After two Dakar Rallies with Kove Moto, Mason Klein plans to ride a different bike in 2026.

In a Reddit Ask-Me-Anything on Tuesday to promote the newly released Dakar: Race Against the Desert, Klein revealed he will be switching to another marque for the 2026 Dakar Rally. As it stands, he is still a free agent.

“I will not be racing for Kove anymore and I do not have a plan for what bike I will ride,” wrote Klein in response to /u/frostyhongo, “but I do know I will continue to work hard in the gym and on the computer to find my next ride for Dakar 2026.

“I want to win very badly and yes I need a good reliable bike. I still don’t know which bike I will take.”

Klein first partnered with Kove for the 2024 Dakar Rally, marking the Chinese manufacturer’s first time competing in the premier RallyGP class; although he received factory-level support from Kove, he was not a factory rider for them and still competed for his family-owned Klein Off-Road Racing. The race ended up being a misadventure before it even began when his Kove 450 Rally EX got stuck at customs by the Saudi border, where the team recovered it and returned in time for the final minutes of inspection.

He was fast early on, even finishing third in the first stage, before a rash of mechanical problems struck over the next few days. The oil line ruptured in Stage 2, then he was dominating the third leg until a rock smashed the shifter. Klein ultimately retired on the Chrono Stage when the rectifier failed.

2025 marked another go on the Kove, only to suffer an engine failure in the Chrono. He continued the race after that, even leading much of Stage 4 before tendonitis in his right arm and dry eyes prevented him from winning. Another engine problem in Stage 7 ended his Dakar for good.

/u/billyandriam asked him about the motor problems, and Klein was candid about the cause.

“They wouldn’t allow me to use a good engine,” he started, “which is really sad and they would not do really any good testing during the year and then the engine would break right when I got on basically it’s really frustrating.”

With his Kove days behind him, Klein isn’t sure where to go as of now. Although he won the W2RC’s Rally2 title in 2022 and has raced in RallyGP since, he’s never been part of an international rally raid factory program.

In 2024, he became a factory rider for the first time when he joined Honda Racing Brasil. However, this only applied domestically to the Campeonato Brasileiro de Rally Cross Country and Sertões Series rather than the World Rally-Raid Championship. On the Honda CRF450X, Klein finished second overall at Rally dos Sertões; he won the race, the largest rally raid in Brazil, in 2023.

Factory rider movements seem to be all the rage ahead of the South African Safari Rally as Tobias Ebster and reigning Rally2 champion Bradley Cox become them for Hero and Sherco, respectively. Despite his own successes, Klein is stuck on the sideline at the moment for reasons beyond his recent knee surgery.

“I will be back I just don’t know on what bike,” Klein replied to /u/DJFisticuffs. “It’s time to figure out what bike and raise some money I guess because the factory teams are full and I wasn’t offered a spot on any of them.”

If Klein makes it to the 2026 Dakar, it will be his fifth start in the event. He finished ninth at his debut in 2022 on a KTM 450.

Featured image credit: Jennifer Lindini / ASO