hi j.r., welcome to the forum.
i can say that i was in your boat just a few years ago. while in high school i got an old honda which was nice, but not the greatest on gas or looks. while going through ebay one day, i found the lifan brand and ended up buying it before knowing what it was. you asking around is a smart move. what i can tell you is that for the money, youre not going to find a better buy. im assuming that youre good at working on mechanical stuff, which is good, because to really get the most out of these bikes you have to do some mods, including changing the rear sprocket and air filter, and rejetting the carburator. these mods will cost you another $100, but there worth it. im 6'1" and 210 lbs and this bike can take me through the mountains of Pa at over 50 mph, all that while getting 75 mpg and only paying 170 a year on insurance.
as far as who to buy from, there is alot of debate. from what i get out of it, you can buy from a dealer and pay more but get service, or buy from a direct importer and pay less, but have to assemble the bike yourself. the "dealer" i speak of is American Lifan, and the direct importers are guys like rabbit scooters, hooper imports, and others. almon poole, a member of this forum swears by rabbit scooters (
www.rabbitscooters.com), but another member is having a problem with them. in my opinion i think that rabbit is just very busy right now (they are in the middle of moving warehouses or something to that effect) and it is unfortunate that buyingchina is waiting, but that they are a good buisness.
now to the bikes. there are currently two models of streetbikes that you can choose from. the LF200 III which can be seen in the video section and you have the LF200-B which can be seen here http://www.lifan-moto.com/gallery/rabbit3/ it is the red and blue bikes. the III is not bad, but it has skinny tires, a rear drum brake and only one front disk break. the tires can be switched out for larger ones. the B, in my opinion is better looking and safer, with wider tires, two front disk brakes and a rear disk brake. it also has the high fuel tank and just looks meaner. now if you go with the american lifan B you will get a bike with bug headlights, instead of the direct importer headlights as seen in the photo. while in lifan-moto.com you can see a picture of the american lifan B if you look at "manman308's Lf200 B red" under the photos heading. unfortunately there are no direct importers
selling the B yet, as far as i know.
i hope all this helps, and to the other members on the forum, help me if i missed anything
james
