The rise of bolt-on rally kits: Are we turning enduro bikes into mini ADVs?

[WebikeJapan]

Lately, I’ve been noticing a massive surge in bolt-on rally kits hitting the market, like the Desert Legend setups for lightweight enduro bikes. It used to be that if you wanted a navigation tower and Baja-style dual headlights, you either had to buy a dedicated factory rally replica or fabricate everything yourself.

Now, plug-and-play CNC aluminum kits are everywhere, complete with roadbook mounts and USB ports, turning standard trail bikes into hardcore mini-adventure rigs. It’s an awesome evolution for the dual-sport scene, giving us the wind protection and cockpit space of a heavy ADV on a much lighter, more capable chassis.

For those of you running these rally tower setups on the trails, how do they hold up to real-world abuse? Does the added weight up high mess with your handling in tight single-track? Let’s hear your experiences!

 

[SRAD97750]

Back before these kits were available, I made my own with big ADV lights and a Baja Designs cowl, seems to work well enough and the added weight wasn't noticed.
Mostly I learned you'll need helmet mounted spotlights as well to really ride at night.
-BIG DAN

 

[WebikeJapan]

Back before these kits were available, I made my own with big ADV lights and a Baja Designs cowl, seems to work well enough and the added weight wasn't noticed.
Mostly I learned you'll need helmet mounted spotlights as well to really ride at night.
-BIG DAN

Good point about the helmet-mounted lights. Being able to light up wherever you’re looking must be a big advantage on tight trails at night. Sounds like your homemade setup worked pretty well too!

 

[snowflake]

As someone who owns an fe501, I also want a t7 or similar as they both do things the other can’t as well as the other, the adv bike isn’t as good off road as the dual sport and if you ask that 500 to run highway for extended periods it’ll be uncomfortable for both the rider and the bike

 

[WebikeJapan]

As someone who owns an fe501, I also want a t7 or similar as they both do things the other can’t as well as the other, the adv bike isn’t as good off road as the dual sport and if you ask that 500 to run highway for extended periods it’ll be uncomfortable for both the rider and the bike

That’s exactly the trade-off I was thinking about. The FE501 is great off-road, but you wouldn’t want to spend hours on the highway with it. A T7 solves that problem in a different way. I wonder how close these rally tower setups can get to bridging that gap without making the 501 feel too top-heavy.

 

[snowflake]

That’s exactly the trade-off I was thinking about. The FE501 is great off-road, but you wouldn’t want to spend hours on the highway with it. A T7 solves that problem in a different way. I wonder how close these rally tower setups can get to bridging that gap without making the 501 feel too top-heavy.

The fe’s primary issue with highway is to run 75 it is running fairly high rpm, only so much you can squeeze out of a single cylinder, you get too much bigger than 500cc and internal engine balance becomes hard to keep right (690/701)a twin like the t7 will run 75 all day without thinking twice about it

 

[WebikeJapan]

The fe’s primary issue with highway is to run 75 it is running fairly high rpm, only so much you can squeeze out of a single cylinder, you get too much bigger than 500cc and internal engine balance becomes hard to keep right (690/701)a twin like the t7 will run 75 all day without thinking twice about it

Yeah, that makes sense. A rally tower can improve the FE’s long-distance capability, but it can’t change the limitations of the engine itself. I guess that’s why having both bikes makes so much sense.

 

[snowflake]

Yeah, that makes sense. A rally tower can improve the FE’s long-distance capability, but it can’t change the limitations of the engine itself. I guess that’s why having both bikes makes so much sense.

To me personally adding things like a rally tower to the fe are not attractive as they take away from what the bike is good at it trying to get to be something it isn’t. It’s a great bike for connecting fire roads and paved roads, not so great for say the dalton highway