X-Pro 150cc // Vader 150 // Lifan 150

[ProDigit]

With the gears completely maxed out at 19/29t, and the rear tire increased by one size from 130 70 12 to a 140 70 12, resulting in 53% higher gearing, I did an mpg run on a fairly consistent road, doing between 25-40mph the majority of the ride (most was between 30-35mph), in 5th gear (3-4k rpm) with an occasional stoplight or two.

It was a 45 mile trip to, and 45 miles back.

The mpg recorded was 89mpg, and that was very stingy, as I filled up the tank with more than was in it in the last tank.

I feel the bike now gets up to 50mph GPS more easily, because the bike accelerates much better below 5k rpm.
There's something about the intake, I guess, or resonant frequencies, that cause the engine to have less power between 5-6k rpm. Almost as if the engine gets much less air or something. Could be the length of the air intake, and carburetor, but I don't really know.
Anyway, the bike is much more suitable for cruising below 50mph, which is what 90% of my rides are around here anyway.

I'm happy to get over 80mpg on this thing, though the riding style doesn't accurately represent most of my rides.
The high mileage is mostly to thank for keeping the revs below 4500rpm.
Gas mileage goes down at around 5k rpm cruising (50 mph GPS) as this is wide open throttle.
I'd have to tuk, and then it'll accelerate to beyond 60mph in 5th, or downshift to 4th, where I can reach 60-65mph easily, before upshifting to 5th gear.


During the ride, Even with the significantly better padded seat and raises handlebars, I still managed to get sore shoulders and back.

I did the same ride on my Lifan Xpect, at an average of 5mph faster, and will see mpg numbers probably around next weekend.

[bigdano711]

Every now and then, just for poops and laughs, throw a pic in there. I sure as hell ain't reading all that crap.

[ProDigit]

I recently did another highway run, and while tucked, behind a car, and with a tail wind, I got highest top speed with stock tires and a 19/29t sprocket setup, I found with the bigger diameter rear tire (140 70 12) from stock (130 70 12) resulted in a loss of about 2-3mph top speed.

In order to combat those losses, I will do what I did with my Honda Rebel 250, and can be done with any carbureted bike, is add about 1oz of 2stroke oil for each gallon of fuel.
This will lubricate the top side of the piston.
I was actually surprised the Honda mechanics could see the oil even on my VT750, but couldn't locate any leaks.
I told them it was a fuel additive, but in actuality it is 2 stroke oil.

1oz of oil per gallon of fuel is easy to remember. That ratio is 1:128.
The effect is noticeable from 1:100 to 1-300, with 1:100 giving exhaust fouling,and possibly bad for the catalytic converter, and 1:300 ratio making nearly no difference compared to just fuel without oil.

On the Vader 150 with a 1.5 gal fuel tank, I think 1oz of 2 stroke oil per tank will be close to ideal (1:200).
It should increase torque and top speed.
One of these days I'll test it out on the Vader.

I'd be much more cautious on a fuel injected bike, since the oil could throw off the stoichiometric ratio of the combustion, requiring more fuel per air to be injected.
The exhaust deposits could also clog catalytic converters, and clog or immobilize O2 sensors.
Maybe If I ever get tired of my Xpect, I'll do some testing on that with adding oil to the fuel.

Using used or new engine oil won't work as effectively as 2 stroke oil, and show a lot more smoke. Using used oil can also clog injectors, carburetor jets, fuel filters etc ...

[ProDigit]

I diluted 1oz of low ash 2stroke oil in the ~1.5 gal gas tank, and the engine runs a lot smoother. Below 4,5k rpm the engine almost feels like it's counterbalanced.
Runs really great, also at low RPMs (cruising down to 2500rpm in 5th, or 25mph GPS)

Because the fuel mixture is diluted with oil, which contains less energy than pure fuel, my top speed was slightly lower. 72mph instead of 74. But there could be other environmental reasons for that (like different weather patterns).

After the run,I diluted an additional 0.5oz in the tank when fueling up an additional 0.8gal of fuel.
I've decided to always have a 4oz bottle of 2stroke oil with me, enough for mixing in up to 8 gal of fuel, or doing between 500 to 650 miles.

Mpg figures don't lie either.

My maximum mpg numbers doing this same run were 89mpg without oil, all 5th gear doing 30-45mph.
Current numbers are 83mpg, but 30 miles out of the 120 mile trip, were in 4th gear, top speed. So I'll do this trip again hopefully someday next weekend, to get just the low speed readings.

I haven't yet tried putting 2stroke oil in my Lifan Xpect fuel tank, but first want to run it in the Vader a little longer, and get more performance metrics, and checking the sparkplug and exhaust for fouling.

I've ran this in my Honda rebel for 2 years and 20k miles without noticing any problems or fouling. But the Lifan is fuel injected. So I want to be more careful there.

[ProDigit]

2500 mi (9 month) maintenance interval:

During my latest maintenance interval, I've noticed a few things that will need attention.

1- Rubber boots holding the CDI, Voltage Regulator, Ignition Coil etc.. dry rot, causing the electronics to potentially fall out of their mounting position.
The electronics have a rubber girdle which hangs on mounting points on the frame, which is starting to crack.

I've currently reinforced the rubber with some duct tape, but doubt I'll find the same rubber pieces online.
Any suggestions on what the best solution is for solving this issue, please comment.

Second is rust spots. Many small rust spots in areas like frame tubes, welds, etc are visible. Once the plastics are removed, spray with paint to protect frame, bolts, and other from rust.

Third, a crack in the bottom frame where the motor mount is located.
The bike ran just fine, however, I would recommend checking where the engine mounts are, around the bolts, if there are any visible cracks that need welding.

Other than that, the plastics start falling apart, which is to be expected when not using rubber washers under the mounting bolts.

[ProDigit]

2750 mile maintenance,

Apparently the seat lock cable was dismounted from the lock, making it impossible to open up the seat.

The main headlight went out, and shortly thereafter, all lights went out, including the dash.

The bike still ran, but had to be started with the kickstarter.
I wanted to see if the small lithium battery has failed or if it was a cable issue.
The newly installed cg250 does charge the li battery quite a bit faster, but unfortunately I couldn't check, due to the lock being broken.

Will have to work on it this weekend. :(

[ProDigit]

Turns out, what I think is the DC rectifier (responsible for charging the battery) was unplugged. When I was looking for the CDI wiring, I may have unplugged the DC rectifier, and not have seated the plug back in properly, and it may have fallen out during the ride, allowing me to ride until the 2.5Ah battery fell below 10V.

The cable for the seat lock was unplugged; and I was unable to access the compartment under the seat, as the key or pulling the cable did not unlock the seat lock.

So I grabbed the middle of the seat, and pulled it upwards, bending the seat into a C-shape, until the front lip slid off the front bracket.
Once the front side of the seat came loose, I rotated the seat about 90 degrees, to get the locking mechanism to open up.

I suppose if you ever want to get in the seat compartment without key, and find that pulling the cable behind the fairings doesn't work, you could apply the same trick.
No guarantees if the plastic will hold, but mine did.


Other than that, the bike itself has now close to 2.8K miles on it, and runs great!