Group Buy - LIFAN lf200gy-5 2007

[smokeyob]

I am organizing a group buy, anybody interested in joining. I already have 3 people total (including myself) to buy the lf200gy-5 2007 model from motoxtreme.net (not grey market bikes, he sells the real ones). I have negotiated the price down a little from $1375 for 3 bikes, but if I get more people then we will all save more on shipping. This is for the Philadelphia, PA area only, and all the bikes would have to be shipped to the same address in Philadelphia.

I am not trying to make any money off people, I am simply trying to save a few bucks on these bikes for me and my friends. If you are interested, please let me know asap.

Thanks,

[mrhyak]

If I'm not mistaken, doesn't Hooper Imports offer the Lifan for $1,299 delivered?

http://www.hooperimports.com/dept.asp?dept_id=19

[smokeyob]

The model they offer is the LF200GY-2, which I believe is a slightly older model that is tuned more for off-road use. Besides that, there is no guarantee that it is an authentic American Lifan motorcycle. I personally spoke with American Lifan Corp. and they told me that motoxtreme.net is the only company currently authorized to drop-ship their bikes. So the price i mentioned is for an authentic LF200GY-5 2007 model.

If anyone in the Philly area is interested in saving some money on an AUTHENTIC Lifan motorcycle, I am ordering them on Friday, so please let me know by Thursday.

Thanks

[katoranger]

Originally Posted by mrhyak

If I'm not mistaken, doesn't Hooper Imports offer the Lifan for $1,299 delivered?

http://www.hooperimports.com/dept.asp?dept_id=19

Not an American Lifan, but it is the GY2 variant like mine.

Allen

[smokeyob]

I'm trying to sort through this whole LIFAN mess. katoranger, when you say variant, what do you mean exactly? what company actually produces the bike on hooperimports?

[katoranger]

Don't know actually who makes it. The only way to get an American Lifan is from a dealer or dropshipped from motoxtreme.net

Hooperimports is not an authorized dealer and the bike they have is a lifan clone.

Allen

[smokeyob]

I spoke with American Lifan in Texas and they did say that the only way to get it was via a dealer or drop-shipped from motoxtreme.net. I guess my question really lies in the quality of a clone? Are they just as good?

[katoranger]

There are alot of the clone bikes out there running just fine, but it is the parts that may be hard to get.

I don't think it would stop me from buying a clone though.

Allen

[mrhyak]

Hooper Imports sells Lifan motorcycles, not a copy or clone (it is illegal to sell something if it is not as advertised). American Lifan is an importer of Lifan bikes and their company name is American Lifan. American Lifan is just one of many importers of these Chinese bikes, so to say Hooper is selling Lifan clones is incorrect. They may not be the same bike as American Lifan sells, but they are still Lifan bikes. If Hooper Imports were selling a copy and adding the Lifan name it would be fraud and they would be sued.

Hooper does not sell American Lifan bikes because they are in competition with them, being that they are both importers of the Lifan bikes out of China. Hooper Imports has dealers of their Lifans just as American Lifan has dealers of their imported bikes. Hooper gets their bikes directly from Lifan in China, to Hooper Import spec's so they are not exactly the same as the company "American Lifan", but that does not mean they are a copy or clone of AL's anymore then American Lifan's bikes are a copy or clone of Hooper Imports Lifan's.

(sorry, I'm no english major so please excuse my poor writing skills)

[katoranger]

That clears it up.

It is still a Lifan, just not an American Lifan.

Allen

[Penguini66]

Originally Posted by katoranger

That clears it up.

It is still a Lifan, just not an American Lifan.

Allen

Want to grey up the issue again? Take a look at the EPA sticker on a Hooper Imports GY. My GY-5 says "Imported by American Lifan" on it. Take a look at the EPA sticker in the picture on Hooper's website. It says "Imported by American Lifan" as well.

My guess is that Lifan in China is putting this sticker on their bikes even if they're not being shipped to Amerian Lifan. Being that they are the manufacturer, I believe that is something that they can legally do.

However, that does not make the bikes grey market. From wikipedia:

The grey market refers to the flow of new goods through distribution channels other than those authorized or intended by the manufacturer or producer.

In order for it to be grey market, Hooper would have to be not authorized by Lifan to import the bikes. I know from speaking with Larry Hooper several times that he does in fact buy the bikes directly from Lifan. He's the one who told me how the Chinese pronounce Lifan because he has been to the Lifan factory(s) in China. What that means is that because Lifan has authorized Hooper to import the bikes, they are by default, not grey market.

However, even if your bike says "Imported by American Lifan" on the sticker, that does not mean it is an American Lifan bike. If you bought it from Hooper, it is not an American Lifan and you have to go to him for warranty or parts.

Here's my wild guess on what's going on. And this isn't new, its been going on for several years. Well before I bought my bike in the spring of '06. Not knowing how the EPA certification stuff works, I'd guess that American Lifan somehow did the "hoop jumping" for Lifan to get the bikes EPA legal. Hence, the reason their name is on the sticker. But Lifan never signed an exclusivity contract with American Lifan saying that they wouldn't import the bikes to other non American Lifan dealers. And even if they did sign a contract, Lifan decided not to honor it. Pure speculation on my part but regardless I'd buy from Hooper again in a second.

Lastly, as mrhyak indicated, the reason the bikes from Hooper Imports are different than American Lifan bikes (or any other Lifan you can find for that matter) is because Hooper orders the bikes built to his specifications. American Lifan orders the bikes to their own specifications. Think of the bikes as cars with "options". One Honda dealer may order a Civic with silver paint and an automatic tranny. The other dealer accross town may order the same Civic with blue paint and a manual tranny. But both cars come from the same manufacturer, Honda. Both cars are a Honda.

I guess the best way to think about it is that there is really not an American Lifan bike. There's a bike with an American Lifan warranty that was orderd from Lifan by American Lifan that has the options that American Lifan spec'd. But not an American Lifan bike per se. Its simply a Lifan built to American Lifan specs with an American Lifan warranty. Even if they may try to market it as an "American Lifan", it is still just a Lifan.

So to summarize:
Hooper Imports bikes are not American Lifan bikes
Hooper Imports buys directly from Lifan just like American Lifan
Hooper Imports bikes are not grey market
Hooper Imports bikes are different than American Lifan because he orders them to his own specs
A Lifan is a Lifan (But not all are Cool Boys :wink: )

[gyjoe]

I will add that my 2006 GY-5 that I bought from T-motorsports a year ago (before they changed the model name of the GY-5 bikes they sell to TMS) has that same sticker that says it was imported by American Lifan. At the time the bike was advertised as having a 6 month warranty covered by American Lifan. The bike has all the indicators that have been listed on this board as signifying that is an American Lifan bike. Authentic or counterfeit? Who knows.

[Penguini66]

Originally Posted by gyjoe

Authentic or counterfeit? Who knows.

Counterfeit is not really the right word. But anyway, a simple call to American Lifan with your vin number in front of you should answer that question rather quickly.

American Lifan Industry, Inc.
10990 Petal Street, Suite 500
Dallas, Texas 75238
Office: 972-698-7778 Toll Free: 877-341-2933

[mrhyak]

Nice detailed explanation Penguini66. It is possible that Lifan marked all bikes heading to the USA as American Lifan and the importer American Lifan Industry used it as their name. (It is a good marketing strategy)

Hopefully this will end the discussion of any Lifan bike not coming from the importer named "American Lifan Industry" not being a true Lifan.

[knothead]

Look at the pics of Indianfeather's bike on page 2 of this thread
http://www.chinariders.net/modules.p...er=asc&start=0

His was purchased through MotoRextremes.com, who is NOT an American Lifan dealer(motoextreme.com in Virginia is). But you know what? His bike is identical in every respect to mine and was shipped from the EXACT SAME address as my bike that I purchased through an American Lifan dealer.
So I think you can also forget about "grey market bikes" having different specs.
I really don't know what's up with the shipping addy. I know that the guy running AL was supposed to crack down on the grey bikes, but either the shipping addy on Indianfeather's was wrong or AL is supplying bikes to the grey market (or motoRextremes suddenly became an ath. dealer... but refer to the first post in this thread to answer that). Funny thing is, I gave around $200 LESS for my bike.....