Has anyone bought Shimano parts from AliExpress? I need a new 11sp cassette, perhaps 42T or 46T XT/SLX… or maybe even the 51T Deore monster (but I’d need a new rear mech too)

Am I likely to end up with fakes?

Am I likely to end up with fakes?

Possibly. Possibly not.

I’ve bought them before and had no problems. They could be fakes, or seconds, or genuine goods. I try to do a bit of research into the sellers at least.

I’ve had good and bad experiences with AliExpress, it would either have to be impossible to find elsewhere or dirt cheap for me to part with cash for a Shimano cassette on there – in which case it’ll probably be fake so I wouldn’t bother…..

11-42 XT M8000 cassettes due back as free stock at Madison next week, so should be able to find one fairly easily, or order on Freewheel as a Click and Collect with your LBS, or have it delivered to your home.

I’ve been running Bolany cassettes from eBay without issue.

I used Aliexpress about 18 months ago and the parts were genuine but did take 6 or 7 weeks to arrive. I chased a few times but didn’t get very far and you cant claim it as lost until some daft amount of time.

I haven’t tried again as I always found good deals from the german sites and the lead times were always far shorter. Obviously a bit different with brexit…

I used Grandado to pick up a pair of XT SPD’s back in the spring as they were a lot cheaper and in stock but shipping from Hong Kong. Used PayPal as it was a bit of a punt and they were quoting 8+ weeks shipping.

They arrived within 3 weeks iirc. Well packaged and no custom charges etc.

I’m now wondering if they’re either factory seconds or really good fakes, the reason for this is that one axle partially unscrewed and the other was loose – both after c. 26 hours of riding which is really unusual for XT stuff.

Nevertheless, re-greased, tightened up and they seem fine now.

I got a full 11 speed SLX group set on there – arrived in 10 days or so with no issues.

Genuine Shimano in my experience. I filtered the search results by number of sales / feedback to give a good idea of who was a good seller.

Massively cheaper than UK based shops too. In my head, i’m imagining they do a lot of assembling of bikes in China – likely get container loads of groupsets in from Shimano and sell on the surplus / old stock.

I might give it a go then. I’ll use Paypal but do you get any buyer protection from AliExpress too?

Aliexpress is basically just a vendor platform, like amazon only more so- so there’s a wild mix of genuine stuff and knockoffs and just totally wrong descriptions and only some of those are deliberate.

The buyer protection is actually pretty strong, I’ve had to make a few claims over the years and tbf I’d rather deal with aliexpress than amazon. But that still leaves the question of good quality fakes…

I used Grandado…

I had forgotten about them so checked a few things I am after and they are more expensive than wiggle?

I always found good deals from the german sites and the lead times were always far shorter. Obviously a bit different with brexit

shopping for BBs the other day xt 34 quid in the UK. EUR 22.50 in Germany. If you need a few bits and can keep it beneath the 130 quid the postage is incidental. Some vendors in the UK are having a laugh. Welcome back rip off Britain. 🙄

I recently bought a “Shimano” cassette from Aliexpress – a fairly low end 8sp HG31 11-32. It was £11.62 delivered. If it’s real, I’m a Chinaman.

Reason for the purchase was that the daughter’s bike is 1×8 and in top the chain skipped every 11th tooth due to the chain catching on the 12t sprocket because of the chain line.

It came missing one of the 3 rivets in the back. I fitted it to the daughter’s Trek and it had the same issue as her existing cassette. I then found an old genuine Shimano cassette which worked perfectly well – no skipping at all.

On closer inspection you can see that the cassettes aren’t profiled the same on the rear of each cog – so it’s definitely dodgy. Probably a Sunshine cassette with “Shitamo” stenciled on it. Buyer beware.

P.S. anyone wanna buy a shatimo cassette?!?

Which German sites do people use?

EDIT: For BIKE PARTS only please

Bike24 and bikester always been good for me.

R2 bike

There’s stock here, but not unlimited. If more people in the West start buying direct from sellers here the stock will run out sharpish.

It’s true there’s a lot of other, cheaper brands (Especially Taiwanese), and that’s because of what they’re willing to pay in this region. I feel quality control is more a risk than fakes in bike parts. There simply isn’t the market for it to be profitable to these counterfeit gangs.

Yep bought a couple of deore groupsets inc that 11-51 monster cassette when there was nowt to be found in the UK

choose a 10 day delivery seller and get it quick too

watch out for the UK VAT added at the last step in checkout

Sunrace a good alternative for shimano cassette, check the youtube reviews for the cheapo cassettes they don’t last / drop on backpedal

I’m quietly testing a Wuzei 9-51t splined 12spd cassette. It doesn’t shift as well as I’d want, but feels solid under pressure with a Kmc chain. Some issues with setting up the shift cable to cover all gears. Faffed around for ages with the b screw and adjusters (wasn’t a straight up replacement for the M61000 Deore 9-51t cassette.) Doesn’t drop the chain when pedalling backwards. Only paid £34 for it, so it’s an experiment in budgeting (Wuzei cassette/chain for exercise, good gear for trips to mountains)

Bike24 and bikester always been good for me.

Bike24 don’t seem to want to ship anything to the UK. There was an SLX cassette in stock at Bikester but I was too slow

Managed to what I needed from Merlin Cycles! 46t SLX cassette and chain…. chain might be too short though at 114 links, only realised after ordering.

Super fast delivery, ordered Saturday, arrived today (Monday)