I’m looking at a set of cable actuated hydraulics for my CX bike and like the look of the R1’s, they’re £149.99 over here.

I’ve found them at Aliexpress for £117.08 inc delivery of 7-15 days, any reasons not to buy?

They may not be real
They may not turn up
You may be charged import tax and/or VAT
£33 quid would quickly disappear.

Righty ho, UK sourced it is then

There were some on Amazon, Acor (same brakes) for £145…..think they are sold out tho. I’ve 2 pairs both been bought on here (used), great brakes.

As above, also look for the Acor version… and umpteen other rebranded versions.

Great brakes

I’d have no qualms buying from AliExpress (indeed I’ve spent a couple of thousand quid on there), but I’d go with more established sellers, 11 feedback isn’t great, only been open 6 months too.

Yeah, Aliexpress is fine and has a solid refund protocol if something goes wrong (even more weighted in favour of the buyer than eBay).

The Acor ones were available around £90 a pair a while back, were they not?

The Acor ones were available around £90 a pair a while back, were they not?

Yup, then Brexit happened98 (£117 being ~20% more than £90)

I’ve just sent mine back under warranty after just 2 weeks so I’m glad I didn’t buy them from China…

finbar – Member

Yeah, Aliexpress is fine and has a solid refund protocol if something goes wrong

Actually not totally true, in my experience. A lot of sellers specify “return at buyer’s cost” and Aliexpress won’t overrule that, so when I got send a couple of wrong parts the seller just said “fine, send them back” knowing it wasn’t cost effective. Aliexpress customer service just went “Yeah, we’ll ask them to make a full refund”, I said what happened, they said “we asked, they said no”. Basically it’s carte blanche to send people a jobby in a box and make money

That doesn’t totally put me off using aliexpress, but it’s a bummer.

I’ve got the Acor versions on my Boardman CX and they are a fair bit better than the nasty cable things it came with.

Easy to set up and no drag, although perhaps obviously not as powerful as full hydraulics.

Actually not totally true, in my experience. A lot of sellers specify “return at buyer’s cost” and Aliexpress won’t overrule that, so when I got send a couple of wrong parts the seller just said “fine, send them back” knowing it wasn’t cost effective. Aliexpress customer service just went “Yeah, we’ll ask them to make a full refund”, I said what happened, they said “we asked, they said no”. Basically it’s carte blanche to send people a jobby in a box and make money

Oh, I beg your pardon. I bought a carbon frame and there was some resin in the BB threads – negotiated a $50 refund from the seller. I also got refunded for something that didn’t arrive, and had no problems cancelling one order before it was shipped. But I have never had to actually return an item.

Oh yeah, I don’t mean to suggest that everyone abuses it- my experience is that most aliexpress traders are no different to any other marketplace, ie, basically good guys making an honest living. But aliexpress’s attitude to protection is piss-weak, should you need it. And with that particular thing they’ve allowed sellers to push the loss from their mistakes onto you.

Doesn’t put me off, I buy shitloads from aliexpress despite it.