dealers?!

[Youpa]

i wanna know if lifan bikes are sold at dealers. any help on this 1? looking at the lifan gy 2 and cant seem to find a price or a product :? i live in lenhartsville pa. thats between allentown and reading kinda. i'd like to see one for myself and see if i like it.

[cooldon]

YOUPA
Go to americanlifan.com give them your address , they'll send e-mail with dealers in the area.

[SpeedSouth]

Just don't expect that email the next day. I got my reply about a week later.

I know of a dealer in Virgina

[motohillbilly]

Call em they will answer during the week. Those are good people over there. Here is the number 972-698-7778.

[Cal25]

I dont understand why they gaurd their list of dealers so closely. I asked for a list of dealers in Tx and Ok. A week later I got a responce with a dealer I had already visited. I replied that I travel through out OK and Tx and wanted to shop around more. Another week later they sent me one more name. At that point I gave up on them. I went up to Okla. City and got a different brand.

[TeamCheap]

They (A.L.) do some strange things as far as the dealers info go I think they are protecting their dealers territory.(fine)

At first I thought OK that makes sense but then something inside says wait let me decide who and what dealer I want to buy from.

I'm done with A.L. for a long time and am just sitting back and watching what happens to ALL china powersport toys in general.

The first decent 400cc china bike at a market price at or under $2700 will most likely sell one to me but they better hurry before I get a DRZ400s.

[SpeedSouth]

Originally Posted by TeamCheap

The first decent 400cc china bike at a market price at or under $2700 will most likely sell one to me but they better hurry before I get a DRZ400s.

Speaking of the DRZ400, I found this one on Craig's List yesterday -
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/mcy/640208119.html

That fairing sure looks familiar.

[Youpa]

it would have been cool if i coulda picked it up at a dealer sumwhere instead of buying it over the internet. but i guess thats my only choice. i like the roketa models. they look really cool.

[katoranger]

Call Bruce. I think he has some of the Gy2s left yet and is not that bad of a drive for you.

http://www.endlessjourneycycles.net/

[culcune]

Originally Posted by Cal25

I dont understand why they gaurd their list of dealers so closely.

You have to realize (and we have, as judging by the conversations we have here on chinariders) that there are no real, established dealers of Chinese bikes as of yet.

If there is a list of American Honda dealers, those are well-established dealers who will not really abandon Honda if approached by another brand, let's call them Suzuki.

However, AL, Roketa, Jetmoto, Zongshen, etc are not quite at that level where one brand could support a shop, so if AL had a list of dealers, that could be easily accessed, another brand will most likely approach all of them, to get that other brand in the shop. The shop will not lose out, but there is a possiblility that AL will if customers forgo AL's offerings for another brand's.

However, AL should figure out how to get responses to potential customers quicker. For instance, in your case, CAL, you ended up with a Hi-Bird, and AL lost business.

[kczukiman]

I think what has to happen for any Chinese bike to dominate the market and have exclusive Dealer shops is either mergers or buy outs.There is just too much competition between these mfgrs and rite now we are reeping the rewards.
If AL sold exclusive they wouldn't be able to compete.

[culcune]

Originally Posted by kczukiman

If AL sold exclusive they wouldn't be able to compete.

Actually, most of the "big 4" and Euro brands aren't exclusive, either, but I couldn't imagine a dominant Lifan shop without a few of the other brands as well. This is why AL doesn't want to give out their list of dealers carte blanche; the other brands will try to piggyback on AL's dealer list, which is probably, arguably, one of the largest of the Chinese brands in the US.

Back to the original question of the GY-2, AL no longer sells the GY-2, and if you read through PorterzCustomz threads on the bait and switch in which he received a GY-2 instead of the GY-5 he thought he was getting, one of the reps of AL responded here that they sold out the stock of remaining GY-2's to ATV Discounters (who baited and switched customers who thought they were receiving GY-5's, until they opened their boxes!--sounds like a good class action lawsuit, IMHO)

So if you want a GY-2, contact them, or www.hooperimports.com who sells them. As far as seeing one in person, you will need to find dealers who still stock them.

[SpeedSouth]

Further thoughts on the dealers...

I went to my local Kawasaki shop last week and found they have a Korean made Hyosung on the floor, and they are a dealer. They only had the one sport bike, and I talked with the only person there for a bit. I mentioned the Lifan brand and she laughed a little saying they were just scooters. I corrected her of coarse, telling her how popular the 200GY is becoming. Now that I have my tag I'll ride over again soon and let her take a look. I would love to see them add the Lifan brand to their line up.

Also of note, they still have a new 2006 KLR650 on the floor....and she said she'd take a little over $4k. I'm sure that would come down a little more for a serious buyer.

My local Suzuki dealer is also a KTM dealer. I think they sell Yamaha as well. Their web site lists new Yams, but I didn't see any at their shop last week.

My local Honda dealer is the only one (locally) exclusive to their brand.




Calling AL looks like the best option, I guess...if you want a Lifan dealer and don't want to wait a week, or just get one name at a time.

[TeamCheap]

This dealer (motorcitypowersport) is the closest REAL dealership to me and they have been around longer than me I think.

Over the years I have bought two toys from them, my 89 blaster and my 91 dr650.
This dealer is expensive and snobbish and have lousy service but somehow manage to stay in business year after year even though there are countless other dealerships much like theirs all over the metro area.

These BIG dealers of the mainstream toys could open the the door so to speak to the chinese powersport dealer who 1) has a good product 2)is nice and friendly to their customers 3)has comparable products at 1/4-1/3 to price of the big name powersport toys.

I've seen a lot of fly-by-night china dealers come and go around here and I have found one A.L. dealer that I hope makes it but only time will tell.

[culcune]

Originally Posted by TeamCheap

This dealer is expensive and snobbish and have lousy service but somehow manage to stay in business year after year even though there are countless other dealerships much like theirs all over the metro area.

Just looking at their selection of brands, such as Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha, I can see why they are so snobbish! I guess it goes back to my days on TT reading all the negative stuff about Chinese bikes (Mike, remember those pre-Jetmotogroup, LF200GY Group and pre-Chinariders.net? days) that I can see where they get their snobbery from!