[Ariel Red Hunter]

Originally Posted by Shytluk

Hi, it's been years since I posted anything.

I recently picked up an 08' Lifan G20-5 to do some basic trail riding and it's been great. I got a great deal and it only had 1600 miles on it.

I recently got invited to run with a bunch of guys who do serious hard trail riding. They all run high dollar machines.
But I decided to try to work with what I have so I've been reading up on the forum here and used quite a bit of info to "upgrade" the bike.

I went with the eBay mikuni vm26 carb and jetted it 110 & 25, removed the air box and went with the UNI pod filter. Drained out the factory fork oil and replaced with 275 ml of full synth ATF. Installed a Perelli 110/100 18 MT16 on the back and a Shinko F546 on the front, basically MX tires.
Stripped it down a bit to remove weight but added some back with bark busters and bars.

So were I live is right around 400 feet above sea level and it seemed to be running pretty well here. But this past weekend I was invited on a trip up to the central Pennsylvania mountains where we set up camp at the top at 1800 feet and rode anywhere from 1300 to 1800 elevation. Some climbs were pretty steep 300 foot elevation changes going up hard rocky trails and the bike did not perform well. It was not running that great period up there but these climbs would just bog down the bike unless I had it almost full throttle in first gear.

We got log jammed at one point going up and I stalled, the bike would start right up no problem but it wouldn't take off up the hill on about a 30 degree hill. It would just stall out. I had to turn around and go back down.

I obviously don't have the jetting correct, I tried adjusting the air mixture the best I could up there but with little success.

I'm definitely changing my sprockets for more torque on the bottom end, either a smaller front or bigger rear. But after reading many many threads about jetting I think I may be more confused than ever.

The suspension had a lot to be desired also, some trails were like riding on rocks the size of baseballs or baseballs on sand. It did not like those trails at all.

I rode my buddies Beta 300RR and it seemed to glide over those trails.

Any help would be great, I'm not looking to go fast and have top speed like most guys, I need power that won't bog down right from the throttle to the rear wheel.

Thanks!!

Here's the bike

Except for the rather garish plastic bits, a nice looking bike. How is the front fork doing since you changed to Synthetic ATF? Some of that harshness in the suspension could be from too much air in the tires. What Pirelli are you running in the rear? Is it the MT-43? If it is, rear tire pressure should be 6 - 10 lbs. If you have a comperable front tire, 4-8 lbs. You will have to have rim locks mounted in the wheels to keep the tire from spinning in the rim. The front is unlikely to slip unless you use the front brake heavily. But the rear will slip from engine power. If you only buy one rim lock, mount it in the rear wheel. Put it so it is diametricaly opposed to the valve stem. Good luck, and keep us posted.