I think it was only a matter of time that the days of shoddy packaging these bikes and the resulting claims and associated costs forced them to package them up to proper standards to save money in the long run.

Update: fuel mileage stats

On last fill-up I put in .75 gallon and it went 50 miles which translates to approx 67 miles per gallon. The bike holds 1.5 gallons so she should be good for 100 miles to dry, plan to fill-up around 80 miles i'd say to be on the safe side

Those are the exact same figures I'm getting on my Vader 150. Wouldn't surprise me if they both use the same engines.
I did put on a 19t front sprocket, and aftermarket intake and exhaust.

They probably do, although i couldn't imagine being able to fit a 19T front, that and it would have sluggishness, even with the 17T it couldn't handle even slight inclines

I’m wondering if I’ll have to go with a 15t front sprocket. I purchased the 16t, but I want a mix between road friendliness (can “comfortably” hit 45-50 mph) with trail friendliness.

The 16T will fit that bill fine, but experiment and see what works best for the riding you do

I also think the 16T will be the best choice, seems to be the sweet spot for the bike. On another thought, I can’t be the only one that can’t get the kickstart lever tight enough to not rattle? XPRO sent me a replacement and it was the the same fit. Tried squeezing them in a vice but both seemed to be hardened. I have it off right now because I don’t like it vibrating on the shaft and probably don’t need anyhow. BTW EXPRO was excellent in there fast response! My thoughts…

Not sure, my current 1st gear is somewhat like a stock second gear.
If it can't pull a gear, just downshift. You can do that in any gear but first.
It does lose a bit of top speed up a bridge, but not much. Pulls just fine to 7k rpm, but rather sluggish to 7.5k rpm.

Anyone else have an issue getting the rear brake lever to be level with the foot peg? It's impossible unless you take some material off of the brake lever arm.

I’m not at home around the bike, but looking at my pictures it does appear to be a bit lower. I guess I didn’t notice it to much.

Ride and performance report
 

After finishing prep of the bike out of the crate this past Friday and doing a 30 mile break in on the road, adjusting the rear shock, and installing my RK chain, I rode her Saturday and Sunday in the woods/trails and on the road and I am thoroughly impressed with what you get for the money. It absolutely performs comparable to other Japanese bikes in the same class.

Cruises easily at 45-50, top speed currently estimated to be @ 60 mph, though I’m trying to keep the RPMs under 8K right now. The 16t front sprocket really is the sweet spot for me, as there is plenty of low-end torque left in first gear for woods and trail riding yet I can achieve 55 mph quite easily on a flat road without maxing out the engine.

My nephew and I had a great time yesterday; I was on the DLX and he was on his 2023 KLX140. The performance is somewhat comparable with the KLX, but the pilot jet is a just a tad lean on the DLX as I have that classic “decel pop”. It probably needs a 38 instead of a 35 pilot jet, but it had no off-idle bog or any flat spots in the throttle range. The stock carb actually runs pretty good once it’s warmed up for a few minutes.
Super happy!

Installed a Mikuni clone VM26
 

Yesterday afternoon, I installed my Hawk’s old Mikuni clone VM26 into the Storm 150. I used a 105 main and 40 pilot. WOW. The low end torque increase is amazing and the acceleration to the mid range is fantastic and powerful. The top end was able to reach 63 mph for a split second, but I backed off and didn’t hold it as I want to put a few more hundred miles on this engine before maintaining a high RPM/mph. I also used a Nibbi two-stage pod filter, but I think I’ll eventually try a UNI two stage pod filter as the quality with those is much better than the Nibbi filter. I think the bike would actually perform slightly better with a 100 main and a 38 pilot as I believe it to be running a tad rich. We’ll give it a try this coming weekend and see what the results are and I’ll let you know. Fun times!

Wow, you must be pretty light, at 180lbs the max speed i hit was 57, maybe on a big downhill could i ever hope to get to 60 or over. The bike is fun and all but, and please no offense intended whatsoever, just setting expectations for those in the market.. the power of this bike is anything but amazing, in fact, none of the affordable China bikes fall into that category, when i think amazing, its my Beta 430, KTM 500's, Husky 701's, etc. For anyone looking to purchase it, its a good lighter weight option when compared to the 250's, but despite being heavier, my former Templar X definitely felt more powerful than the Storm DLX and much more capable. I think stock specs are 9hp / 14tq, maybe an extra .5 hp with carb tuning.

Oh absolutely re: “amazing”. I appreciate the clarification. My comment about it being “amazing” is in the context of what you get for your money and what you can get for a few cheap mods. It also performs as well as my nephew’s KLX140, but that bike has the exact same horsepower rating. I totally agree that those bikes you mentioned are light years beyond the Storm 150, but in the context of a cheap, yet reliable enough with a few mods, street legal, and light motorcycle, it’s pretty dang good. I prefer it over heavier bikes due to my arthritis. I’m just tired of picking up the 250lb+ machines in the woods as it kills my hands for days after. A little bike like this is perfect for me given my health issues. It’s also easy to work on, and the Japanese really don’t have any comparable offerings at this point that are street legal. However….the seat is horrible. It’s like sitting on a pine board wrapped in leather. lol

I agree with your thoughts and that’s why I bought mine! I also agree with your thoughts on the seat:)