Kove 321RR: Chinese Yamaha clone for World Superbike 300?

The motorcycle industry in China may not have started until the early 1950s, but it has evolved enormously over the past three decades in particular. Not only do China have more manufacturers than the rest of the world combined (estimated just under a hundred!), but they also produce a lot more. Every second motorcycle sold globally is Chinese.

Now, for a long time we hardly noticed anything because all those Chinese brands only focus on the local Chinese market, but that is changing. More and more Chinese giants have now also set their sights on Europe and the United States. Whether or not by working with or even buying up existing brands.

For example, Qiangjang has acquired Benelli and Moto Morini is part of the Zongshen Vehicle Group (which in turn is part of the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, owner of Volvo), while CFMoto has a partnership with KTM and Loncin (parent company of Voge) has a partnership with BMW entered.

The interest in the European market was also clearly visible last year at the EICMA in Milan, where the Chinese went big. Similarly by Colove, or Tibet Summit Colove Motorcycle Sales Co. Ltd. for the sake of completeness, which initially sold engines under the brand names Colove and Excelle, but has marketed the most recent models under the brand name Kove.

Founded and based in Tibet in the mid-1990s, Colove Motorcycles made a big splash at last year’s EICMA in Milan, not only in terms of stand space, but also in terms of ambitious sporting plans that were unveiled there: participating in the Dakar with an in-house developed 450 Rally and entered the Supersport 300 World Championship with the 321RR.

Although the 321RR is also said to have been developed in-house, we strongly believe that the Tibetan Chinese were inspired by the Yamaha YZF-R3. Motor-wise, the differences are very small: the 321RR gets its 322cc cylinder capacity from a bore x stroke of 68 x 44.2 mm, where the R3 has 321cc from 68 x 44.1 mm.

The power and torque are also almost the same, with 41.5 hp @ 11,000 rpm and 29 Nm @ 9,000 rpm for the Kove versus 42 hp @ 10,750 rpm and 29.5 Nm @ 9,000 rpm for the Yamaha. In the chassis area, the 321RR has a slightly shorter wheelbase (1,370mm vs. 1,380mm), a slightly steeper head angle of 24.5° (25° for the R3) and the same trail of 95mm.

Yet there are still essential differences between this Chinese and its Japanese counterpart. For example, the 321RR has a larger front brake of 320 mm (298 mm), a wider rear tire in size 150/60 R 17″ (R3: 140/70 R 17″) and a higher seat of 800 mm, where the R3 is 780mm.

Most impressive, however, is the difference in weight: the 321RR puts 156 kilos on the road ready, a whopping 13 kilos less than the R3, which weighs 169 kilos when ready. Remarkable, especially when you also consider that the very nice single-sided swingarm is heavier than the double-sided swingarm of the R3.

Specs 321RR vs R3: