The cloned ‘Rolex’ bought from some dodgy street trader whilst on holiday is pretty well known. The question is, are there any experiences of people buying cloned bikes or components that purport to be the real thing whilst pretending otherwise?

ebay has thrown up a few good ones

Like chinarellos you mean?

Is a Chinarello a Pinarello clone but branded as the real thing?

There are quite often fake Chris King headsets available on eBay.

Ambrose – Member

Is a Chinarello a Pinarello clone but branded as the real thing?

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/2013-Pinarello-dogma-aero-road-carbon_1190596345.html

Fake wheels, seatposts, what do you fancy?!

So fake high end components do exist. Any example of DT Swiss clones around? I picked up a bargain from Taiwan.

Are the Crank Brothers clones as unreliable as the real ones?

Ambrose – I’d suggest that there’s a very strong possibility it’s not legit.

Link?

cynic-al – Member
Are the Crank Brothers clones as unreliable as the real ones?

You need to buy the real thing to be that crap. It takes a lot of work to make products so consistently bad.

Sorry for the delay, eBay is blocked on my work PC.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-DT-Swiss-XM-180-Rear-Shock-Dampfer-200mm-7-875-/181418719050?pt=Cycling_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a3d65f74a

That looks real to me.

Oh goody 🙂

A lot of the stuff coming from Taiwan is OEM stuff, cannot see the factories going to the effort of replicating a niche item like the shock with all the machining,seals etc when they can more easily just do the more in demand stuff such as Carbon frames,forks etc.

I have had Avid BB7’s, Avid Levers and V brakes which were all spot on quality wise and if they are fake they have gone to such high levels to replicate them that they work as well as the genuine item.