Older bloke wants new bike

[Zap]

Hi All,

Been reading this site and decided to post. You all seems pretty civilised and not judgemental.

Anyway, I havent ridden for 25 years, now I'm 50 I would like to buy a new bike.

Until recently I had a CF Moto "bike" an automatic 250 cruiser. Basically bike body & scooter motor, with 14hp. Still for 18months it got me around the suburbs of Sydney without much drama. Sold it to buy a manual bike.

OK, so here are my choices:

Lifan LF400, a copy of a Virago, here it costs around $5k new and looks OK. But its unknown, Lifan NZ seems to be active but I dont know if these bikes are popular over there. Any opinions on this bike ????

Hyosung gv250. I like the style, it has about 26hp, so more than what I had before, also $1k more than the Lifan. At least here the Hyos aren't rubbished like the Aussie forums.

The thing is I will not be doing highways, only looking at a town bike, mainly weekends. So a bigger bike is no use, I think the 250 should keep up with traffic and just hope its reliable.


Sorry for the long post.

Thanks for reading.

[Edbear]

I'd pick the Hyosung over the Lifan, but I'd also recommend looking for a newish Suzuki VL250. They are slimmer than most and easy to handle, will cruise at 110+ and of course utterly reliable with a better resale value. The Yamaha Virago is bulletproof too, and a good choice. If you can get a newish one of either that would be my best recommendation rather than a new Lifan.

Hyosung have been around here long enough and have built a pretty good rep, in fact the 250 naked and sports bikes are the best sellers here in the market.

Welcome to KB!

[actungbaby]

Hi and welcome

am in about same sitwation stoped riding bigger bikes in 1987

have had suzuki 450 twin for few years in between am finding it good to be back on bikes
well once get on up and running

Hi All,

Been reading this site and decided to post. You all seems pretty civilised and not judgemental.

Anyway, I havent ridden for 25 years, now I'm 50 I would like to buy a new bike.

Until recently I had a CF Moto "bike" an automatic 250 cruiser. Basically bike body & scooter motor, with 14hp. Still for 18months it got me around the suburbs of Sydney without much drama. Sold it to buy a manual bike.

OK, so here are my choices:

Lifan LF400, a copy of a Virago, here it costs around $5k new and looks OK. But its unknown, Lifan NZ seems to be active but I dont know if these bikes are popular over there. Any opinions on this bike ????

Hyosung gv250. I like the style, it has about 26hp, so more than what I had before, also $1k more than the Lifan. At least here the Hyos aren't rubbished like the Aussie forums.

The thing is I will not be doing highways, only looking at a town bike, mainly weekends. So a bigger bike is no use, I think the 250 should keep up with traffic and just hope its reliable.


Sorry for the long post.

Thanks for reading.

[Subike]

gees bud, whats this older bloke bit
your still a young in, heck there are heaps of over 50's riding big jappas and the 'other's here
Go for the Virago over the Lifan.
The extra $ spent are worth the better Finnish and huge resale difference.
I have a riding buddy with a 250 Lifin, twelve mths old,
rusty chrome, flaking paint on the frame, shot electrics
rear wheel bearing collapsed after 20k....
Any good features?.....the motor runs perfectly.
I also agree not to look past the Suzuki VL 250,
I am tossing up between the Suzuki and the Virago for myself.
Take them both for a ride,
But walk past the Lifan

[ellipsis]

...the hyo gl250 is a cool, lightweight, big enough bike to have fun on and commute, parts are available, the motors are good...my wife could tag along at above highway speeds with me for big miles, and loved it...sold it for the same price she bought it...fuck the detractors of this marque..they are either blinkered or wanna wheelie on a green one everywhere and attract them thar bitches... welcome oz...

[HenryDorsetCase]

Hi All,

Been reading this site and decided to post. You all seems pretty civilised and not judgemental.

Anyway, I havent ridden for 25 years, now I'm 50 I would like to buy a new bike.

Until recently I had a CF Moto "bike" an automatic 250 cruiser. Basically bike body & scooter motor, with 14hp. Still for 18months it got me around the suburbs of Sydney without much drama. Sold it to buy a manual bike.

OK, so here are my choices:

Lifan LF400, a copy of a Virago, here it costs around $5k new and looks OK. But its unknown, Lifan NZ seems to be active but I dont know if these bikes are popular over there. Any opinions on this bike ????

Hyosung gv250. I like the style, it has about 26hp, so more than what I had before, also $1k more than the Lifan. At least here the Hyos aren't rubbished like the Aussie forums.

The thing is I will not be doing highways, only looking at a town bike, mainly weekends. So a bigger bike is no use, I think the 250 should keep up with traffic and just hope its reliable.


Sorry for the long post.

Thanks for reading.

we reading the same site?



So are you sold on the cruiser style? cos something like a VT250 honda, or CBR250 or one of those Ninja 250's? standard style. fun to ride. easy on gas.

[Zap]

Thanks guys for the replies.

Yeah, been thinprefer the look of the Hyoking today about the Lifan and its a risk. But having said that my recently sold CF Moto from China never had a problem, no rust, nothing. So some things they make are not so bad.

In fact the CF Moto was a very good reintro back into riding & let me concentrate on the bike rather the traffic. I didnt lose too much selling it privately. I would recommend that "bike" for anybody rather than a scooter.

Anyway, I have been just thinking & thinking about these bikes. I must say I like the little hog look of the Hyosung.

Thanks for suggesting the Intruder & Virago. I have considered them but tbh I prefer the look of the Hyo, I know beauty is only skin deep.

Fuuny about the Lifan, its got a great NZ site, but they dont seem that popular over there. In the US I have read the LF 400 wont be available because of EPA laws. The point you guys made about rust is wwell made as are the availability of parts.

The thing I cant get out of my head is the price (Scottish origin) you know us Scotts & money

[GrayWolf]

Hi there,
well as ANOTHER 50+ welcome!!
Re your thoughts on the bikes you are looking at. I would also agree with the Hyo, but maybe the 'standard version, not the sprot one. If youi are thinking of a 400cc? Can I suggest looking at the Hyo 650. Same size as the 250, and a good commuter and occasional weekend scratcher.

[Zap]

Cheers Wolf, yeah the thing is the 650 would be fine, I have a limited budget and over here 6k will get me the 250 new and thats a bit of a stretch so its the limit. THe 650 even 2nd hand is too pricey. I agree the Hyo looks pretty nice for a 250 and gives me a bigger bike feel on the cheap. In the end I'll only use it as a town bike so 250 will be fine to keep up with traffic.

[skinman]

[QUOTE=Zap;1130198151]Hi All,

Been reading this site and decided to post. You all seems pretty civilised and not judgemental.

Hahhahahahaha
I see a tui add in there somewhere

Re bike

What the others said, Lifan has not got a good name here.

[Old Steve]

Hi. I started riding at 61, 18 months ago. Since then I've done 22,000 km on my Hyosung GV250. I chose her because she meets the NZ learner requirements, is a bigger bike, she was cheap, and I'd heard that Hyosungs were reliable.

She's a good commuter bike, looks large - therefore she must be more visible, she's light with a centre of gravity that is low - so is very easily handled, has a nice low seat height, and can easily cruise at 120 km/hr on the open road.

The Hyosung GV250 is largely based on the Suzuki Intruder 250 which Hyosung manufactured in Korea under license. She has a larger tank than the Intruder, I get 350 km on a tank even at open road cruising speeds.

I'm biased, but would unreservedly recommend the Hyosung GV250. Don't think I'd recommend the Lifun, especially as they're more uncommon in Aussie - service, parts and warranty might be hard to get.

[Tigadee]

I've done some research on the Lifans and another brand called Arrow. Turns out that they use a copy of an older Honda design, specifically the Honda Rebel. There is another brand called Arrow which also produces their cruiser copy of the Honda (at least for the early generations of Arrow 250cc cruisers; the latest versions look more like road bike cruiser-wannabes). Both the Lifans and Arrows are very similar and their factories are located in the same provinces. Other than the lower weather-resistance of their materials and lower power/HP for open road (probably less an issue in crowded China), most owners report good things about them.

Checked out some UK China-bikes forums. Higher level of care for keeping the bikes clean to prevent corrosion of the metals and support in NZ are the main differences between the Lifans/Arrows and other brands, even more so in NZ with the higher salt content being surrounded by sea. Otherwise, mechanical reliability is nearly guaranteed from the Honda-based engines.

A better quality Chinese-made Honda is Kymco which is from Taiwan. They've been making bikes for Honda for the last 30 years. The Venox has a huge following in Aus and the US/CN, rightly so as it's a beautiful machine and it's based on the beautiful Honda VT250c V25 Magna. Unfortunately it's also bloody expensive for a 250cc, going for at least NZ$8,000 here and only from one dealer, so support is iffy at best.