Lifan 250 Motard

[ttakata]

You don't understand that the CBR is a road-going 'sports' bike and the Lifan is an dual sport? If you have problems visualising, I know plenty of trails to try and take your bike off-road and give those types of conditions a try.

That's funny stuff. I remember one time in Colorado I had to ride my CBR600 5 miles on a gravel road that was waiting to be paved over. It took 30+ minutes instead of 5 to cover that stretch. Sport tires and dirt road=very sketchy. I felt like I was riding on snow and had to ride ridiculously slow. I would have loved a DS for those 5 miles.

The thing I like about the smaller motard/DS concept is they're essentially dirt bikes with street tires and dirt bikes are designed to be light and survive crashes. OK, they're designed to crash on dirt, but it still has better odds of surviving a crash than a street bike which is not designed to crash at all. I love CBRs too, but since I could rarely use one in BKK to its potential I'm going the DS route for my next bike.

I agree 100KMH (62MPH) top speed is very low for a 250cc. I've had my Nouvo Elegance 135cc up to 110KMH out in the countryside and I think it could maybe go 120KMH with enough room and a wind tuck. Heck I got my old Ruckus 59cc up to 82KMH (52mph) on a slight downhill once. Maybe the Lifan specs meant 100MPH?

Edited May 6, 2010 by ttakata

[apetley]

I was once told that the advertised speeds of vehicles in China are the legal maximum speed of the roads they are allowed to drive on.

The legal maximum speed in China, excluding expressways, is 100 kph. I believe, but am not positive, that bikes are not allowed on Expressways in China, similar BKK.

Maybe this is the reason the 'top speed' is 100 kph.

[Richard-BKK]

I was once told that the advertised speeds of vehicles in China are the legal maximum speed of the roads they are allowed to drive on.

The legal maximum speed in China, excluding expressways, is 100 kph. I believe, but am not positive, that bikes are not allowed on Expressways in China, similar BKK.

Maybe this is the reason the 'top speed' is 100 kph.

You are correct, in China even a Yamaha YZF-R1 if sold by a official representative of the manufacturer is limited to 100km/h... Manufacturers are not allowed to offer products that knowingly can break the law...

[ttakata]

For many decades the Japanese had a gentlemen's agreement of not advertising any car with more than 280HP. Competition grew tough and everyone knew Skyline GTRs, Evos, and WRX Stis were simply too fast to not have more than 280hp. So they tossed that rule out the window to compete with German AMGs and Ms and we now have a 2010 GTR V Spec with 520HP. At some point China will figure out stats are important to buyers and will probably follow suit. Considering they counterfeit everything I'm surprised they follow such a silly law in the first place.

[Richard-BKK]

In a country with a communist government lot of rules look silly for us. but if you really think about it, the law is not that silly, you cannot buy a gun.. because guns are illegal, you cannot buy drugs because it's illegal ...etc.. thinking like this it make some sense that a motor vehicle which can travel faster then the law would be illegal...

When in China, you do not want to cross the maximum speed limit, you will regret it a long long time, the punishment is high. Even in countries like Vietnam it would not be wise to ride/drive faster then the speed limit.

But lucky we are in Thailand, the maximum speed is here 90km/h but hardly enforced... For the Lifan LF250GY-7 I can confirm that the bike can easily get to speeds of 120km/h on my GPS.

[thaicbr]

RICHARD CURRENT SPEC PLEASE. YOU HAVE SAID 3 TIMES NOW THAT THE SPEC I POSTED WAS WRONG SO PLEASE POST THE CORRECT SPEC. Thanks Allan

[Richard-BKK]

Hi Allan,

Within a month I will write a complete review of the Lifan LF250, all information will than be available.

[Tigersachsclub]

Allan the specs are often not given from companies easily(at least here in thailand)...assuming richard needs a bit of time to get them. This is btw same for many manufacturers here...honda,suzuki,kawasaki do not officially give the hp's /torque and other specs on many of their bikes.In fact i never read on Ap Honda's website how many hp's/torque a CBR150 or TA200 has(and those models are already discontinued)...but i don't just pointing fingers on them, it is just an example, all of them are doing this , including Tiger & sachs. Reason behind this?for instance the Boxer 250 displays a 18 hp's and it feels a lot stronger...but the hp's don't really look impressive, does it? Same goes for all the scooters where about 6 month ago the highest in hp's was a yamaha model ( can't recall which one)...but that may be outdated now. But it is easy to see that they do not wish to advertise this specs ( hp's and torque).I personally do not believe on being a "specs biker" although it gives a lot of info , but rather "evaluate by doing/riding" and make my own picture on this. Besides the Lifan 250 (motard) will only be available end of 2010/ beg. 2011 so there may be still some adjustments on the specs happening until available.

Tiger/Sachs Club - Mbox

[Richard-BKK]

Hi Mbox,

And not forget that some manufacturers who publish performance specs do often not specify where that horsepower number was taken, crankshaft or rear wheel... And trust me it makes a difference where you measure...

[thaicbr]

Hi Allan,

Within a month I will write a complete review of the Lifan LF250, all information will than be available.

Cool mate. just giving ya a friendly nudge. I'm a bit concerned about the 18" tyres when all the good supermoto stuff is 17" and the offroad stuff is 21front/18or17 rear.

[Richard-BKK]

Hi Allan,

The tire comment of 18" I posted earlier is also wrong, I looked at the bike and the front tire is 110/70-17 and the rear tire is 130/70-17, so both 17".

Sorry for that...

Richard

P.S. The Lifan LF250FY-7 passed the European emission tests a few weeks back and is already available in some Euro countries.

Edited May 7, 2010 by Richard-BKK

[Tigersachsclub]

Hi Mbox,

And not forget that some manufacturers who publish performance specs do often not specify where that horsepower number was taken, crankshaft or rear wheel... And trust me it makes a difference where you measure...

yes, that is another point, plus, maybe what dyno used to initially measure the claimed hp's ----that may have variations too.

Tiger/Sachs Club - Mbox

Edited May 7, 2010 by Tigersachsclub

[skybluestu]

Is this the fella we're talking about?

http://www.zingbikes.com/acatalog/ZingSatan.html

[Richard-BKK]

You probably can find many more, another one is this http://www.lifan-europe.eu/index.php?optio...113〈=en

[LivinLOS]

Researching chinese bikes the mychinamoto forum was lots of information.. If people feel like digging..

My gut feeling is that it needs to be REALLY cheap to make me choose an unknown chinese bike over a known like kwaker.. Now if those 30 hp figures came true, and initial responses were good then maybe just maybe I would look that way. But my gut says a second hand 1 year old clean low km d-tracker or klx would be close in cost and probably last twice as long with better after sales. Maybe I am getting Thai mindset but sticking to the big names stops you getting burnt fingers.

Will keep my eye on these tho as a bike to explore Laos / Cambo / Vietnam is high in my wishlist.

[ScubaBuddha]

Hi Allan,

Within a month I will write a complete review of the Lifan LF250, all information will than be available.

Bumping this as I can't find the review on your website. Is there any more information on this bikes availability? And how about the L200 GY-5?

Thanks.

.

Edited October 14, 2010 by ScubaBuddha

[crs]

Yep, I'm interested too...

[ScubaBuddha]

Yep, I'm interested too...

I sent an email to them a few days ago asking for the latest as their website seems to be down, and nothing back yet.

[canuckamuck]

I was also wondering about the 250 and 400 cc cruisers, it would be nice to at least know the price.

[GarryP]

Their website is back up again. I checked yesterday but was unable to find anything to indicate when sales would start up, i.e. they have passed emissions testing.

Website: http://www.lifanth.com/

[LivinLOS]

All these chinese developments always seem to be 'coming next month' !!!

How about that Apollo Orion 250 ?? Again due next month a few months back and looking even better in a lighter chuck about kinda way.