After pulling double duty in January by running the Dakar Rally as well as the Africa Eco Race, Kove Italia and Lucky Explorer will continue their partnership with the Kove 450 Rally Lucky Explorer. 50 units will be developed and sold starting in April for €9,890.

It is identical to the standard Kove 450 Rally down to using the same 449cc single-cylinder DOHC engine. Thus, Kove noted the only changes are “purely aesthetic and non-technical but is of great emotional impact, which will appeal to rally fans.”

The Lucky Explorer edition features a special livery similar to what was on the Kove 450s of Ottavio Missoni Jr. and Cesare Zacchetti at the Dakar Rally. However, it has more teal than theirs and fewer stickers save for the large Lucky Explorer logo and Kove branding.

Cesare Galli, the head of Kove’s Italian distributor Pelpi International, came up with the idea for the bike. It was unveiled in late January at the Motor Bike Expo in Verona.

“The Kove 450 Rally Lucky Explorer was created to celebrate the indomitable spirit of great rallies and the return of a motorsports icon,” reads the product description from Kove Italia. “A product of the collaboration between Kove Moto and Lucky Explorer, this limited edition of 50 units bears the legendary logo on the fairings that made history in African competitions in the ’80s and ’90s.

“After tackling the Dakar 2024 [sic] and the Africa Eco Race, the Kove Italia team decided to turn this experience into a concrete project: a bike that embodies the charm of great adventures and allows every enthusiast to relive the adrenaline of deserts and extreme tracks.”

Lucky Explorer is the off-road lifestyle brand of MV Agusta. The name and logo are references to the Lucky Strike cigarette line, which sponsored the Dakar-winning Cagiva (MV Agusta’s parent company) of Edi Orioli in 1990 and 1994.

At last month’s Dakar Rally, Missoni finished 68th in Rally2 and 14th in the Original by Motul class while mechanical problems forced Zacchetti out. Concurrent with Dakar, their teammate Matteo Bottino placed eighth in the Africa Eco Race on a Kove 800X.