Carbon components from China on Ebay ?!

like this seatpost for example: linkity link

At a third of the price of even the cheapest on crc are they worth a punt or will I end up on the floor picking my teeth up regretting my miserly ways?

its probably to the ones they stick fake FSA logos that snap easily,

on whats this meant to signify on the advert?

Your teeth, your call, personally I wouldn’t buy anything that I intended to entrust my life/face/’man danglies’ to from someone with whom I’d have absolutely zero form of redress if said product failed and impaled me.

Plenty of decent Alloy posts (Raceface, Ritchey, Truvativ)on CRC for £25 or less, that’s where my money would go.

That said I’m sure there’ll be someone along in a minute to say I’ve been brainwashed by ‘the industry’ and that they’ve built an entire bike from unbranded chinese carbon for £0.85 which they’ve been hucking off buildings no problem.

I bought this one and haven’t died yet
Though I haven’t used it yet….. It’s nice and light, looks well made. If you want carbon that’s more proven look at exotic on carboncycles.cc

I’m quite happy buying bike parts direct from China. I’d probably stay clear of an Ebay seller that appears to specialize in hair extensions though.

Posters like Hatter have just been brainwashed by the industry. I built a bike for 85p, and I’ve been hucking it off buildings with no ill effect… 🙂

I would buy one, I’d check the reputable Chinese sellers before eBay though I must say. Light Bicycle et al do seatposts.

Argh, so much for the deterrent effect of preemptive sarcasm!

What about other gear? I can see some cheap headsets and BB’s that look just the same as all sorts of brands here…

(alloy) stems and seatposts also seem el cheapo.

Plenty available through Amazon too, especially Flyxii and ICAN branded frames.

Would definitely be happy to try anything which wouldn’t cause a teeth ground interface if it failed if cheap enough. Not as worried as others, but would tend to use a bit of caution with bars and seatposts and only buy from places which have some reputation (road bike frame and seatpost are Pedalforce, which is branded Chinese carbon, road bike forks are Ritchey ones from ebay, which worried me more and I spent a long time thinking about because of the existence of fakes).

Think I’d be more confident buying a no-name than a fake tbh. That might be daft, but with a company selling fakes you know they’re not to be trusted, whereas a no-name you at least can give the benefit of the doubt.

I totally agree with that, I’d rather a company made a product the way they thought it should be, than tried to copy the aesthetics of something else, despite in invariably being totally different!

A quick search brought up a full carbon post for the ginormous sum of £8.50 (including postage) http://tinyurl.com/p5gb7cz – gift for someone you don’t like ?

Can’t be safe for that money

But it could be. Price isn’t always an indication of quality.

Can’t be safe for that money

If Planet X were doing them would you feel the same?

My friend bought some branded carbon bars and seatpost from Ali express for next to nothing.

The size they came in wasn’t made by the brand.

They were ridiculously light and thin walled and when you put your weight on them they flexed.

Personally I wouldn’t use them but he did and didn’t die.

If Planet X were doing them would you feel the same?

I’d hope that Planet x had some sort of quality control on the parts that they flog.

I have cheap carbon wheels from China they are fine isn’t the Planet flex stuff just cheapo Chinese stuff marked up a lot ?

If you’re referring to my post, then I agree. I only bought in the end because I’d convinced myself they were genuine – spent a lot of time poring over photos of genuine ones and the supposed fakes and there was a slight but obvious difference. IIRC there was something small but very obvious if you looked properly – maybe dropouts? – and mine matched the genuine exactly.

A quick search brought up a full carbon post for the ginormous sum of £8.50 (including postage) http://tinyurl.com/p5gb7cz – gift for someone you don’t like ?
Can’t be safe for that money

I bought a very similar looking post last year for ~£12 IIRC still fine after the first 1000 miles or so…

Not quite sure how much more safety a logo would really have bought me…

We’ll see if it’s still going strong in another year or not…

I’m told, getting stabbed in the bum hole is one of the harshest forms of punishment as it takes a long time to heal due to bacteria and if done properly it severes the sphincter muscles and you need a colostomy sack.

Many years ago, my mate, a bit naughty, was knifed in the pub, as his legs buckled under him, he shat himself, and shouted you “twunts you have stabbed me in the arsehole and went mental, until someone said don’t worry mate, it’s only your back.” bruised the spinal cord so he was ok in the end.

Why have I told that story – as you come off a drop, your bum hits the front of the seat, the leverage snaps the seat off, you hit another bump and wham, you’ve just been stabbed in the bum hole by a carbon spike.

Not really a great story to tell people at the pub as to why you have a colostomy sack.

I’ve snapped 3 alloy “big name brand” posts but never snapped a “anonymous” Chinese” carbon one

Usual thing China is huge with a lot of manufacturing, my Chinese carbon frame is awesome, lots of testing and QC, comes with a 5 year warranty and a Santa Cruz badge, other stuff may be good though it’s probably a bit random and there is no way of really knowing.

Other point is if it’s pretending to be something else – ie Fake it’s not legal to import and can be seized.

a saw someone racing at the malverns with a snapped carbon seatpost. It looked all jaggedy.

every time he went past we shouted “how’s yer bumhole?”

great days, etc.

So in summary….some anecdotal evidence that cheap carbon seatposts are okay but they might not be. lol

Rocketdog, where did you get yours?

I use cheap Chinese carbon wheels. Cheap Chinese carbon bars … and a cheap Chinese made (Ribble stickered) frame & fork r872. And now I come to think of it, my Cannondale Super6 HM was made in China … and probably bought cheaply by Cannondale too.

Sometimes you just pay that bit extra for the decals.

You’ll die, blah blah blah

(I’ve been riding Chinese carbon road bars – two different pairs – for about two years now and they’ve been awesome)

Think I’d be more confident buying a no-name than a fake tbh

Take a look on Aliexpress and you will find the same seatposts branded as Enve & Bontrager as well as unbranded, along with slightly different finishes.

FWW I have a (Ch)Enve Carbon post which is surprisingly well finished and hasn’t broke yet with my 14.5st battering it for the last 6months,
Got some Rigid Carbon forks from Flyxii which have been great so far on the same bike and a Carbon flat bar on another bike which has done 16months service with no issues.

But also have a set of Carbon risers bought from a different seller on Aliexpress which I have never used due to them feeling just too light(125gms) and flexy.

Stems been flipped now.

What concerns me about the direct from China parts (looking past the will it snap worries) is the ethical question of these super cheap carbon parts. Are they produced in the sweatshop, horrible labour conditions that have been documented plus the workers having to breath in carbon fiber particles?

I am not saying that the carbon parts form “names” are produced in better conditions but there seems a little more hope that they are.

It just seems horrible to save a few pence/pounds that someone’s life in another country it horrendous.

Loved to be proved wrong though.

FWW I have a (Ch)Enve Carbon post

why would you buy fake branded parts? especially ENVE?, it doesn’t even look like the original item

Plenty of people are using ICAN, flyxii etc for frames, bars etc….from researching these companies they appear to be experts at what they do and dont just do bike stuff, they make tennis rackets, golf club shafts etc from carbon also…obviously there is no exclusivity and if a brand like Santa Cruz come along and commission a frame from them they will shut up shop to the common man and produce for Santa Cruz only…ditto numerous companies like Ribble, On-One etc may come along and purchase from these companies and flood the market with the same stuff but stickered up differently.

Got no problem with it myself, consumers get more choice and better value for money, buying direct from the factory is no hassle in my experience…i’ve bought loads of carbon motorcycle stuff over the years like exhaust hangers, footpegs, wing mirrors, brake levers etc and never had a problem with fit or build.

Currently using a chinese carbon seatpost on my road bike, bars on a MTB and eyeing up some Light Bicycle rims for my full suss later this year.

why would you buy fake branded parts? especially ENVE?, it doesn’t even look like the original item

As I wanted a cheap Matt Black Carbon post, could of got a Unbranded one but they were gloss 3k carbon, I’m operating on a limited budget you know.
As for it not looking like a real one,

Not exactly worlds apart are they?

What concerns me about the direct from China parts (looking past the will it snap worries) is the ethical question of these super cheap carbon parts. Are they produced in the sweatshop, horrible labour conditions

And yet people are happy to buy products from renowned customers such as Apple,Dell,HP etc whose suppliers have dubious histories.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides

i ordered one of these last week

for the princely sum of 6p….plus £12 for postage
it should arrive in the next decade or so…but now this thread has me worried

Hmmmm, at least you’ll have no problem getting a full 6p refund if they turn up faulty!

I’ve never had a snapped seatpost, stem or frame.

I’ve never bought a cheap Chinese carbon part where regularly subcobtracting to other places can happen.

Stop being a tight **** **** and buy properly. **** buying a part that could fail far from the carpark or at 20mph+.

That £30 saving is **** all saving then.

Does buying expensive stuff make it impervious to breaking far from the car park or a 20mph+?

Better QC control and brands care about bad PR.

Xi Shuan industries wont have this worry nor any liability legal case against it.

I could go after Fox etc but a proxy factory bought through ebay?

I think some of the Naysayers ought to take a look at some of the Chinese parts again.

I have genuine big brand name seat posts on other bikes(Ritchey,Control tech and a Carbon 3T post on the road bike) and the ‘Ch’enve post compares well to them in both fit and finish.
The full Carbon fork on my rigid Mtb is equally well finished to the genuine Deda Carbon fork on my road bike.

If I didn’t trust them(like the set of handlebars I mentioned in a earlier post) I wouldn’t use them.

I only own two bikes so I dont have to cut any corners.

WTF?

I want that on a t-shirt.