It feels like a completely different bike. Way more responsive and I was pretty much happy the way it came until it started to stall at the light every once in a while. Idles is really smooth now.
@tk421upgrade3 they probably have a limited supply of programmers and are probably waiting to get back the ones they have sent out. They had sent me a prepaid label to send to the next person in order to speed up the waiting period.
They now are telling me to send it to Lifan, but I'm skeptical about sending my ECU due to the runaround I've already gotten from them!@@rickmiles2381Seems they have their picks and chooses as to whom they will send the programmers to!
Thanks for the great video, I sent my ECU to American Lifan, two weeks ago to get it flashed, just got it back today, put it on. WOW 😲 it sure makes s lot of difference, on how it idles and runs very well, more like a 650 cc, or similar, thanks again you have been very helpful.
About 15 years ago I bought two of the 200cc Enduros being marketed by SSR at the time; they were Lifan GY-5's with SSR200 livery. Licensed one for dual-sport use in Virginia. Put 9,000 miles on it; top speed 45mph and at 35-40 it always got 88mpg. They were about $900 each in 2009.
These bikes have really improved over the years. The KPX will run 75 mph + GPS right out the crate now. My Hawk 250 topped out about 50 mph stock. Once I did a bunch of mods to it would top out about 70 but that was pushing it to the limits.
@@JerryHawk250 getting rid of my cruisers cause I just don’t ride much long distance anymore, especially now that we have a little one. Hoping this will be a good bike to throw on a hitch hauler and take camping with us to hit mountain trails and ride around town.
Update, received mine in blue, very well packaged and not a scratch. Easy to put together and I’m absolutely loving this thing. So glad I went this route instead of paying for another 250l or xt250. This is a great bike! Thanks for your videos. I have no doubt this community is going to get bigger around these bikes.
KPX250 here. Got about 600 miles on mine so far. I gotta say, this bike is near Kaw class.. at less than half the price. Some corners, but cheap to fix. Engine is Superb. At initial startup, Clutch was stuck (from storage?), but a slight rev in neutral and a dump into second gear fixed that. Engine initially was Weak.. Idle was stable, but No Torque.. Lotta clutch slipping required to start. Gradually got better.. about 50 miles mostly gone. At 400 miles, I noticed that 5th gear was actually Powerful! and Lots of torque, just off idle. I'd estimate, maybe 20% more power at large throttle openings? Could Lifan of put in an emissions time out, or is this timing chain and friction reduction break-in? Anyway, Now engine is near perfect. Actually have some (small) torque at idle! Anyway, wondering which flash you have vs. what I have. Your bike is probably a year older than mine. Anybody else notice this significant break in change? Questions: 1. Has anybody figured out the specific model of engine that Lifan Cloned? Heard it was basically a honda 230 cc? Any insight? 2. Back in the day, you could put an offset key in the cam sprocket to change timing. I'm only using 93 octane gas.. I cculd probably use a couple degrees more timing advance. Anyway a key offset could accomplish this? 3. Any 3rd party flashes you've heard of out there? Thanks for posting the Factory Service Manual!! Mostly engine of course, but wow.. a real service manual. Looks Complete, Way beyond a Chiltons paper back. Enjoying my KXP.. too much fun.
@@markhall3434 the KPX engine is a Lifan design, not a clone of any other engine. As far as the flash I got, it was to correct the factory flash on the 2022 models. I don't know of anyone who provides an aftermarket flash. I'm sure some people have been experimenting with it though. It would be nice to be able to tune the ECU. No need to run 93 octane fuel. It's designed to run 87. Anything higher is a waste of money. You won't get any performance gain.
I contacted Venom / Lifan for my new kpx250 and they are sending me the programmer due to hesitation in the throttle There is a bit of a delay and they said they will send it when they have one ready. I have been waiting 9-10 days so far
It turns out I just got it in the mail today. I performed the procedure and I was shocked it literally took 3-5 seconds. The bike definitely has better throttle response and I also noticed the the idle is smoother when the bike is started cold and as it warms up the idle gets a little rougher and that's ok. Raising and lowering the idle is easy using the set screw/locking nut on the side of the carb. You will have to take off the panel to get to it though as it is a tight fit. When it comes to getting your programmer Lifan will communicate with you to tell you when you will receive it and just plan on a couple weeks. It did not come with a forwarding address or shipping label but, once I contacted Lifan they promptly replied and emailed me the shipping label to print. Don't destroy the shipping bubble bag as you can re-use it. I am a happy camper now and I appreciate them standing behind their bikes. I have never had a fuel injected bike before and seems to work pretty well.
I got red and looks great. quick notes: I had to shorten the kickstand 1 inch because it tends to fall over if you not careful . I also raised the idle with the set screw but, don't raise it too much or it will have odd effects on the idle like increased surge. I raised my handlebars 2 inches because they feel squatty. Still happy.
nice.. it was hard to see the programer but it seems simple enough.. Is Lifan just sending out programers to everyone vs send ECM back and forth?? this is the second vid seen on that. Do you send the programer back or can you send it to another person to use and they send to another and so on and so forth?? Be interesting to see how this affects your bike now.. both power and the odd idle issues. wonder if its due to something in the O2 sensor on exhaust changing with age.. What type of gas you use on the regular?? RUL or Ethanol free RUL, 93 octane etc.. are they remapping the new or have new programming on the new units so this is not needed in the future? will be new member of the KPX club this fall,, fingers crossed..
I think they are sending the programmer out instead. That way you don't have any down time. They sent me a label to send directly to the next person that needed it. I think the real issue is that they had to tune the ECU really lean to get passed the EPA. Hopefully the new bikes will have the correct mapping. Either way, it looks like Lifan takes care of the customer. I use regular ethanol free gas.
They just richened up the bottom end, like putting a richer pilot jet on a carburetor version. They got too lean from the factory to get certain epa numbers, but all of them should come with a bit more stoic programming (many people like me live at sea level, where those issues happen more). Which bike you enjoy riding most out of all these hawk, titan, kpx looking bikes? And had you had to buy a bike again in the future, which one would be the best bang for the buck in your opinion?
I'm surprised that LiFan can do this? I thought that, once a motorcycle (or car or whatever) was approved by the EPA or Dot or whatever three-letter agency (Hmmmm....I wonder if there is an ASS yet? I mean, sooner or later they have to run out of three-letter combinations with only 26 letters to work with, right?) certifies this stuff it was frozen. I remember when Royal Enfield introduced their fuel-injected 500 single. Instead of outsourcing the fuel injection and ECU system, they tried rolling their own. The result was that there were LOTS of people reporting that they had stalling issues, and petitioned Royal Enfield for re-maps. This was in about 2014, as I recall. Royal Enfield said they couldn't do it, as once the software was approved and certified, the fueling maps, etc. were cast in concrete. I only heard of one guy that ever got his ECU re-mapped, and that a guy in Australia, I think, that complained so much that they ended up getting a new ECU from India (where they had fixed the problem) and installed that one in this guy's bike. But it's nice to hear that the Chinese will go the extra mile for their customers.
I had emailed them and had a response within 20 minutes. It took over a week for e to get the programmer. I think since I've make the video that they have been bombarded with request with a limited amount of programmers. I think they have been having an issue with people either waiting to long to return the programmers or keeping them. I think they have started asking people to send in there ECU again because of it.
They actually sent it to me twice and I contacted Tony in service. It took 3 weeks for me to get it, I sent it back the next day, and 2 weeks later they sent it back to me again. Tony emailed me a shipping label and sent in back to Venom. The programmer does make a difference but, they need to get their act together.
Hey Jerry do you like the do ghost better than the x22r I’m trying to decide which one.thanks I’m looking at dual sports too trying to decide from one of the 3 lol excellent content
It all depends on how you plan on riding. The X22R is good for riding the Twisties. The ghost makes a good commuter. The dual sport is kinda in between. But you might want to look at the Lifan bikes like the KPR, kpm, KPX and Lycan. The Lifan bikes are a much higher quality bikes with a 2 year parts warranty. I own the KPX and Lycan. Awesome bikes.
@jacobg6528 yeah that's kinda crazy they're selling a bike that dies sometimes and won't run right at that price point I mean damn we gotta be the crash test Dummies that's wild to me but I can't get my money back when u do the Layaway plan u have to pick a bike no refund policy soooo I have to choose one of them I was almost thinking bout just getting the grom clone and the 125cc thunder it's bout 3 grand I'm really stuck on which chiner bike to get smh
@angrycruizer2o3 you will love this bike. Iv ridden tons of older Japanese bikes for thousands of miles. Iv ridden newer duel sports. The KPX is very very good quality. It definitely competes in the name brand 250 class
@jacobg6528 good to hear that plus it has the less sitting in the warehouse time than the others hey thanks for your response bro I think I will give it a try I had the kp mini 150 before it was fun put 500 miles on it sold it for 1500 miss it tho my 212cc minibike is more fun tho
Hi Jerry, Did you take a look at your spark plug before you did the upgrade? I pulled mine and it's is absolutely white which means very lean. When you did the update did you check your plug after a week or two to find out if your plug was now rosy color and not white? Interested...
@@stephenlnoe just email them telling them what the issue is like stalling and poor throttle response. They will either send you the programmer or ask you to ship the ECU to them.
@@JerryHawk250 can you please let me know how it affected your throttle response? are there any dead spots now with the update? Also, i thought there were going to be some tunes to get more HP from 250cc?
Question Jerry: Is this the same process as sending the ECU to Lifan for them to reprogram? We have a red one and really like it a lot. I wish it had another 10 HP.
@@JerryHawk250 I thought there was an effort to tune via ECU at one point. Is that still happening sir? I'm sure this engine can pump out more HP if we can get more fuel to the engine.
I need to contact them, and see if they will let me use the tool to reflash mine. I sent mine in, and it doesn't die now, but it gets a choppy idle still, and has a flat spot off idle. I never got any instructions, and didn't wait 5-6 minutes,and let mine idle. So that may be the problem.
It wouldn't hurt to ask. Letting it idle for at least 5 minutes is probably an important step. I would also do it with the engine being cold if they do send the programmer.
@@JerryHawk250 Did you use a multi meter to fine tune it? Closed butterfly should be .45-.50volts closed. opened should be around 4.5volts. every tiny little hair movement makes the voltage change. you wont be able to do it correctly just eyeballing it and listening by ear :D
I just received mine a few days ago.. build date was April 2023, so it sat in a crate for a year. Weak Idle, noticed it instantly.. Idles very smooth when warmed, just very weak. Anything maneuvering in a parking lot is rev the engine to about 1400, and slip the clutch. Would be nice to have a more powerful/torquey idle which I presume this flash improves.
@@KZD250idle is a bunch of baloney. They're built off of 1970s Honda engines, which at the time needed 1500rpm idle. My Vader 150 (smaller engine usually needs higher idle) with modified exhaust and intake idles fine at 1k rpm, and cold it runs at 800 rpm until warmed up.
For sure Lifan made a good bike there, but nowhere near a Kawasaki, you will notice when you reach 30k miles or so, if you do, and start having engine trouble, and the bike starts to come apart. Kawis you hand down to your grandsons!
Dunno, was looking at the KLX300.. last year it was $4999... looks like out the door is close to $7K now from Kawi dealer. I decided wasn't worth it.. tried the KPX 250 and Wow.. a few things to adjust, I recommend adjustable levers for both clutch and front brake. Got mine for $2900 shipped from Venom motorsports. Cheaper than Amazon.. received it in 10 days. Life is too short to deal with carberutors... Instant start every time.. gas guage.. trans is pretty good.. Getting better at hitting neutral. Couldn't be happier for a knock around bike! More power would be nice.. I hear Lifan has a 400cc twin coming out..
Give us an update when you get to 30K! Kaw is Good, but at now OVER twice the price, a rip off. (IMO) I can easily sell the KXP for what I paid.. you can't with a Kaw. I'd much rather have 2 bikes.. one for dirt/knock around/Guest Bike, and one for the road.
