Chicago Motorcycle Show

[cheesy]

Had a grand old time today at the show. Strange, that with all the leather being worn, my Ural was the only bike in the parking garage.

First stop was at the Ural display, only because they managed a spot right by the entrance. The staff was easy to talk with and they had four rigs there and one was a Gear Up that was used at an off road shindig in Cali that still had the dirt on it.


Spotted this one at the Progressive display.


Grandpa!


Royal Enfield and Ducati both had their new Scramblers there.



Saw a real oddball.


Some nice Guzzis



But, this really caught my eye.


Lifan had a fairly large display.


They had the new X-pect Dual Sport there but I couldn't get close enough to get a decent pic.

They did have these, though. A cute little four wheeler.


And a little folding bicycle with battery assist.


Rode about 80 miles, walked 5, couldn't find a cup of coffee to save my life, and didn't find anything I couldn't live without, so it was not a bad day out.

[culcune]

MJH on Mychinamoto (Oengus here) posted photos of the Lifans from the Cleveland show a few weeks ago. He sat on them and felt they were very high quality as compared to his Qlink XP200. Did you 'touch' or sit on any of the Lifans? Just curious of your opinions as to initial feel if you did sit and/or touch them.

[culcune]

Originally Posted by cheesy

They did have these, though. A cute little four wheeler.

...and it is named CUTE 100E

http://americanlifan.com/cute-100e/

Interesting little pickup they show on their site in the same class as the CUTE 100E, too. Did they have one of these at the show?

http://americanlifan.com/pickman-c3/

[cheesy]

The Lifan display was pretty packed and I was most interested in the X-pect, which I couldn't get close to. That and the folder, which the sales staff didn't believe I was really interested in. I will say that the fit and finish was much better than my old Hi-Bird.

No pick up, just the CUTE-100E.

They did have some killer peanut brittle, though.

[culcune]

Well, peanut butter brittle shows they mean business!!

I talk to Alan from Excalibur Motorsports regularly. He knows the head guy at the revived A. Lifan, and gets updates via social networking. I had mentioned that Lifan should consider CSC's sales model, but Alan mentioned that pretty much every Chinese company wants to be the next Honda and have a physical dealer network--Lifan included. For Lifan's sake, I hope these numerous shows they have been attending the past few months are translating to picking up dealers. They key, in spite of a 'boring' initial lineup, is that the quality is good enough in that 'name brand' dealers will sell these as beginner bikes with lower prices than their main name brand bikes.

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by culcune

Well, peanut butter brittle shows they mean business!!

I had mentioned that Lifan should consider CSC's sales model, but Alan mentioned that pretty much every Chinese company wants to be the next Honda and have a physical dealer network--Lifan included.

How many times do these China importers have to keep making the same mistake? The CSC model, so far, has proven to be by far, the most successful way to market AND SUPPORT these bikes in the USA....though CSC did open a dealer in Ohio(?) or somewhere back there (it's on Joe's blog). I can see this, once the population of owners gets too big to maintain high quality service and support out of one facility.

Again, it's the reason I chose the TT250 over the SSR XF250. I know that there will be someone on the other end of the phone to give me support when needed and a functioning website to "point and click" on parts.....unlike some guy in a rent-a-garage who is the "Dealer De Jour". You have no idea how many of these CB "dealers" have come and gone, just here in the Sacramento area.

I still have to do a recon on the SSR "dealer" here. Last time I checked, they opened "by appointment". WTH? "Can you please unlock the doors so I can get a speedo cable?"
I'll take "point and click"....

[Weldangrind]

Thanks for the pics. Lifan was conspicuously absent from the Vancouver Motorcycle show in January.
The Grandpa line made me laugh out loud.

[culcune]

Originally Posted by 2LZ

How many times do these China importers have to keep making the same mistake? The CSC model, so far, has proven to be by far, the most successful way to market AND SUPPORT these bikes in the USA

I still have to do a recon on the SSR "dealer" here. Last time I checked, they opened "by appointment". WTH? "Can you please unlock the doors so I can get a speedo cable?"
I'll take "point and click"....

Speaking of SSR--our local brand name dealership which sells Honda, Yamaha and Polaris are carrying the SSR line. I think they are only carrying the pit bikes and the XF250, because that is all I saw.

I am quite sure that is what Lifan is thinking of when they think dealers--hitchhiking on major brand dealerships as opposed to fly-by-night dealerships. Apparently there is a major retailer who has (possibly) picked up Lifan from what I remember Alan mentioning a few months ago.

The problem with this model, is, like my local dealers, they might exclude products, such as scooters and the Grom-like bike that SSR has, which is my theory as to the local dealership not having the Razkull and the various scooters.