The Lifan GY 125 3a

The Lifan GY 125 3a.

Ok, so I've been asked and tasked with working my magic to get a friend of the family's GY 125 back running again & looking like new. It's possible that it might need to go to the mechanics for the odd thing, I don't have a welder for a start so anything like that would have to be looked at in depth, like any 'major' electrical problem that I can't pinpoint straight away, I won't have the time for that and a bike mechanic that's done it time and time again will likely know straight away what it is and how to sort the issue (although at cost). So as much as I / we can do ourselves, shouldn't be too bad.

There are two basic versions of the GY 125, along with many rebadged company versions of the same bike(s). The one pictured above is the version we will be working with here. It is the better more expensive version with larger gold, I think they're upside down front forks and rear disc break. 

The other version (below)  is almost the same but with a basic drum brake at the rear and different, more basic gatored front forks.

 

The fact that the bike is the better version might be good news in itself but the fact that it's also the less common version means it's a pain in the arse to find parts for. http://www.china-parts.co.uk/ is a good place to look for 'new' parts. They stock GY parts under both types but you have to look at the small print and may be better phoning to make sure you order the correct part. Things like 'rear wheel disc brake' would give an indication that the wheel is for the disc brake version of the bike for example. The costs can be fairly high for what it is and I think a lot of the stock gets sold out pretty quickly. That just leaves breakers / online breakers and places like eBay as the best bet and value for a mix of both used good order and new parts.

http://www.chinesemotorcyclepartsonline.co.uk/ can also be a look in for new parts, although they don't stock parts for this particular bike version (when I last checked, that may be different as you're reading this now) or different named variants it does stock some of the parts that fit both bikes by stocking a few for the other version of the bike in it's guises. Things like the exhaust, cables, fairings even the engine etc. You will want new of those (exhaust and cables) and not rusty knackered ones that's for sure. Now I'm assuming the height of the bike where the front forks / handlebars are concerned is the same so things like the choke cable and clutch cable will be interchangeable between the models but, they are different forks so can't be absolutely certain?. I would be willing to take a gamble however that they would be fine. The exhaust however is the exact same two part piece. It just makes perfect sense to have them use the same parts mostly.

Our bike here has been hit in the rear, which has bent in the rear wheel and damaged the rear swing arm. It looks to have been then thrown into the vehicle in front bending the front wheel the same way as the rear (both in a substantial V shape). The front forks however have taken no damage. Likely due to them being the thicker forks. The bike was purchased with the damage done by someone else, with the intent of getting fixed and back onto the road. 

So, first of all we know we need two wheels and a swing arm. Looking first for the swing arm (before we realized the afore mentioned difference in the two versions, we bought a swing arm for the wrong version. The drum break version of the bike). So after we got the wrong swing arm we managed to get the correct one from a breaker on ebay. We had no luck under the Lifan  GY 125 3a prefix however, after a brain wave I noted a Lifan GY 200 is exactly the same bike, chassis everything except for the 200 cc engine and 200cc stickers on the fairings. So I got a swing arm for the GY 200. Still they're not exactly common either but it gives another search angle to get parts for the bike along with a few other names given to the GY bikes, which I will list here at a later date.

I manage to also find a rear wheel listed for the GY 200 which will fit our bike. In fact the swing arm and wheel are likely to of came from the same bike as they are from the same place, so they may be pairing up once again here. 

Currently I'm having difficulty with finding a front wheel. Most of the donor bikes that are breaking on eBay also have damage or are for the other version of the bike. That's the thing the different forks on the bike mean I not only need a different rear wheel here than the other bike type (because of disc brake) but a different front wheel too, regardless of both bike types having a disc brake on the front. I almost managed to find one but, then they changed their mind and didn't want to sell the wheel after all. So I'm still on the hunt for a front wheel at the moment. These have been put to one side to be swapped out soon.

When it comes to the fairings, most on our bike here seem ok, with the fairing along near the seat on the one side (left side I think?) missing. Some fairings are there but broken / cracked. Because of all of this I know I can repair what's damaged with fibreglass cloth and epoxy from the other side (it will be rock solid) then cover the front with vinyl wrap like on my own Lexmoto. This will also help with finding a new panel when it comes to the missing one. If I use a panel with GY 200 on it or a different colour, it will be covered by the vinyl wrap anyway and both sides will be exactly the same. Also if the bike is ever scratched in use a couple of pounds for new tube of vinyl wrap and remove and replace is all that's needed. The bike is down as 'red' on the logbook so after looking at mirror effect red, decided I would go with a plain matte red as I didn't want to chance the fact the mirror finish could be deemed too different with the DVLA.  

The panels await covering.