Marc, take a Trip down the North Highway and have a chat to; Ken's Trading Might just have what you could be looking For
You might buy a good multicab for 100k, but then again, you might not. I don't think you will find one of the newer just assembled models fresh from the builders with 7 day warrantee for 100k. I doubt you will get functional aircon for 100k.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I just don't want to venture too far from my original budget or end up with a lemon. I might have to rethink the original sidecar concept again to keep it all under 100k! Just as matter of interest I came across a blog from a bloke who has been around Mercedes, Audi, VW and BMW and seems to think Lifan motors rock. It makes for an interesting read. Cheers Motorcycle Tours Laos: Would You Buy Chinese Motorcycles? (Lifan under the microscope) Updated April 2015
I'm 5' 10" and about 200 Lbs and two of me would fit (barely) in the main seat of most of the commercial trike in Duma with another sitting in the front facing rearward and you could put another foreigner of the same size behind the driver. You could stuff a few Filipinos in any left over space. You won't climb a mountain loaded like that but generally it's normal loading just subtract 3 foreigners and substitute 6-7 Filipinos. If you haven't actually seen the Duma trikes, you might do a search, possibly a video on youtube.
I have heard that Lifan products can be good if not quite Honda or Yamaha quality. I saw a video where a guy was griping about a motorcycle he bought new for $800 shipped, simple agricultural model and he was trying to use it for super motocross. He complained that the fork seals blew, but they were never designed for how he was using it. He cracked it up and broke the kick start. He even complained about breaking the handlebars? Last I heard, the handlebars are not a "wear" item. But then he walked over to the abused motorcycle with the rewelded kick start and it started on the first kick and purred. How long a thing lasts often depends on who owns it and how they treat it.
A friend bought one about 4 years ago and has had many problems with the unit. He said it wasnt just one thing such as engine but various issues causing breakdowns. Mostly it is parked but he does use it occasionally when needed. I will ask him if he would buy another one.
I never suggested that you would get air conditioning on a Racal trike. There was no mention of tricycles in the post you quoted.
I had a van type multi cab the air con compressor was much too small and would barely cool the passenger compartment. One day I had to find an electrical fault. When I saw the crappie connections from the right hand/left hand drive conversion, I sold before something caught fire. An annoying feature on these conversion jobs is the headlamps are for driving on the left side of the road so they shine into the eyes of oncoming traffic.
