Seem to be doing a feature about MTB stuff, possibly carbon fibre bars and helmets.

Which channel?

starting now bbc 1

He must be on here!

Ouch- nasty.

Staying with my truvativ alloy bars!

Eeeek!

Unfortunately in the North West we have been treated to a program called “Race Apart” instead 🙁

It’s good to see FSA are working to get the fake bars ‘removed from sale’ online.

I note the UV logo used to spot genuine goods, but that will only be of use if you can visually inspect the items prior to purchase… like in a proper bike shop, as opposed to online.

What is it about FSA that makes it so susceptible to being faked? There’s so much dodgy stuff around that I now wouldn’t want anything from FSA on my bike as I’d be constantly worrying.

Flipping channels and caught it, probably got the bars from the same place as that tan I expect…

its not just FSA, type any brand name into Aliexpress

http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20151207120749&SearchText=chris+king

http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=AS_2011207120644&SearchText=enve

http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20151207120811&SearchText=bontrager

Saw it – sorry for the guy with the injury, it could easily have been worse

but

what was he thinking, 660mm wide bars ……as an ‘upgrade’ ! ??

Are they all fake? Online, how could I tell? I did buy a DT shock from ebay and to date it has been perfect. Nothing about it suggests it might be hooky at all.

is this the “bloke buys suspiciously cheap Giro from Chinese seller on internet and it turns out to be a fake” shock episode that was on a few days ago or another one?

And who buys FSA anyway, I thought that was the cheap OE tat that you replaced?

What is it about FSA that makes it so susceptible to being faked?

it’s cheap OE tat so they don’t protect their IP, whereas other brands are a bit more vigilant?

it’s cheap OE tat so they don’t protect their IP, whereas other brands are a bit more vigilant?

The program claimed they’ve been very proactive in getting thousands (can’t remember the exact number) of fake listings removed from eBay.

Certainly seem to be a lot of suspect looking FSA stuff on eBay still though judging by a quick browse!

Are they all fake? Online, how could I tell?

I would certainly be very suspicious of any branded carbon stuff on eBay. You have to ask yourself: who is the seller? Could they get hold of legit goods (i.e. are they a reputable bike shop)? If it’s cheap, why is it cheap?

it’s cheap OE tat

really?

no GT wins at all for FSA 🙄

A guy brought a Cervelo into my LBS for a service, he’d bought it online. Full Zipp finishing kit, Cervelo was white with World Champ stripes.

They started working on it and pretty soon were coming up against some unexpected things – just really little things that only a true bike geek would spot so they did a bit of googling and found a few little idiosyncracies – stuff like the cable exit points, bits of the fairings, logo designs and so on before coming down to much more fundamental stuff like geometry. But it was all really easy to overlook if you didn’t know exactly what you were looking for.

The whole lot was fake. All the parts, the frame, everything. He’d paid about £2000 for it on ebay.

If it’s from the chinese sites or ebay and it’s fsa, bontronger, raceface, ritchey carbon stuff then it is fake, unless the ebay seller is merlin cycles or something.
There are ebay sellers with 1000’s or feedback ONLY selling couterfeit bike stuff

If it’s a brand name, it’s on eBay or alli, and it’s 10% of what it retails for..

as dirtyrider says, aliexpress is a goldmine of counterfeit carbon, they are sometimes a bit more circumspect about the name on some of the frames (I expect those manufacturers are a lot more ‘proactive’) but if you look at, say, wheels there you can buy the exact same deep carbon wheels with Enve, FFWD, Mavic etc branding.

no GT wins at all for FSA

Really, I had no idea 🙂 Despite having been specced on World Tour bikes for years I will always associate FSA with being OE on cheap/midrange bikes, the sort of thing you quickly upgraded. So despite Contador being my favourite GT rider (not derailing the thread!..) I would never put FSA on my bike.

Yep simple route to telling if it’s real is buy it from a retailer who is a distributor for the brand. Simple really. If it looks too good to be true?

I just may have to try a Chris King headset for $16.99 with free shipping! 😮 😯

Not to make light of the guys injuries…

However, found it funny when the guy from the show said the purchaser bought the bar to make the bike lighter. Fair enough.

Then went on to say “improve its (the bikes) performance”.

Ok…

I just may have to try a Chris King headset for $16.99 with free shipping!

Ah genuinee Kris King set of head 😉

Ah genuinee Kris King set of head 😉

Kris King or King Kris; who cares for $16.99! 😆

Quality accident reconstruction too…

I don’t really see anything wrong with far eastern Carbon kit TBH, it mostly comes from “over there” regardless of the brand name… What you buy with a genuine brand is their manufacturing specs and QC, obviously…

The cynic in me reckons he knew it was a fake TBH, if the price is too good to be true…

Trying to chase FSA for compensation was a nice touch I thought, playing the total innocent…

If he can operate ebay well enough to track down bargain carbon bars, he could have easily googled his way round to “spotting fake carbon parts”…

Still he got to try out his “sad victim” face on the telly, so not all bad then…

I don’t really see anything wrong with far eastern Carbon kit TBH, it mostly comes from “over there” regardless of the brand name… What you buy with a genuine brand is their manufacturing specs and QC, obviously…

Nothing at all, you just have no idea what it actually is. Again it’s a bit like comparing cars Landrovers, Bently, Aston MArtin etc. all make cars in the UK, the UK also produced the Austin Meastro. Country doesn’t mean anything.

If he can operate ebay well enough to track down bargain carbon bars, he could have easily googled his way round to “spotting fake carbon parts”…

Again really easy, was it sold by an FSA dealer? If not then it’s probably dodgy.

Bargain 🙂

There are a few folk in my work getting all excited about the cheap Mavic Cosmics you can get from Ali Express – they look at me like I’m mad when I mention that I wouldn’t touch them!

Missed this last night.

Got me a little worried after purchasing a FSA Orbit MX headset from Absolute Cycles for £16.95 recently. Its only a little cheaper than PX and others so hoping its alright. I can’t imagine headsets are where the money is for fake good unless say it is Chris King.

Interestingly I googled Fake FSA and saw Fake Britain did a similar feature on 8th December 2014. Must be a yearly fixture!

I suspect they go for FSA because it’s at the light end of the mass market (or was until Enve showed up), and has bonkers RRP that’s often discounted anyway. If Merlin are selling a £500 chainset for £150, then the £100 one on ebay must/might be legit?

Got me a little worried after purchasing a FSA Orbit MX headset from Absolute Cycles for £16.95 recently. Its only a little cheaper than PX and others so hoping its alright. I can’t imagine headsets are where the money is for fake good unless say it is Chris King.

I’ve had a fake Cane Creek S8 before, it wasn’t even that cheap or from a particularly dodgy looking shop. Rusted and siezed in a matter of weeks. The original has sealed stainless bearings isnide a cup with a big thick seal on it and lasts years, the fake was just a generic sealed bearing headset.

I’ve just watched on I-player. TBH I bought an FSA Carbon Road Stem off Ebay a few years back from a UK Seller as soon as I got it I could tell it was a fake (and not a very good one)! the face plate wasn’t right and didn’t line up with the front of the stem properly, also the face plate was a bit rough… to be fair I emailed the seller who took it back no questions??!!
As said before, if it looks too good to be tru….it probably is! The only exception probably is if buying from an established uk shop and let’s face it there are some great bargains out there if you’re prepared to look for them. ENVE Riser bars £70ish, Race face Turbine Cinch Double Crankset £170 etc.

Read this the other month about Specialized Venge

http://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/components/catch-counterfeiter-sketchy-world-fake-bike-gear

Good article, thanks for sharing.

The psychology of it is quite interesting. I’ve noticed the pro-counterfeiting users on here in the past seem to conform to a certain character type.

I noticed that he tightened up the allen bolts with an allen key rather than a torque wrench, so even if it had been a pukka bar it could still have broken…………..

True, but that is not the point. The issue is that he was scammed and ended up with sub standard goods that caused him injury.

I used to tighten the stem on the carbon bars on my trials bike with an allen key and never had a problem

I noticed that he tightened up the allen bolts with an allen key rather than a torque wrench, so even if it had been a pukka bar it could still have broken…………..

What if he had used a counterfeit torque wrench?

It didn’t fail at the clamp. It failed at the bend. More likely to crack that Thomson stem.