Lifan X-pect 200 arrived, unboxing, first impressions

[ProDigit]

2 Weeks ago, I ordered the Lifan X-Pect 200. I had a $100 discount due to selecting 'no pdi' (in other words, do everything myself).
Friday it was delivered to my door; and this morning (saturday 8AM), I woke up to start the project.

I've read some reviews on the X-Pect, and saw some tips and tricks and dissection threads about the bike; and some of my opinions may be the same, some differ of those expressed in the thread.

I mainly bought the Lifan Xpect thinking it was a 286LBS wet bike, but I was wrong. That was net weight. Still, the bike weighs roughly 302-305 LBS wet.

Starting with the unboxing, the crate comes with good quality bolts (not the army green ones).
I was surprised however, that they still used some army green bolts on the bike itself, including the wheel axles, despite competitors often going with the golden colored ones.

This time, I started the whole project different. I left the front wheel for last. That way the bike remained stationary, and I could basically do everything by myself without help from anyone else.

The first thing I did, was take the front light compartment off, to replace the 55-60W halogen bulb with an H4 LED one I had bought.
After that, I went over every bolt that wasn't visible with the front compartment on. And man, I think I found 30 bolts or screws without Loctite on. I did notice that most bolts that did have (red) Loctite on them, usually also had a white line marked on them, and often were bolts visible when the bike was completely mounted.

After that, I installed the handlebars. I've read a review that the cables were too short to mount the handles and electronics with the handlebars mounted, so I had left the handlebars mounted loosely, so I could shift the bars to mount all the switches.

I took the side panels off (one on each side) to remove the seat. This was necessary to install the battery.

Then, the Lithium battery. I forgot to look at the specs, but it looks to be a 2.5 or 3.5A lithium battery, small in size.
Once the battery was installed, I couldn't test the head or taillight, but the blinkers and brake lights, and dash all lit up.

Got some gas, and fired it up, and it basically worked from first time trying.

I went over every bolt, left and right side of the bike, including the exhaust bolts, and Loctited every last one of them.

While I was at it, I noticed the chain was tensioned high, and the chain sliders were all the way in.
I had bought a 17T front sprocket, and wanted to transplant the old 34T rear sprocket from my Vader, however the bolt holes didn't match up.
I was going to manually drill the bolt holes, but then I found a 32T that appeared to be an exact match for this bike.

Most people either go with the 15/46t or get a 17/42T or something. So yes, I was aware that the 32T was going to be very small.
I'd rather not use that sprocket, but I had no choice.
Cut out 6 links in the chain, used a 3D mesh seat cover (because it was burning hot in the sun), and finally mounted the front wheel.

Both rear wheel sprocket and front wheel mounting I did with the aid of a cheap car jack.

My first ride wasn't too successful. I rode around a bit, and the bike often stalled from a stop.
After my first ride (4 miles, to get gas), I drained the oil. Didn't look bad at all, with very little metal flakes. Nothing like the Vader 150 I had.

I adjusted the gear shifter pedal, jacked up the rear and let the rear wheel free-spin in the air, while applying lithium grease to the chain.
After that, I spray painted the chain with black plastidip, for extra protection against corrosion.

I saw the thread about the guy greasing every bearing, and while it's a good idea, I generally just skipped that. I could have easily injected bearing grease with a syringe, but the bearings can be replaced, and look ok.

One thing I didn't get, was that most of the bolts missing Loctite, had grease applied to them.
Almost as if the sales company wants this bike to fall apart!
I'm sure it's just rust prevention, but Loctite provides just as good, if not better rust protection.

Talking about rust, there was very little I could see that would need a layer of paint. Unlike my Vader who got generous amounts in places, the X-Pect was pretty much using rust free materials and coatings.
The only places I did use plastidip, was the clutch cable lever (on the engine side). That part is probably the same on all bikes, and will start to rust.
I also applied it to the wheel bolts, where the army green paint was stripped from the force mounting the bolts and nuts.
I did look at the exhaust, and don't know if it's a similar exhaust with powder coating as on my Vader. That exhaust on my vader started rusting within a few weeks.
I'll figure I'll let it run for now, and if I start noticing rust specs, I'll probably coat it with some Rustoleum 2000F black paint.

I also did some re-routes of wires that would be vibrating against the body panel, and instead zip tied them more towards the center of the bike, away from the side panels. I can see how a wire can disintegrate after hitting a plastic panel a few million times.

The mid-side panels had no rubber washers, but where mounted straight with the screw; so I put some nylon washers to keep them from wear and vibrations, and applied Loctite on them as well..

The plastics are solid, the materials used are good.

On to the ride,
I noticed the tires had little air in them, and pumped up the tires to 28 PSI. This significantly improved the start from a stop (maybe now only 2x the bike stalled out of 6-10 starts).

The engine seems like it's already mostly broken into from the factory, compared to my Vader 150; but I'm hoping it will still pick up power from here on.

The 32T rear is slightly too small; coming from a rider who likes tall gears.
First gear is too tall; it's not comfortable to do almost 10MPH at idle RPM; and I never felt the need to go into 5Th during the entire trip.
But when I did get into 5th, it felt like the engine was trying too hard, and there basically was zero acceleration past 50MPH. I also felt like the engine was tapping or something.
Could be because it's still breaking in, and after the break-in, will do 5th just fine; or, could be that this engine is really trying, but does really not have the power to run this current 5th gear ratio.

The engine was smooth as butter. I presume it was a counterbalanced engine.

I've tried to keep it slow, at least for the first few hundred miles, so I didn't see how fast the bike would be. But I feel 1st needs to be shorter, and 5th needs to be slightly taller than 4th gear currently is, but smaller than current.

There is roughly a 20% difference between 4th and 5th, meaning as an adventure/cruiser/daily driver mainly for street riding, I will probably want to increase the rear sprocket by less than 20%.
So currently it's a 32 tooth, and 20% added would be a ~38t; I would probably want to install something like a 35T instead.

I don't know if this bike will gain more power from here on though.
It uses port fuel injection, which is about as good as a tuned carburetor.

I did notice an idle screw on the side, which I can adjust with my bare hands (no tools needed).
The idle shortly goes up or down when adjusting, but quickly the EFI system compensates for it, and it idles around 1500 rpm again.
If I close the idle screw too much, the bike starts stalling, and idling rough. But if I open it by a lot, the bike doesn't idle any higher.
I was hoping this would be an AF screw, and if it is, it should allow more low end torque.

Riding the bike feels like riding on clouds; very plushy suspension, easily goes over speed bumps, potholes, or smaller.
The seat however, is pushing me forward, and not comfortable for longer rides.
I did put a seat cover on, so I might actually use some of the foam that came with the bike, as padding, to make the rider seat more comfy.

I'm 6.4" tall with a 34 inseam, and the side fairings on the tank are basically in the way for my knees.
I think this bike will suit the 6-6.2" guy with a 32 inseam best.

Acceleration is very smooth, and feels almost like an Overhead cam engine, rather than a pushrod; at least up to 5-6k RPM where I tried; perhaps because the fuel injection is running the low RPM very lean, and thus I may have realized less low end torque than I expected from this bike.
I can truly feel the heat radiating on my legs, which I don't feel when my vader was running stoic or rich.

Overall, it really feels like a luxury bike compared to the unrefined Vader bikes. Almost like I've got a Japanese bike, for half the price!
The whole process of mounting, Loctiting, and improving the bike, took roughly 12 hours, with about a 30 minute break; which was about on par with my Vader 150 (save for tuning the carburetor on that one).
I spent more time loctiting the bolts than on my Vader, but I spent significantly less time coating my bike with plastidip, unlike my Vader which needed probably 75% of a can.


Despite the heavier than expected weight, I can still lift the back, and because of the taller profile, it doesn't feel like it'd fall easily with me trying to keep it upright (at least, not like the Vaders, which seem to tip over really easily, and are hard to keep upright when they've tilted over.