details are –

2 – 6205RS bearings – wheel

2 – 6006RS bearings – cush drive

1 – 40-55-5 seal – couldn’t find any of these, so went with 40-55-6, which should be ok

1 – 52-32- 7 seal

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Getting really disappointed with the fit and condition of parts on the bike. It is potentially that unicorn bike, but not that well put together or the previous owner wasn’t very good at maintenance??

Started to clean the rear caliper and wheel for reassembly and discovered more issues, neither sliding pin on the caliper were greased and the rear wheel has one spacer stuck with a shot bearing and on the other side the wheel bearing is seized.

Will order new seals and some koyo bearings.

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Removed the rear wheel and swingarm etc to start the clean-up and, again, was surprised by what I found.

The lower suspension linkage bolt is very rusty and the bearings have a minimal coating of some kind of black grease, possibly graphite. The linkage bolt also retains the mount for the lower chain roller.

Slight side note: many of the nuts and bolts aren’t the right size. I’m finding sockets and spanners are sloppy. For example the lower chain roller that is the nut for the lower linkage bolt is loose on 19mm but won’t fit 18mm. I’ve found the same with all the 10mm bolts the socket is loose, so you really need to be careful when tightening things. I’m going to start swapping bolts out, but have hit a wall straight away with the linkage bolt as I was happily swapping it when I had a nagging feeling I’d overlooked something, rechecked my photos and could see its a fine thread – 1.25mm instead of the normal, for an M10 bolt, 1.5mm.

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I cleaned all the black grease out of the linkage bearings and repacked with Silkolene Pro RG2 Grease and am just waiting for the fine thread bolt to arrive.

I’m hoping the rear wheel spindle is just filthy and not corroded. Swingarm also has some strange wear under the chain slider, looks like the anodised finish has worn off which is odd as its under a non-moving part.

Finished cleaning and have refitted the rear suspension with all the bearings properly greased. I replaced the chain slider screws with stainless steel shallow head allen bolts.

Other things I discovered –

• needle roller bearings are loose roller, so be very careful when cleaning/greasing as I dropped one without realising straight away
• one chain adjuster block has an oval hole for the wheel spindle, I measured it and its tapered and oval – FFS, so only fits in one direction and won’t slide down the spindle. Really hoping this isn’t a sign of things to come.

Don’t know how a Kove arrives from new if its factory assembled or DIY, but have been dismantling everything to check for damage and one of the rear mudguard bolts is so tight it has spun the brass insert in the rear fuel tank. To make things worse its a shoulder bolt so can’t even see the insert to try and stop it spinning. I had to carefully cut around the bolt to get the mudguard free. I’ll need to think on a good way to remove the bolt without causing major damage.

I then removed the rear inner mudguard/rear light to find more corrosion on the bolts. If this is from the factory then its piss poor, if not then its lack of knowledge. Also the rear shock bolts weren’t greased and the shock preload adjuster was stuck on the spring.

If you have a Kove then I’d check the rear mudguard bolts and grease them plus pull your shock out and grease the spring to preload adjuster. I also found there’s a steel spring clip holding the spring in place another potential issue as steel and aluminium react, so will see if I can get a stainless one.  

Front fuel tank mounts were all loose and when I removed the exhaust the exhaust to cylinder head gasket fell apart.

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I’m lucky that I’ve managed to get hold of a used, but pretty much brand new, set of fuel tanks, but after 10 months I don’t expect the fuel tank inserts to be spinning.

I clean everything with ACF50 and use their corrosion block grease as required. When I bought the GSXR1000 new as soon as I got it home I removed all the bodywork and treated the underneath with ACF50 and never had any corrosion in the 10 years I had the bike.

Its not something you spray all over the bike, I spray onto a cloth and wipe it over, it only needs a minimal coating to work.

When removing the rear tank I left the electrics tray in place just unbolted it from the tank and supported it with a tiedown to take the strain off the loom.

Once I removed some of the body work I could see the left hand radiator was dented.

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Thought I’d try my slide hammer and had a great result.

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The one thing it does highlight is that the radiators are very soft so will need to investigate some kind of radiator bracing.

Kove has arrive with much more damage than was visible on eBay, I guess that’s the chance you take.

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Current issues to be sorted –

• all bodywork is covered in glue from the graphics being ripped off
• Left fuel has a deep gouge in it
• carbon sump guard is cracked
• steering damper mount is missing and a broken bolt is left in one hole
• fairing screen smashed
• mirrors missing
• nav tower is after-market
• usb socket damaged
• ignition switch smashed
• top yoke cut – looks like they cut the ignition switch off
• mismatched levers
• number plate light broken
• headstock bearings lose
• exhaust heat shields dented

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Fixes underway

• Drilled out broken bolt using left-hand drill bit
• ordered parts from Kovepower and Uncle Wang, risk with Uncle Wang is import duty
  • Bought
    • Ignition switch
    • Rear mudguard
    • split air filter mount, makes changing plug easier
    • new levers
    • crash bobbins
    • number plate light
    • clutch cover with sight glass
    • fairing screen
    • all 3 fuel tanks from broken bike on eBay

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Removing the graphics glue is proving a nightmare. Tried WD40, Meths and Goo-Gone with no effect. Current working option is heating the glue with a hair dryer and smearing the glue into globs you can pick off, time consuming but effective.

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Awaiting delivery …..

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Its stolen recovered but the price was a massive saving as its only 10 months old. From the photos it will need new graphics set, screen and ignition switch. Fingers crossed there’s nothing major.

Does mean something has to go from the garage, which is going to be a tough decision.