Lifan  S-Ray

Top Speed Overview

Lifan set out to make a sporty scoot with a youthful appeal, and it’s safe to say mission accomplie at this point. The S-Ray presents an almost aircraft-like front fairing that is dominated by the recessed headlight/turn-signal housings below a subtle panel detail and badge that is set within a black area that matches the hue of the small flyscreen and ties the whole visage together. Below the lights, the fairing opens up into a sportbike-like cowl scoop that forms the legguards and provides a place for some edgy graphics to go with the other decals to add some more curb appeal.

A fairing encloses the handlebar and contains the single analog gauge and cluster of indicator lights on the backside with a helmet hook and pair of open storage cubbies for your electronic devices and a 12-volt port to charge same. A flush-deck step-through provides effortless mounting/dismounting with plenty of room for some ’tween-feet storage to help make up for the lack of capacity below the seat. Yeah, the compact construction leaves little room for cargo, and the dry storage under the saddle will accommodate only a single full-face bucket or a handful of groceries. The meager cargo capacity is bolstered somewhat by the mini luggage rack and the passenger’s grab rails and butt pad that provide a place to hang a bungee net for a little more room for your stuff. If you want to carry some human cargo, the flip-out footpegs provide the additional necessary points of contact.

Upswept lines along the bottom of the subframe add even more sporty appeal to the S-Ray as they converge at the point of the tail with the taillight riding recessed within the terminus. A rather long mudguard contains the fling from the rear wheel and mounts the tag and winkers to finish out the gear in the rear. Overall, it has quite the sporty look between the actual body shape, the palette and the graphics.

The S-Ray rides on a proper underframe rather than relying on the stressed-skin method of support, and of course, that’s how the factory was able to give it that wide-open step-through. Up front, a set of motorcycle-style hydraulic forks provides the suspension while a set of coil-over shocks dampen the motion of the swingmount drive unit out back. It seems like there’s no adjustment in the system at all, not even the preload tweak out back so it’s about as simple as it gets.

A wave-cut disc and hydraulic caliper slows the front wheel, which is modern enough as far as it goes, but the rear wheel runs an old-fashioned drum brake with no ABS protection at all. I’d point out that it’s not an unusual setup for the small-displacement scoots, so it shouldn’t be all that disappointing or surprising, especially with 12-inch rims.

The tires and cast-aluminum wheels are symmetrical all the way round with a 120/70-12 front and rear. Although it’s a rather compact package with a mere 50 inches between contact-patch centers, seat height is sufficient to keep you out of the land of the Lilliputians at 30 inches off the ground.

Power comes from the traditional swingmount unit that sees engine and transmission bolted up as a stressed unit that mounts the rear wheel and articulates for same instead of using motorcycle-style swingarm to take care of business. The air-cooled thumper runs a 57.4 mm barrel with a 57.84 mm stroke for a nearly square layout and 149 cc displacement. Compression is mild at 9.2-to-1, so you can get away with mid-grade pusholine and get plenty of mileage out of it as well with a claimed 100-plus mpg rating.

A SOHC times the light, simple valvetrain that relies on just two valves to control the combustion chamber. The factory got more complicated with the starter than it had to; although it comes with a push-button electric start feature, it also sports a kicker than makes a nice backup and gives you an opportunity to look cool kicking it to life.

What does that give us? Well, the mill grinds out 8.5 horsepower at 7,000 rpm with 8.5 pound-feet at 6,500, and after that power washes through the centrifugal clutch and CVT gearbox, you can expect to get around 55 mph out of it. That’s enough for urban areas, generally speaking, but you’d better stay off the superslab.