ebay?

[RPM]

OK guys, I know what cold is ... just got back from the Dealer Expo in Indy! First time for me that far north and I saw enough snow to last me a while.

Culcune is right on the money about being an American Lifan dealer in that they CANNOT dropship a unit. It has to be assembled by one of their authorized dealers as myself and Bruce are. They, American Lifan, are getting more strict about their products this year as they insist for the dealer to supply a VIN on EVERY part order and they will not send it if it was not one of their units. They are also marking their parts in an effort to separate themselves from the "other" Lifans out there. I can understand why, they do not wish to support their competitor. Easy enough. What this does mean is this will make it harder for the current authorized dealers to get the parts needed by a customer of a non-Lifan bike.

Any on-line dealer that sells their product as a Lifan is NOT an authorized dealer and may or may not design a warranty for such product, entirely up to them to maintain and support, but I have yet to see one that matches the backing of a true American Lifan bike.

[ambassador]

That doesn't make any sense why Am.Lifan won't sell aftermarket parts, after all, buisness is buisness.. Do they think that people are going to buy an Am.Lifan just for available parts?

It's been in the 30's-40's here, cold for Florida.. I'm originally from upstate NY, I know what cold is...

[culcune]

[quote="ambassador"]That doesn't make any sense why Am.Lifan won't sell aftermarket parts, after all, buisness is buisness.. Do they think that people are going to buy an Am.Lifan just for available parts?

quote]

I think that this is the reason. From a business point of view, it would make sense to supply non-Am Lifan products, but they must be a little upset by Lifan of China's decision to allow so many bikes to be released to the US. They probably thought that they were getting an exclusive territory, but then others were allowed to import containers full of product. It might not even be Lifan, either, but Chinese distributors who get hold of multiple units and sell them to importers such as T-Motorsports, etc.

[ambassador]

Once the China bike revolution catches on I'm sure Am.Lifan will relax its policies a bit.. If people can find aftermarket parts cheaper than why even deal with Am.Lifan at all, it's not like their parts are of superior quality, just OEM, big deal... Some company is going to jump on this and start producing quality parts for these bikes sooner or later..

[gyjoe]

This new business strategy by American Lifan may very well help to starve out sales for its competitors. The problem is it will not only alienate current gray market Lifan riders, but more importantly is almost certain to result in American Lifan developing a reputation for poor parts availability. An example of this would be the gray market Lifan rider who is refused a parts order; he will probably tell his friends not to buy a Lifan because you can't get parts for them. And so the rumors will spread. This could possibly offset any gains American Lifan makes by invoking the new policy. They will also lose out on a sizable parts sales market. I am no business expert, but it seems to me that Lifan's issues would be better addressed through things such as patents and trademarks, rather than something that directly affects the consumer. It would really be a shame to see the producer of a good product fail to gain a solid foothold here, but I am afraid the Chinese still have a lot to learn about the free market system in this country, and sometimes you just have to learn the hard way.

[ambassador]

Thanks gyjoe, I couldn't have said it better myself...

[Jim]

@RPM, any update on this? It doesn't affect me as Im in Canada... but I have to agree with what the others have said, it really sounds like a terrible idea to me. If I wanted something for my kawasaki that fit from a honda dealer... you can bet they'd still sell me the part.

I guess if there was a nice dealer (though this may land them in hot water?) they could find some vin and order the part?

Alot of the people with grey market ones probably didn't have the info on true america lifan vs grey markey, or even know where to get the real deal... I know when I started looking, it was kind of sketchy and hard to find info... This site helps alot, but not everyone knows of it either.

I know if I had a grey market one (I dont), and I needed parts and landed in the situation where I couldnt get one because the dealer of the lifan parts (am lifan) wouldnt sell to me, that not only wouldn't make me run out and replace my chinese bike with a true american lifan (there goes any savings over a japanese bike... having to buy a second one for parts), it would also alienate me and I would not buy a bike from american lifan.

[jenny]

I think I understand what Lifan is doing. I have been selling MIC bikes for about a year now to dealers. One of the problems we (as manufacture/distributer) have is the dealers who buy from several different distribution centers and bring a box of parts in every other day for warrenty. I am sure American Lifan has had to deal with that. You can't disagree with the dealers that all the parts are not from your bike because then they say they can't get parts from you. Not all dealers are like that though. Most are honest and hardworking however it just takes a few bad apples to make the whole batch go bad. I can understand why they would put something like this in motion. I bet that if you have an off brand you will still be able to buy parts for it just not get warrenty for something they did not sell. I could be wrong but this is just my opinion as to what they are doing.

[RPM]

That's true, jenny.

Looking at the situation through A.L.'s eyes, you have to understand that it has got to be very frustrating when the parent company (Lifan China) will sell to an importer and rebrand the bike on it's way to the US or Canadian market. A lot of these importers figure that they do not have to spend the money on a support system as there is a Lifan warehouse full of parts right there in Dallas, TX.

American Lifan sees this in this light:
Why should we, American Lifan, support the parts for our competitor? We have spent mega bucks building our own inventory to build our product's name and invested mega dollars in promotional material along with a staffed office and warehouse personel to insure a better warranty for parts AND labor. WE are investing in OUR future in the North American market and if we continue to sell parts to support our competitor's bikes, we are contributing to our own demise. If these importers want to compete in this market, we should all be on the same page, in the same book! They need to handle their product the same as us.

Of course, many would say that American Lifan could sell all the parts they could sell and make as much money from their production line as possible. The problem there is that you are making it easier for the industry to take sales from your bikes. A.L. has their focus on bikes, not parts. Car dealers would want to sell you a car much more than a starter. More car sales will promote the brand faster than anything.

And many would say these are all the same bikes from the same manufacturer when in reality, these are not at all of equal quality. Lifan in China will give the importer what he wants at the price they settle on, which also means some sacrifices here and there as they "barter" out the costs. You do not see that in the American Lifan products and I will attest to the superior quality as I have seen many of these coming from the Chinese factories. Wonder why you can get a "Lifan" bike for $1200.00 ... compare and you will see a difference. A lot of car purchases will end with you purchasing an extended warranty, but how many actually use it? You get what you pay for and with the $300 - $400 more than the el cheapo brand, you get a full support system that will be there when you need it.

This is just my 2 cents here, guys and gals, but I believe in this company and know it is heading in the right direction. No monopoly in the market here, but they do need to stand by their own product.
You are about to see some great stuff coming from them soon!

[culcune]

Very well said, RPM. I think that American Lifan will actually be the "Chinese Honda", rather than Zongshen, despite what Zongshen has on their website. Not that Zongshen will wither away and die, but I see them more as a Chinese Subaru; a more featured, specialty product than Honda, but pricier, too. I also think that Hi-Bird will continue to fill the lower price niche, with Jetmoto hanging in there. I am sure that others will hang on, too, but their reputation will have to hang in there, too, such as Roketa, Tank/Redcat, and, maybe, even Viva.

[ambassador]

Aren't alot of American Lifan dealers going to hold on to Vin #'s just for the simple fact of pleasing a customer??? If you're an Am. Lifan dealer you would obviously know that there are many grey-market Lifans out there and you'd have the ability to order parts for them...Do they make dealers take an oath??? I think a well informed owner, such as the Am.Lifan/grey-market riders here can take advantage of such a situation, I have a Am. Lifan dealer 20 mins. away, can get me anything I need in 2-3 days outta Texas and he knows I have an E-bay bike, Hmmm...
Alot of China bike dealers are small time and will do what they have to do to make a buck even Lifan dealers, almost a conspiracy in its own company... Just my 2 cents...

[Jim]

Well I definetly understand what your saying, and I definetly dont expect them to warrent anything. I just thought sales of parts would be different... But I understand what your saying there too