New lifan 125 slips out of 2nd

[mikesbike]

I got this new lifan 125, Not even broken in yet on bike I just purchased recently.
Its on a street bike, my oil temp is a steady 250F if that matters. When I got it I think they put in 1-1/2 quarts of oil. Way overfilled.
I had put in normal motorcycle oil 10W40
Then a week later replaced oil again with same type.
Because of the temps I now put in motul 10W40 because it will protect better at the 250F im running at.

Anyways ive run into on occasion, not all the time when downshifting from 3rd it may slip out of second and go into neutral. Im trying to figure out when this happens and I believe its when I softly shift down.
If I bang my foot down most times it wont happen.

Seems like the times it happens is if im entering a corner in 3rd, but have to slowly downshift to 2nd. Maybe like if a car decides to slow too much. Now it will go into 2nd and I can drive for maybe 1 sec then slips into neutral. Makes me look like I dont know what im doing, and is embarrassing especially if im getting on the curve and blasting out of it.

So its may be a light shift not a hard one. For whatever reason I also seem to blip the throttle when downshifting. I have no idea why I do this, but it must be something I do without thinking. So im trying not to do that too, incase that is causing it. But so far the rare times its happened I cant remember exactly what I did.

I also turned the clutch adjuster screw on the engine 1/2 turn CC
This makes the clutch a little more sensitive, or maybe stronger cant explain it and this problem reduced by half now. But every once in a while it will happen still. Not sure if I need to turn that screw more but even at a stop light in gear I can slightly feel it trying to roll forward just a hair. This only happened after I adjusted that screw.

I have another new lifan 125 but in a pit bike and just havent had much time riding it either but never experienced this problem on it but dirt and street riding is way different. I tend to ride street faster then dirt.

Ive read about shifting issues and even had a crap engine slip out of 2nd,and 3rd all the time
But not from downshifting just normal driving but that was an old used engine I got with my pitbike.

So far when I have to downshift into 2nd, which isnt much I make sure to hit the lever hard but im always scared its going to pop out. And since I dont do it much I havent tried to pop the clutch out or feather it out to see if that makes a difference.

Any suggestions, things like this piss me off. I expect a new engine to run flawlessly and dont want to have to tear it apart to grind or adjust anything.

[PlanetMinis.com]

[crf50kid309]

They call this the false neutral. Happens a lot on the 1 down 3 type trannys. That is the reason most bike are now 4 up. I cant quite remember what was causing this but I know this was a very weak link to the Chinese motors.

[crf50kid309]

It could also be your clutch. Try to adjust it alittle more and see if it goes away

[mikesbike]

yes ive read about the 1 down engines having this, but I figured on ones that may be more used
not brand new less then a few hours on them
Only reason I paid a little more for the bike knowing it had brand new engine not even barely used

For adjusting all I can do is the screw in the engine. The clutch line is all the way tight or the smallest setting. So if I was to open that adjustment it would pull in the cable more acting like I was pulling in the clutch. Maybe the oem honda cable im using is a hair short but thats what I have on a ct 70 bike.


ive read about the shift star and another part
but to me its not worth all the time experimenting with doing any mods, since I have no experience that deep into a engine/transmission
I would rather get a new engine N,1,2,3,4
Little things like that drive me crazy , I have to have them work perfectly
its a flaw but thats how I am. So far im cool with it rarely happening, but its getting to the point its starting to bother me. I also havent had much time riding it either, so its one of those things where I need to get more time drivng it to see when it happens, if there is a way I can change my driving habits to prevent it

So far I have by not downshifting as much, im more used to larger bikes where you can get away with shifting down but this lifan or my gearing is pretty torquey and I can get up inclines in 3rd no problems
Just the time and weather here so far isnt the best for all day testing of the engine and since its my first time using this type of engine for street use I do have to change how I ride too

[mikesbike]

Went ahead and swapped out the engine with another new one I had on a pit bike
Drove it for about 25 min
so far so good, funny I had to downshift to 2nd alot on this ride too and no slipping out of gear
and strangely enough it runs 25F cooler
maybe its because it has a different plug not sure
Im using the same carb that was on the old engine that I took out, same exhaust even took the motul oil out and put in this swapped one

[mikesbike]

thinking about a piranah 140cc because of the shift pattern and the start in any gear
but im not sure if the clutch lever will clear my pipe
im sure it will but I dont want to order one until I am sure
here is what I have

[crf50kid309]

The 140 is a really good motor. Heard nothing but good about them.

[mikesbike]

okay I got little confused with some other engines I was looking at
So I placed an order for the piranah
was close to getting the pitster pro 125 but then saw it needs a cooler, and also out of stock
liked how that said it has a filter for the oil, like real motorcycles have

Hopefully this engine will be more reliable, I dont want to work on engines I want to ride

[DGA]

The Pirahna does not have an oil filter, but has a slinger. Great choice though, reliable and tons of power, and 4 up gearbox that is best for the street for finding neutral at a traffic light.

[mikesbike]

well the 125 im using tops out at 45 mph
but maybe its either the engine gearing or the bike gears which the rear is still stock
I was going to look into a smaller rear sprocket but now need to wait until I see what the new one puts out

but I am able to maintain 40 mph up long hills which is fine, I think my 125 scooter did around 50 up those same hills but it uses cvt transmission

[SO-FLO]

If anything the gearing had to do with your scooter going faster up a hill. a cvt sucks for that kind of riding.

[mikesbike]

well this engine was on a street bike so I put it in my pit bike and still slips out of 2nd when I downshift from 3rd
if im in 3rd and get rolling very slow and go into 2nd it slips, even if I press the foot lever very hard

it seemed the one time I wasnt going slow and went into 2nd it was fine but since it happened im taking that engine out and not using it.
I have a spare thats new and runs good

one day I will either look into it, or sell it only because it takes alot of work to swap back into a bike just to see if its repaired

sucks too because its not even 4 months old and maybe 100 miles or less
but when I got it, it was 1-1/2 times more oil in the engine so im not sure if that had anything to do with it or not