Personal Opinions and Experiences

[Mowza]

Hello everyone i am new to the community and i have a question i would like to ask everyone on here. I am considering purchasing a Lifan GS200 and wanted to know what everyones opinion is on it and what experiences have they had with it. Is it a decent bike or a quality control nightmare? Is it worth the $1500 or would i be better off trying to find a used ninja or something? Does it have any typical issues or consistantly nagging issues? Maybe any design flaws? Also is it more of a hazzard on the highways or does it do ok? Is there a semi decent array of performance upgrades available for it? On more question i had is if anyone has registered one in Pennsylvania what all did it take to get it done? Thanks a bunch.

[Penguini66]

Can't comment on a GS200 much but I can comment on its enduro brother the 200GY-5.

Take a moment and read through the dual sport prep thread: http://www.chinariders.net/modules.p...iewtopic&t=172
They''ve gathered a good bit of information that may translate over to the GS200. At least it should give you an idea of the technical and mechanical ability you might need if you consider one of these. There certainly are not going to be like a Japanese bike where you can essentially buy it and hop on it and ride. You will have to assemble it yourself and it WILL require some tinkering to get things 'just right'.

Here's just a few things to consider from the top of my head:

1) Make sure you research, in as much depth as possible, the dealer that ou are considering buying from before plopping down a credit card. Things you may want to ask are:

Does the dealer certainly have the bike in stock and ready for shipment? Also verify all the specs/pictures listed on the website with the dealer on the phone or via email so that you fully understand what you're getting.

What is the warranty policy (A true American Lifan carries a warranty through American Lifan...A 'grey market' bike may or may not have warranty through the dealer you bought it from.) In short, make sure you know what the warranty terms are and consider that in your dealer selection. In my opinion, there's nothing wrong with buying a grey market bike. I bought a grey market bike.

Regardless of what the warranty is, does the dealer stock replacement parts for the bike? While there are other sources for some generic parts, there may be something you need that is specific to your bike that only our dealer can get.

Does the dealer answer his phone? I programmed the dealer's number into my cell and called him a few random times before purchase just to make sure he was available if I had any issues. He picked up every single time and was happy to speak with me about my potential purchase. He also answered every email I sent to him.

Does the bike have a EPA and DOT stickers?

...and whatever else you think is important to ask. Point is, don't just go by what you see on a website.

2) The way these bikes are ordered from the factories in China, one dealer may have a GS200 that has the over head cam engine, disk brakes front and rear with ABS front and rear, and a spedometer and a tach. The other dealer may have a GS200 that has a pushrod OHV engine, drum brakes in the rear and no ABS, and no tach. Think of it as options on a car you might want to purchase. The problem is, the dealers don't have trim packages to signify that one GS200 is different than another GS200. Point is, one GS200 on one website may be very different from the same named bike on another site.

3) Engines: The 200cc Lifan engines come in two variants. An Over Head Valve pushrod (OHV) engine and an Over Head Cam (OHC) engine. I have yet to see where one is significantly better than the other but its something you may want to research. I'm not sure which engine the GS comes with.

4) Brakes: Some bikes come with Drum brakes in the back, some come with disc brakes in the back. I prefer discs because they're much easier to inspect and service. But that's personal preference.

5) Front forks: I'm not sure about the GS200's, but many of the GY's have inverted front forks. Just another "option" to consider.

I could go on and on but that should be some of the main considerations.

Now on to Registration.

One very important thing that you want to verify with the dealer is how and when they will ship the MCO(Manufacturers Certificate of Origin) to you. For some reason, and I'm still not sure why, they do not ship the MCO with the bike. Perhaps the bike could be easily stolen that way... Anyway, the MCO is a document that looks like a vehicle title. This is the piece of paper, along with your bill of sale/receipt, that you take to PENNDOT to get a title for the bike. There have been horror stories of people that have had to wait a long time for an MCO and only received it after pestering the dealer. Some have never received an MCO.

I bought my bike from Larry at Hooper Imports ( www.hooperimports.com ). The bike and the MCO both arrived promptly. I walked into PENNDOT (the advantage of living in Harrisburg) and was out with a license plate in hand within 20 minutes.

Hope all this helps. Oh, and welcome to China Riders. We're not all that bad once you get used to us.