2016 K-Pipe 125 Owner

[lilzip24]

I read the article on that heavily modified K-Pipe from the Philippines. It's a 150cc Raider motor, but needed heavy frame modification to get the engine in. I'm very jealous though 

[ronigj]

I read the article on that heavily modified K-Pipe from the Philippines. It's a 150cc Raider motor, but needed heavy frame modification to get the engine in. I'm very jealous though 

Here Sir! [emoji6] [emoji41]



http://www.motopilipinas.com/2016/06/decided-fit-raiders-heart-k-pipe/

[woodsrat]

Attention older K-Pipe owners...

I exchanged emails with Peter Jones of KYMCO USA and mentioned that there are "well seasoned" riders purchasing K-Pipes, going against the idea that their target market would be newer riders in the 16-25 year old age group.  He said they'd love to hear feedback from us as to why we bought the bikes, what we like about them, etc. along with pictures of us and our bikes.

Contact him at pjones@kymcousa.com.

He also mentioned they have plans of being in attendance at the "True Grits Fun Run" in Suches, GA this coming October.  Originally for 50cc motorcycles they've now expanded the ride to include what they call a "Gromish" class for 125cc four strokes.  If you can get free this is one of the funnest things you'll ever do on two wheels.  I rode it from '86-'90 on an MB-5 and had a ball.  Small motorcycles and the mountains of north Georgia make for a fun combination and turned out to be just silly enough to catch on.

[woodsrat]

I've never had an AC CDI black box go bad on my Lifan-powered step throughs but I did go through three of them on my Honda XR-650L in 50,000 miles of riding.  Out of paranoia I now carry spare black boxes whenever I leave home.

As mentioned the K-Pipe uses a D. C. powered unit which isn't nearly as common as the A. C. units used on most horizontal motors.  I picked up a spare for $11.55 on eBay (item #351935973730) and it's cheap insurance to put one in your pocket whenever you go far enough from home that walking back might be a problem.

[woodsrat]

Fuel mileage...

If you would please post the fuel mileage you're getting from your K-Pipe and any modifications you've done that might affect it.  Other information such as rider weight, height, etc. that would also factor in would be appreciated as well.

[lilzip24]

Since we only have a 1 gallon tank...

between 50-65 miles per tank (haven't ran it out of gas but I know the tank was on fumes)

My commute is about 8 miles one way running at WOT doing 55-65 mph (indicated)

height: 6'2
weight: 235
Mods: Delkevic Slip-on pipe

[Buckybuck]

Results from my first full tank. I'm 6 foot, 180 lbs. I really tried following the user manual guidelines about taking it easy at first and varying the speed:

The fuel gauge began flashing consistently at 73 miles. It took .836 gallons to refill the tank. If I'm figuring this correctly, that's about 87 mpg, which isn't bad. I haven't yet calibrated the odometer against GPS, however, I have checked the speedometer against a mapping app on my phone and my bike's speedometer is surprisingly accurate; compared with a speedometer top speed of 54 mph, the app registered 52 mph as the real top speed.

The manual says to use 91 octane or higher. Somewhere in my mind I recall that Asian 91 octane is the same as our 87 octane. (And honestly, I'm not sure I take anything in that manual as being 100 percent accurate). Anyway, I ended up putting regular 87 octane in mine mainly because I forgot to do otherwise. Am I remembering correctly on the octane difference? What octane are you guys running?

Also, looking at that petcock. There's only two positions there; I'm old-school and used to three positions on my petcocks--On, Off, and Reserve. So, on the K-Pipe, are the positions On and Off, or On and Reserve?

[lilzip24]

I run 93 octane (US) and sometimes 91 ethanol free.

The petcock is just On and Off I believe.

[Buckybuck]

Second tank results:

75 miles at 0.805 gallons to refill for a whopping 93 mpg.

The more I think about it, Lilzip24 is right about the petcock. There'd have to be a separate, shorter tube going to the gas tank for it to be Reserve, and there's not one. Oh well, assuming it's really a a 1.2 gallon tank (the user manual claims it's 4.5 liters), you should be able to squeeze at least another 15-20 miles out of the bike after the fuel bar begins blinking.

I'm still curious what grade gas you guys are running. I put mid-grade in the this tank to see if it makes any difference. But I didn't hear any pinging when I ran regular in it before. And I have to think higher octane gas isn't readily available in a lot of the countries where bikes with this type of engine are popular.

[lilzip24]

After 2 tanks of 91 octane ethanol free, my K-Pipe seems to run better overall on the 93 pump gas (up to 10% ethanol).

I also added one of these and makes a hell of a difference.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QED5QH4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Buckybuck]

Third and final results from me:

80 miles at 0.843 gallons to refill for 95 mpg. No mods, getting ready to do that 300 mile initial valve adjustment.

[doublej]

Woodsrat, I will be at True Grits, hauling from Ontario Canada. Using a 2008 Honda CBR125R.

[woodsrat]

Woodsrat, I will be at True Grits, hauling from Ontario Canada...

And I thought I was nuts to drive from Indy...

I'm really looking forward to this event--especially to see your bike!!

[woodsrat]

I'm going to dig out the stock carb, see if I can open up the "sealed" mixture screw and find a slide to replace the stocker that won't allow for needle adjustment.  Between the mileage you guys are getting and the fact that my clamp-on air cleaner is currently exposed to the elements I'm curious if I can strike a balance between a bike that warms up quickly, can be safely ridden in the rain yet still get decent mileage.  The stock airbox's intake is up high away from dust and water, too.

The Mikuni I'm running, while a great carburetor especially for the money, has never achieved great mileage on my Lifans (although I've not checked it yet on the K-Pipe yet).  70-80 MPG is about all I got on the open road with the Lifans.

As mentioned it does fire up immediately and allows me to ride off and turn off the "choke" (actually an enrichening circuit on this carb) less than a half-mile from the house.  I'm sure there's some performance increase but without a dyno or another K-Pipe to run against it side-by-side it's hard to tell.

I'd also like to try it with the intake manifold that comes with the Lifan motor.  It has a much more gentle curve than the hard bend of the stocker and would angle the carb and air cleaner to the right away from the front wheel.  Again I've yet to hit the air cleaner with the front wheel but it's still a concern.  Hopefully there's enough throttle cable length to try this.

I'm still waiting on the carb manifold adapter that would allow me to point the stock manifold to the right.

[woodsrat]

In an experiment to try to eliminate a slight occasional hesitation when I first give it throttle I swapped the stock intake manifold to the same one I use on my Lifans.  I suspected that the tight bend at the top of the stock intake manifold might be the culprit and I was right.  The smooth 45 degree intake completely eliminated the problem.  Sweet!

Here's a combination manifold/carb/air cleaner on eBay from a U. S. vendor:  #282384496040

Using this setup rotates the carb to the right and might hit the stock body panels (the ones the phony blinkers are mounted in).  I've got mine off so I can't tell you if there's going to be interference or not.

When the manifold adapter arrives I'll experiment with it and put the manifold/carb in different positions and see which one works best.