Hello From Durham

[Lifan La-la]

Hi, I'm from Durham in north east England and have been riding my Lifan LF125 GY-3 for just over a year now, having returned to biking after a 5 year hiatus. I bought the bike from a salvage dealers on Ebay in feb 2014 for £170 (with £80 delivery that gave me a 2007 model bike for 250 quid!) However, the bike was something of a risk as it was a category "C" insurance write off having been stolen and recovered with apparently minor damage to the console and some of the plastics, the biggest issue being that it was sold as a "non-runner". It arrived complete with Chinese import documentation, 2 keys and a V5 logbook. It was my first experience of a Chinese bike, and having ridden it now for many, many cheap and cheerful miles, I'd certainly have another one!

My uncle did the initial repairs for me, which included mending the console and repairing the plastics with fibreglass, and installing an ignition barrel off an MGB car! He discovered that the inept thief had attempted to hotwire the bike by joining the wrong wires together, causing the main fuse to blow. This was the only reason the bike wouldn't run, and once the fuse was replaced, the bike fired into life and ran like a train! After the replacing of a few bulbs etc, the bike was roadworthy and luckily the DVLA didn't have any notes on their computer for the bike to be inspected or anything before it could legally be put back on the road ( plus it didn't end up on a "Q" plate, which I had worried about since the insurance is apparently dearer.)

Since that time I've used the bike to commute (I'm an agency nurse and so travel all over for my job) and it's rarely let me down (luckily any issues have shown up either at the start of a journey or at the end!) This bike has definitely been put through its paces as my sole mode of transport! It's had an issue with over-revving a couple of times, but tightening the throttle cable and increasing the tickover slightly appears to have fixed that problem. The only other thing that's happened is my front sprocket has fallen off a couple of times (luckily at very low speed), and both times it appears to have been the result of the teeth on the sprocket retaining plate being worn away. I wondered if this was because a) I'm too much of a fatty for the bike and there's too much of a load on the transmission , or b) I over tightened the chain (both times it's happened not long after I tightened it - I do leave some play on it, but maybe not enough?) Anyway, other than those issues the bike has been trouble free*, and has always started on the button.

(* My definition of "trouble free" may be coloured by the fact that my last bike was an old Honda CX500 which had intermittent starting problems for some reason and whose shaft drive fell to bits! Any problems I've had with the Lifan have been more than offset by the fact that it's so cheap to run and has always gotten me home from work after nightshift!)

[Adjuster]

Thats a great story on how you obtained your bike and got it repaired and running so good for you.

Now I have to scold you.

Come on man, where are the photos? You can't post a story like that and not give us any photos!






/

[ripcuda]

Welcome! Glad to hear your bike has served you well.

Cheers!

[Lifan La-la]

Originally Posted by Adjuster

Thats a great story on how you obtained your bike and got it repaired and running so good for you.

Now I have to scold you.

Come on man, where are the photos? You can't post a story like that and not give us any photos!






/

My digi camera doesn't work so can't upload any of the bike as it is now unfortunately (not yet anyway), but here is a photo from the original listing for the bike on ebay, showing the damage to the console etc.

[Lifan La-la]

Despite the damage in the pic I thought it was quite a nice looking bike - there's been a bit of corrosion here and there though since I've ridden it through the winter, but I gave it a good clean and polish today and it's come up not too bad. I bungeed a one of those black plastic bread delivery trays onto the rear carrier not long after I got it, and covered it with a blue waterproof backpack cover to match the rest of the bike. It makes a great box to put any shopping in etc, but I was booked for a nightshift at a local care home on new year's eve and the staff were really disappointed when they found out I was the agency nurse cos they thought I was delivering pizza lol!

[Weldangrind]

Welcome! Thanks for the pic.

You've had some interesting bikes; I have a '78 YB100 in the shed, and I'm planning a bizarre project for it in the future (it's on the back-burner for now). The CG125 you had has virtually the same motor as your current Lifan.

Cheesy is likely to flame you for not respecting your CX; he has one that he has given considerable time and love to.

[humanbeing]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

...I have a '78 YB100 in the shed, and I'm planning a bizarre project for it in the future (it's on the back-burner for now)...

That 2-stroke 100 was popular in China ,some knockoff parts can still found in taobao ...
A '84 film http://www.worldcat.org/title/ya-ma-...oclc/122957282 http://www.baike.com/wiki/%E3%80%8A%...A1%A3%E3%80%8B

[SpudRider]

Welcome; we are glad you joined us. Thanks for posting the interesting, and honest review of your Lifan motorcycle.

P.S. I like your avatar.

[Lifan La-la]

I have a '78 YB100 in the shed, and I'm planning a bizarre project for it in the future (it's on the back-burner for now).

Hi Weldangrind, would love to see your YB100 project when it's done - mine never ever let me down and aside from getting a bit blown around by large wagons and high winds etc it was a lot of fun to ride and I went everywhere on it. I'd have another one in a heartbeat as a second bike now I've gotten used to smaller cc bikes again - I'd have to get used to the upside down gears again though lol!

The CG125 you had has virtually the same motor as your current Lifan.

Yeah I thought that was the prototype for it. It's pretty bomb proof by all accounts and my CG was really one of the best, most comfortable to ride bikes I ever had. They pretty much run on fumes and just keep going and going with only basic maintainence. Mine spoiled me really since later bikes (and 3-wheeler Reliant cars) were far more troublesome and were never out of the workshop. Aside from the running economy, another reason I wanted to return to a smaller capacity bike was due to the trouble-free maintainence I seemed to have with them. Sorry to Cheesy but my CX has to have been the worst bike I ever had for being unreliable (it had some sort of pesky intermittent starting issue, amongst other issues, and supply of spare parts just seemed to dwindle away which made it all that harder to put right) - I mean I would have really loved it if it had been less of a pain, because it was extremely comfortable to ride. I know others have found them to be extremely reliable bikes which can clock up high milages, but mine was just a duff one I think!

However, nothing, but nothing can be worse than the Reliant 3-wheeler cars I drove for many years (in the mistaken belief that motorcycles were not suitable for carrying dogs around - I could have got a pet carrier or a bike and sidecar, and really wish I had done now, since I likely would have been saved hours of grief and expenditure!) It is my conviction that the Reliant brand (now defunct) is somehow demonically possessed and some foul and unclean spirit inhabits these cars, ready to wreak workshop havoc on any who would dare to own them! I only had them because you can drive them on a pre-'97 motorbike license over here in the UK - a road legal quad might serve instead for carrying bigger loads and going through snow. I only have cats now but would love another dog, so some sort of pet carrier would still be desirable as well.)

[humanbeing]

Originally Posted by Lifan La-la

...Yeah I thought that was the prototype for it. It's pretty bomb proof ...

Chonda 125 NEVER 100% interchange w/ Honda CG. http://bbs.moto8.com/forum.php?mod=v...authorid=40091 The 6th generation CG (WH125-3 /someone did imported to UK) stator holes looks like equilateral triangle (Chonda : isosceles triangle) | CDI are different. Chonda parts are more compatible w/ Kymco .

[Weldangrind]

Originally Posted by Lifan La-la

Hi Weldangrind, would love to see your YB100 project when it's done.

That'll be quite awhile; you'll need to be a long-term member. I intend to commit heresy with the project, as it will be powered by a four-stroke Honda clone motor.

Originally Posted by Lifan La-la

It is my conviction that the Reliant brand (now defunct) is somehow demonically possessed and some foul and unclean spirit inhabits these cars, ready to wreak workshop havoc on any who would dare to own them!

The only thing that could possibly make than funnier, would be to hear it with your accent. The Reliant Robin bit is my all-time favourite Top Gear episode. "Oh no. I've crashed it. Literally 20 feet." Son of Weldangrind and I still laugh about that one.

[Lifan La-la]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

The only thing that could possibly make than funnier, would be to hear it with your accent. The Reliant Robin bit is my all-time favourite Top Gear episode. "Oh no. I've crashed it. Literally 20 feet." Son of Weldangrind and I still laugh about that one.

Wow you've seen that one?! Loads of people have asked me wether I've been able to make one tip over like Jeremy Clarkson on that famous episode of Top Gear, to which the answer is only ever once, but only nearly, when I hit a kerb on a bend. I liked the bit where he tipped it in the middle of the cricket game the best - it just seemed so, well, English...

[Weldangrind]

My favourite scene is the "useful feature" at 1:22.

The best line is at 4:50: "When I were a lad down 'ere, old rich people, them's that could afford four wheels on the car, they all had Ladas. La-de-da's we called 'em."

[Lifan La-la]

LOL - I had a Robin just like the Starsky and Hutch homage in the clip (only without the cool white stripe - it was red though. The boot/trunk was accessed via the back window which lifted up on hinges - it slipped out of my hands one day and shattered into a thousand pieces...)

My friend from Bridlington talks with exactly that sort of yorkshire accent - she says "t't" instead of "the"! My accent is very similar but we don't say "t't", and if we were saying "going" we'd say "go-un'" rather than the yorkshire "goin'". In north Durham and on Tyneside where I was born the accent is very strong and derives from Anglian tribes of southern Denmark originally, with many words being the same as in modern Danish. To many it is classed as a foreign language and to some southerners for example it is barely intelligible. Some even think it sounds Japanese, as in "hoy that hamma owa heeya" when said fast (trans. throw that hammer over here!)

My uncle who fixed my 3-wheelers for me speaks with a broad Tyneside accent, and was able to string many expletives together eloquently whilst working on them. He often said that the only parts my car needed to fix it was a box of matches and a can of petrol LOL!