MiniBike Mike’s Garage
Well-Known Member
If you're not on Facebook or the other Mini forum, I purchased one of the new Lifan Pony 100cc bikes. I was ask to write a review of my experience purchasing the bike and an overview of the bike itself. Below is my first review:
9/19/15
I have a bike!
This will be the first of a couple of reviews:
I found out about these bikes when a friend posted a craigslist ad link on Facebook. I thought the bike looked kinda fun and who doesn't need more mini bikes?
On 9/8/15, I ordered one from American Power Sports Center thru their website. They had a sale price of $1,099 with free shipping. I received an email within a few minutes confirming my order.
On 9/11/15, I received two emails from APSC. One stated the order had shipped, the other was suppose to have the Bill of Lading info, but nothing was attached. I called APSC on 9/11/15, just to confirm everything and get an ETA of delivery. I was told I should have the bike on Monday 9/14/15. On Tuesday I called back and told them no bike had arrived and that the tracking info they gave me came up "invalid". They said they had to check on it.
APSC called back a short time later and stated the shipper had not pick up the bike as planned and my new scheduled delivery date was Friday 9/18/15. They also sent a new email with new tracking info. This time the info work. I'm not sure who dropped the ball the first time, but because of the invalid tracking number, I don't think anyone actually put the order in. Not sure if that was APSC problem or shipper problem.
So...from Wed thru Friday, I followed along with the progress thru the shipper tracking system. At around 2:00pm on Friday 9/18/15, a truck did show up with the bike.
I'll add pics in next post, but I was a little worried when the trailer door was opened on I saw the crate. Very poorly packaged. They had built a box from 3/4" steel angle iron. The front tire was removed and they had run the axle bolt thru some brackets to hold bike upright. Because of some shitty welds, that whole support system had broken loose and the forks were hanging below the rest of the crate. They also had supported the bike with a metal bracket bolted to the handle bar risers. When the bottom support broke, it ripped the metal loose from the risers. I'm not sure how it happened, but nothing seemed damaged. They only thing I've found is a cut on the rear tire, but don't think it's related to the front brackets letting go.
The bike came mostly complete. I had to install the front tire and front fender. Kickstand, foot pegs and handle bars. Very easy, you can tell they had it together and just broke down a few items to get it in the crate. Within an hour I had it together, minus the battery. I checked the oil and put some fuel in it and decided to see if it would run without the battery installed. Third kick and it fired right up. All lights worked great. 4down manual shift worked great. Bike was advertised as being able to hit 55mph. I'm 225pounds and it pulled me to 50 pretty easy. I believe it has more, but want to break it in a little before hammering it.
No instructions come with the bike and the owners manual said the battery was behind the right side case. Wrong. The battery goes under the seat and it took me 20 minutes to figure out how to get that off. The bike comes with a tool kit, but not sure where it goes, because the seat and side cases requires tools to take them off.
I put about 1 1/2 miles on it yesterday and called it a day. I was very surprised and pleased that the speedo was in MPH, not KPH. It has a digital cluster/speedo, kinda cool.
Next up is tackling the MSO and seeing if I can get a title.
It's raining in Indy today. When I get a chance to ride more, I'll post another update.
9/19/15
I have a bike!
This will be the first of a couple of reviews:
I found out about these bikes when a friend posted a craigslist ad link on Facebook. I thought the bike looked kinda fun and who doesn't need more mini bikes?
On 9/8/15, I ordered one from American Power Sports Center thru their website. They had a sale price of $1,099 with free shipping. I received an email within a few minutes confirming my order.
On 9/11/15, I received two emails from APSC. One stated the order had shipped, the other was suppose to have the Bill of Lading info, but nothing was attached. I called APSC on 9/11/15, just to confirm everything and get an ETA of delivery. I was told I should have the bike on Monday 9/14/15. On Tuesday I called back and told them no bike had arrived and that the tracking info they gave me came up "invalid". They said they had to check on it.
APSC called back a short time later and stated the shipper had not pick up the bike as planned and my new scheduled delivery date was Friday 9/18/15. They also sent a new email with new tracking info. This time the info work. I'm not sure who dropped the ball the first time, but because of the invalid tracking number, I don't think anyone actually put the order in. Not sure if that was APSC problem or shipper problem.
So...from Wed thru Friday, I followed along with the progress thru the shipper tracking system. At around 2:00pm on Friday 9/18/15, a truck did show up with the bike.
I'll add pics in next post, but I was a little worried when the trailer door was opened on I saw the crate. Very poorly packaged. They had built a box from 3/4" steel angle iron. The front tire was removed and they had run the axle bolt thru some brackets to hold bike upright. Because of some shitty welds, that whole support system had broken loose and the forks were hanging below the rest of the crate. They also had supported the bike with a metal bracket bolted to the handle bar risers. When the bottom support broke, it ripped the metal loose from the risers. I'm not sure how it happened, but nothing seemed damaged. They only thing I've found is a cut on the rear tire, but don't think it's related to the front brackets letting go.
The bike came mostly complete. I had to install the front tire and front fender. Kickstand, foot pegs and handle bars. Very easy, you can tell they had it together and just broke down a few items to get it in the crate. Within an hour I had it together, minus the battery. I checked the oil and put some fuel in it and decided to see if it would run without the battery installed. Third kick and it fired right up. All lights worked great. 4down manual shift worked great. Bike was advertised as being able to hit 55mph. I'm 225pounds and it pulled me to 50 pretty easy. I believe it has more, but want to break it in a little before hammering it.
No instructions come with the bike and the owners manual said the battery was behind the right side case. Wrong. The battery goes under the seat and it took me 20 minutes to figure out how to get that off. The bike comes with a tool kit, but not sure where it goes, because the seat and side cases requires tools to take them off.
I put about 1 1/2 miles on it yesterday and called it a day. I was very surprised and pleased that the speedo was in MPH, not KPH. It has a digital cluster/speedo, kinda cool.
Next up is tackling the MSO and seeing if I can get a title.
It's raining in Indy today. When I get a chance to ride more, I'll post another update.