I took my new Lifan X-pect on its first muddy off-road trip (pics)

[KSSK]

I took my new Lifan X-Pect to an off-road riding area near my city for the first time. It was really too muddy, since we've had lots of rain, but I rarely have free time so it was now or never.

The tires, and my riding skills, were not quite up to the challenge of the sticky, slippery mud. I had a few spills. I had lots of fun, though, and there was no damage to the bike or me.

The bike did well off road. If it was a little drier I would have done a lot more riding and I think the bike would have done great.

I've been careful to follow break-in recommendations, but I'm only at 40 miles. I definitely gave the bike a workout at the course, and it ran great.

[KSSK]

It took a long time to clean all this mud off the bike.



At the end if the ride the Xpect felt like was 100 pounds heavier than at the start.

[buzz]

KSSK you need some knobby tires ,just got mine today,stock tires 1100 miles not good for me. Can't wait will be changing them out in the morning.

[KSSK]

Originally Posted by buzz

KSSK you need some knobby tires ,just got mine today,stock tires 1100 miles not good for me. Can't wait will be changing them out in the morning.

I've been looking at other tires, but one of the major negatives of the X-Pect is it uses weird tire sizes. There's almost nothing in the factory sizes.

I used to work in a tire shop, so I'm very familiar with tire sizing. There are options if I tweak the sizes, but they also used very narrow rims on the X-Pect, so going to larger sizes is kind of questionable.

[Boatguy]

It would be nice if some place grouped tires and tubes by model.

I’d love to look up the xpect and just go through all the correct size tires and tubes and make my decision.

For me, it’s the front tire I don’t like in these (and loose sand) conditions. It washes out almost instantly.

[KSSK]

Originally Posted by Boatguy

It would be nice if some place grouped tires and tubes by model.

I’d love to look up the xpect and just go through all the correct size tires and tubes and make my decision.

For me, it’s the front tire I don’t like in these (and loose sand) conditions. It washes out almost instantly.

From my research, Bridgestone Battlax AX41 is the closest to the OE sizes and will work with the factory wheels. 90/100-19 on the front and 4.6-17 on the rear.

Shinko 244 also is close, but the 2.75 front is skinnier than the factory tire a little. Also IRC GP-1 has some close sizes.

Beyond that, the closet common sizes are 100/90-19 front and 120/90-17 rear. But pretty much every company doesn't recommend running thise sizes on the skinny wheels thr X-Pect has.

[buzz]

Mine 100/100-19 and 4.60-17 so cheap around $ 65.00 each think from amazon

[JerryHawk250]

You can get the stock Brozz Recon tires from Brozz250. https://shop.brozz250.com/eshopprod_...econ_Tires.htm

[KSSK]

Originally Posted by buzz

Mine 100/100-19 and 4.60-17 so cheap around $ 65.00 each think from amazon

How have the 100 mm wide tires been working?

The X-Pect has a very narrow 1.85" front rim. Every tire manufacturer website I looked on said the narrowest rim you should use a 100 mm tire on is 2.15".

For example, see the screenshot of the Bridgestone A41 website below.

If you got up to 100/90-19 and 120/90-17, you can get many sizes. But every tire company I've looked at says the 1.85" front and 2.15" rear wheels are too narrow for those sizes.

[MarkBD]

I noticed the Bridgestone Trail Wings are available in 90/100-19 and 4.6-17 as well

It's listed as a 50/50 tire though so off road hmm...

[Bruces]

Originally Posted by MarkBD

I noticed the Bridgestone Trail Wings are available in 90/100-19 and 4.6-17 as well

It's listed as a 50/50 tire though so off road hmm...

Those are called “death wings “ and for good reason .

[Boatguy]

Originally Posted by KSSK

From my research, Bridgestone Battlax AX41 is the closest to the OE sizes and will work with the factory wheels. 90/100-19 on the front and 4.6-17 on the rear.

Shinko 244 also is close, but the 2.75 front is skinnier than the factory tire a little. Also IRC GP-1 has some close sizes.

Beyond that, the closet common sizes are 100/90-19 front and 120/90-17 rear. But pretty much every company doesn't recommend running thise sizes on the skinny wheels thr X-Pect has.

Hmmm. This is a bit of a problem.

Are we pretty much left with just the stock tires, then?

I mean also, there isn’t a lot of clearance for wider tires where they pass through the fork either.

[Bruces]

It shouldn’t be a surprise ,the much better looking members have been pointing out the tire size issues for years .Check out Boatguy’s own thread “Are China bikes for me “ where a pair of good looking members pointed it out in post 8 and the bottom of the first page very clearly .

[duck9191]

My tiger 900 rally came with battleax a41's, I would not recommend them. They are useless in any mud and hardly passable on gravel. They are an ok road tire, a bit noisy.

[Boatguy]

Originally Posted by Bruces

It shouldn’t be a surprise ,the much better looking members have been pointing out the tire size issues for years .Check out Boatguy’s own thread “Are China bikes for me “ where a pair of good looking members pointed it out in post 8 and the bottom of the first page very clearly .

Ha ha ha ... it’s been a looong time since that n00b post of mine.

One alternative is to just order the stock tires again since that’s about all that will fit.

It’s funny. Way back when on that thread, I didn’t look too closely into new tires because I bought this bike for a completely different reason and use than i use it for now.

Back then, I wanted a cheap piece of crap to putt around local trails and maybe go to the store with. I also didn’t want to have to trailer a dirt bike, so an enduro was the choice. This was one of the cheapest pieces of crap (or so I thought) and I bought it as a disposable toy to use as entertainment while stuck working in a remote area. I got the Lifan specifically because it is fuel injected.

As it turns out, I ended up getting cheap ADV gear for it and have been having a blast all over the country with the thing. It turns out it’s no piece of crap. On the contrary, it runs as good as any Japanese bike or car for that matter.

So, because I wasn’t looking at it for longevity, I disregarded any tire talk. There was never going to be a future for the bike. Now things have changed.