Lifanrider

2011-04-09T15:17:00.002-05:00

This was done before the change, but the mirrors just started to rust like crazy, the new new looks much better.

Updates 2011

2011-04-09T14:47:00.002-05:00

I have since modified my bike again. The old mirrors were taken off and black retro mirrors were added, they look much better.

The grips were also replaced with skull grips, yes they look better too. The exhaust was switched with new ones but same problem again they rust like the is no tomorrow. I am going to have stainless steel pipes made. My old ones have been cut and ready for the new extensions.

Rust Problem

2010-03-16T14:12:00.001-05:00

I have been looking to upgrade my bike again, but as of know, that is not possible.What I mean by this is upgrading the bike to a bigger model, I have been eyeballing the Lifan 250-B model. I really like the design of this bike. But also have been looking at the practically of the Lifan 400, which has more power for two people instead of my city cruiser. There are some mods I want to do with my Lifan 150 now, but I need to get a couple of simple piping and a mod to the side cover.

Well this is the weekend I pull the rusty parts off my bike.The first part is the front end, the chrome covers for the shock housing, really I have see the bike without them, I think it looks better not having them. The light bar and the pipes will have to be done next, they are going too. I have tried to prevent by spraying high temperature paint by it is hopeless, but it is hopeless, they continue to rust. The rust is a major problem, 3 years old and rusting away.

Lima Marathon RPP

2009-10-27T18:00:00.003-05:00

The Motoriders Club del Peru, which I am a member of. Was invited to attend and participate in the parade, was held this past weekend (October 25, 2009) in downtown Lima. Myself and my wife did attend in this event. We really did have lots of fun at this, there were 30 motorcyclists that showed including about 45 persons. There are photos from this event which have been uploaded. These type of events I like going to them, trips are fun too, but for a major motorcycle group we should attend events such as these.

Interesting Information

2009-07-06T15:46:00.004-05:00

Cops must think bikers are stupid, this past weekend we were riding with our friends down to Lunahuana, Peru. On the way back, a cop (highway patrol) stopped us and my friends as we were riding home. He asked to see our papers, license and SOAT insurance, then he proceeded with this story.

Stating our motorcycles are designed only for one (1) person with no passenger. In fact our insurance states that it is for one seat, as is in our property tax document. Which is true, but he was trying to say that since the bike has one seat this is for one person only. No passengers are allowed. He was also saying that motorcycles that are under 250cc are not allowed on the highways, they are only allowed within a city. But if that were true than there should be a clause on the front of the insurance stating such a fact, and this should also be placed on a license and the property tax document.

My motorcycle manual even states that motorcycle is design for one operator and one passenger. "Hello, get your facts right, mister stoned police officer."

In fact, I believe the cop was corrupt in trying to receive money from the both of us. Trying to screw us both. Too bad, I did not record his name, otherwise I would be contacting his superior officer and reported him.

Now with this statement also brings up another question, what is different from a 150cc and a 400cc, besides the motor? Well the 400cc has one seat too, so would this also be true, one seat / one person, right. we can also say this is true for every motorcycle on the road, right? I have an answer for you, stop smoking coca leaves, mister police officer.

Lifan Speed

2009-06-27T15:36:00.004-05:00

Now, one thing, I find strange is a vehicle that gets faster over time. Sounds strange doesn't it, well it's true. When I bought my Lifan motorcycle, I red that the top speed was 95 Km/h. Well, we have succeeded that speed.

We were told from the dealer that after 1000 kms on the odometer, that it would get a little faster. I did not believe it, in fact I said to my wife it was impossible. But in fact we did succeed the 95km/h top speed, with the two of us on the motorcycle flying down the highway. Yes, the 150-11 we have had up to 105 km/h with still a little more juice to go. Seems impossible right.....

The motorcycle club

2009-06-12T11:42:00.003-05:00

The motorcycle club, I belong to has a blog now too. Hey is there link: http://motoriders-peru.blogspot.com/
I guess everyone has something to say.

My wife and myself took the trip to San Mateo, unfortunately the bike didn't make it all the way up there. Let me explain, first all the other riders were on the own bikes, no passengers, riding 250cc and higher. I ride a 150cc, with my wife and myself, climbing up a mountain, by the time we hit about 2500 meters the bike, would not idle right. When we hit the hairpin corner, I was trying to down shift when it just died. Trying to get of the bike because we had a big touring bus following us, my wife ended up in the ditch and I lost my footing and the bike ended up in the ditch, not hard but it broke the windshield needless to say the guys on the bus stopped and gave me a hang picking up my bike. I guess farther up the road the group was waiting for us, the bus driver let them know we had a problem.

Customizing my Lifan

2009-05-28T10:39:00.001-05:00

Ok, one of the biggest things, is probably customizing your own motorcycle. I was like that the first time too, with my 1963 Honda Scrambler. Anyway, I am doing it again, so far I have added a alarm system to my bike, bought a custom cover for it. Bought some cool blue engine LEDS, and mounted them and my scull decal for the tank.

The next item is a custom made saddlebags and tool pouch and rack bag. Maybe get some painted artwork than the decal that is on the tank there now. Customizing your motorcycle is a form of yourself and what you like reflecting your vehicle. People do the same to their cars and trucks.

Custom saddlebags I have to have made before our trip to the south. The bags are probably going to run around $200.00, so have to make sure they are the right size for the price.

Lifan Performance

2009-05-28T10:01:00.000-05:00

The road trip was also to see how the bike would preform on the highway with two people. These are my findings. Overall on flat surfaces the engines does fairly well. (Remember we are talking about a 150cc motor.) Even with a slight incline or decline it handles well. But a sharp incline, engine power goes down. As for sharp decline it is really easy to handle your speed, to the point where you are using, the engine to maintain a certain speed. In this case a 250 would be much better on the highways than a 150. A 150cc is much better for city driving, even with two people. If it one person, maybe, you could get away with a 150cc, but I still believe it would be way better, with a 250.

The bike still has a problem starting after it is warm, in this case, I believe the spark plug is at fault. A platinum plug would probably deliver much better performance, than the standard plug. The gas, I am using is 95 octane.

There is definitely a problem with the tachometer. Sometime it just, doesn't even work, stays on zero. That really needs to be fixed.

The other minor thing that gets me is, the shifting, sometimes when coming down or going up it seems to stick. (Not shift, like it is stuck.) This is the jump between 1st and 2nd gear, on mine it is 1st, neutral and then 2nd gear. Hmm, something the dealer will have to look at.

Well, after having the sprocket changed back to the original one that was one the first time. We went back up to Cieneguilla with the group this time. As we were heading up the road the bike was doing 80 Kph uphill, so changing the rear sprocket was a bad idea, it is better leaving the first one on.

We ending up at a restaurant, the food was good but the bugs were real bad, nearly eaten alive. Never again, we know better restaurant's were you don't get eaten alive in Cieneguilla.

The blue lights that I had gotten for my engine, I have now more them to under the signal lights. We have a few people that do understand how the light system works at intersections, maybe flashing blue LED's will more theirs asses a little. I will have to get some other LED's for shining up my engine at a different time. And have them wired into the running lights via a toggle switch to turning them on or off.

Anyways the bike is now in the shop, first time for everything. It is getting it's oil changed after 500Kms. (Ya, it is now over 500kms that was quick.)

Talked to the dealer about switching the motor, they tell me everything to change including wiring will be S/2600.00 labor is extra.

A new 250-B Lifan Cruiser V-twin is S/8400.00, which is a sweet looking ride.

I found out the maintain my speeds at 80Km/h going up hill a sprocket with more teeth would do the trick. So I got a new socket (45 teeth) with chain, the old only has 32 teeth, kind of small don't you think? So, the question that comes to my mind, is why do they put a smaller sprocket on the bike?

Now will this allow me to go faster than 90Km/h or just maintain a more constant speed going up hills.

Found a new bike supplier shop that has parts for my Lifan, like the rear foot pegs (they are chrome too).

Also the dealer was telling me that putting in a platinum plug would not be a good item because of the CDI ignition it has. And that the spark plug to use is a resistor style.

Now the problem of the sometimes hard starting did not do it when I took it to the dealer (it made me look like an ass) also the problem with the tach was the same, this time it worked perfect. I will have to film the damn thing on video to prove it. (There again it made me look like an ass, I swear that this bike has an attitude.)

No, changing the sprocket to a bigger tooth does not give you more speed, it does quite the opposite. I gives you less speed and higher rpm's. So, I had a 32 tooth sprocket on the rear and a 15 tooth on the front. Gave me an overall of about 90km/h, with a 45 tooth and 15 tooth on the front the overall gives you top speed of about 70km/h.

In my books not good, I will have the 32 tooth sprocket back on with the original chain. If I do change it again I will go with a 30 tooth sprocket instead of a larger one on the rear.

Well, the change has been done again. The original sprocket has been put back on. The rpm's aren't as high as there were the second time, the big sprocket increases the rpm's, now it is back to normal. Will watch the progress and watch how it goes.

Last reading on the odometer was 894 kms, so almost have hit the 1000 km mark. http://my.opera.com/linuxjunkie/blog/lifan-performance#

First Road Trip

2009-05-28T09:54:00.000-05:00

I never realize how ignorant people get, until you take your first road trip. My wife and I took a trip on my motorcycle this good Friday (Easter Friday), and man is there a lot of aholes on the road that do not care if you are on two wheels or not. To give an example, we drove up to Cieneguilla, the way up was not to bad, some people think that we (motorcyclists) should ride on the shoulder and we have no business to be on the road. "I think all these aholes should ride a motorcycle first before they are allowed to drive a car, maybe then they we will have a brain." Anyways, coming back people do not think and are very impatient. How many people were in our lane as we were coming down the hill on a 2 lane road, 5 people, that thought, we, were not important enough to get back in their own lane.

(So driving up the road in the opposite lane regardless of what traffic was coming down, wouldn't even get back in their own lane when they seen us, like we weren't even there).

But the biggest was some bitch driving her silver SUV, which about ran run over because she had some stick shoved up her ass, she got so impatient that she drove on the shoulder to our right. She skidded across in front of us shooting sand and dirt in our faces and sped off going over 100Km per hour. I was so pissed I gave her the finger and so did my wife. This is when I thought where the hell are the police, this woman should not be driving, she should not allowed to own a vehicle. This is one of these people they should stop and shoot her on the spot for pulling a stunt like that, what a bitch, believe me, I have a much better word for this lady, than bitch.

Why a Lifan and why a cruiser?

2009-05-28T09:52:00.000-05:00

Why did I pick a Lifan motorcycle? Well for me it was the fact that they are global. Just about every country in the world has a Lifan dealer. The other was the V-Twin motor, this what I wanted to get the first time, but there was no V-twins available when I went to purchase my motorcycle. So, I got the 150 instead and that fact that the bike frame will house the 250-4 no problem. Actually according to the Lifan website, the 150-11 and the 250-4 have the same frame. Everything is just about the same except for 50mm in the wheelbase.

Now, why a cruiser style? Well, that is what I like. The style reminds me of a good solid muscle, if a motor can push or pull this around than it is a good solid motor. The motorcycle looks like the harley's style the low easy rider.

Problems with my Lifan

2009-05-28T09:36:00.000-05:00

These are all minor problems, do not know, if anyone has had these. This is with less an 100 km on the motorcycle.

1) A little hard starting after bike is warmed up. Regardless of choke setting.

2) The mirrors are made from plastic, the right one the threads stripped. Can't they just make them all out out metal like the rest of the assembly. Will add a photo show the problem later.

3) The bike did not come with a gas filter. Have to buy an after market one. Never know when you get bad gas.

4) The gas meter does not work properly all the time. So, don't know much much as is in the bike. (digital LEDS)

5) The idle seems to run less than 1500 rpm when bike is warmed up and stalls if trying to give slow acceleration.

Thats it for now, will keep this informed if anything else arises.

Well, today I bought my replacement mirrors. Yes they are the same as before with the plastic elbow joint. Well they are cheap, here in Lima they sell for S/40. sold in pairs. So now I have a spare, if I need it.

Still would like to get custom mirrors, then the regular retangular style. Will have to check out who has them, here in Lima.

This weekend took the bike out for a good run, finally put over 100km it, yes, it is still new. For a small 150cc motor there is enough power to haul both me and my wife. I read that the 150cc motor was designed for racing, a small performance motor, well I am still testing that.

Well, today I refilled the tank after 8 months. This time around I put 95 octane in the tank, instead of 90 octane like last time. The motor requires 93 octane, and that could have been the problems the the acceleration I had before. Will have to see how the preformance on this tank of gas.

The gas gauge works again. The tach again was giving me problems. What I think the problem is that maybe there is a loose connection and it has the be soldered. I had the unit apart and some of the wires are very tight in there. Probably needs it to be a little looser than so tight.