"How are these to work on? 70cc Honda four stroke, right? Bulletproof? Tell me what I need to know about these. I don’t wanna Lifan swap, no way."
Ok so basically I have/had the same train of thought when I bought my cub. First off when working on a cub you'll notice they are way fucking more heavy than a moped. Picking them up and setting them on a table isn't easy and I'm a big guy.
Next you're going to have to get some feeler gauges and learn to adjust valves. Not a big deal, but it must be learned and must be done. Valves out of whack will make the bike run bad and you'll chase your tail messing with the carb. Start with the valve adjustment first thing!
Also you talk about not wanting to Lifan swap, when you hit the cub Facebook groups, that's all they talk about.
I had a stuck valve and was told many times lifan swap doood! Ugh, annoying. I did fix it and it was a pita and Expensive tracking down all the n.o.s. seals, orings and such.
That being said, any transmission trouble should = a swap. And transmission issues are not unheard of on these bikes, I think even if the kickstarter gear messes up you're in for big work on those bikes.
These bikes are legendary but they're also old as fuck, I'm glad I had mine and had some fun messing with it. But ultimately it made me appreciate the simplicity of my mopeds much more! (edited)