Was my cheap, Chinese, Carbon Fibre bike from AliExpress worth it? 

Thanks so much for that, Dave. Really nice to hear and glad you enjoyed it. I started the channel 5 months ago and the subs have been rising steadily since then, so I’m hoping that growth continues, especially if people continue to enjoy the stuff I’m putting out. Really appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment too. 👌🏻🌟

966. He got me now.

@flaviodemoura absolute legend! 💪🏻

Also subscribed immediately 😂 just a great video, good shots…nothing missed. See where it takes us!

Because most people want to ride a product that's been tested and proven to be safe as well as has a warranty. And let's not ignore the innovation. These companies have brought to cycling in the past 10 to 15 years. There are so many styles of bikes and equipment that would not be possible if the companies we should be supporting wasn't involved in the sports and trying to make the product work in certain categories. It's 2024 and there's no excuse for not understanding or accepting this as a hard truth.

Cx3! Absolutely love that, Christopher! 😂 Fantastic that you've done 8k miles on it though, and no doubt it will go much longer too. Luke is awesome though. I love his review vids! Really appreciate you taking the time to watch my video and commenting too.

Brands and logos sell... they get their frames from the same Chinese companies... what we pay for is the brand names... hv decided to do the same.. get a frame and install good components. Cheaper bike than those over priced logos... 😅

@krissk77 there are some huge savings to be made by buying components from China, so long as you do your research before hand. 👌🏻

Thanks Emil, really glad you found the video informative and interesting. Really appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment. 🌟

Thanks Max, really appreciate you saying that. I’m getting there slowly though. Hopefully it won’t be long before I’m catching up to Francis and Katie. (Let me dream! 🤣). Really appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment. 👌🏻🌟

Great to hear it was useful, Dan and best of luck with your build. For what it’s worth I’ve added around another 1000 miles to this bike since posting this video and the only issue I’ve had in that time is that the left 105 shifter has stopped engaging. However, having googled the issue, it seems to be a fairly common problem not specific to buying them from AliExpress.

Nice work, Tomas. I love tinkering with bikes, putting random bits together and just seeing what I can make! Have you got a picture of it posted anywhere? I'd love to take a look at it. I'll try and get some more bike build videos together then, without making them too samey. Cheers

Thanks so much for saying that! Really appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment and thanks for the sub. The numbers are creeping up slowly, so we'll get there eventually. Great to have you on board though. 💪🏼

Thanks so much. Appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment. 👌🏻🌟

That’s great. How are you finding the bike to ride now and what groupset/components did you use?

it was a Airwolf full carbon gravel frame fully integrated cabling , GRX Di2 group set DT Swift wheels but have since sold the frame and upgraded with Scott Addict tuned @@petertreadway

Hey Peter, thanks so much for the compliment. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the videos. Also for taking the time to watch and comment and for the feedback. Yeh, it’s probably a bit dark in the studio… I really need to upgrade the lights! 😖 I took some photos of the bike just after I’d built it though, so I’ll make a post of them on a community tab on my channel for you to take a look. 👌🏻

No problem at all Jeffrey. I'm glad you found it useful and really appreciate you reaching out to let me know. You should definitely self build your bike though. No netter feeling than riding a bike you lovingly researched and put together yourself.👌

Thanks Rui, happy that it may help some people. You should definitely give it a go yourself though. As I say, I’d never built a bike prior to this but it wasn’t difficult at all. There are so many videos on RU-vid to help you along the way too. 👌🏻

Thanks so much. I'm glad you enjoyed it. 👌

That’s great to hear, Richard and couldn’t agree more about the X16. I’ve had a look at the other frames they do but this one just looks the best in my humble opinion. Great that you got to cannibalise another bike to keep costs down too. 👌🏻 That said, I do like the look of the blue and orange MFM100 full sus MTB. I definitely want to self build one of those eventually. Really appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment. 🌟

$480 with the groupset is an incredible price! So long as you do your research, there are some great deals on incredible quality parts out there! Ride on!

Absolutely. Part of the fun of cycling for me, is tinkering with your bike and learning how various bits work. It’s just a giant Meccano set basically. As my buddy Jimmy says, it’s two triangles and couple of circles and some pedals and handlebars. Nothing better than riding a bike you built entirely by yourself. So glad you enjoyed the video though and really appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment. 👌🏻

Scrolled through your videos, haven’t found any updates on this build… can you please give some more feedback on the experience? Would appreciate it… seriously thinking of going the same path of building something (just to spite the industry)

@micoskico will do but just to let you know now, it’s still going strong and I’m planning on doing London to Paris on again in June. The only issue I’ve experienced it the left 105 shifter has stopped engaging the cable but from research I’ve done online, it seems like that’s a common Shimano issue.

Thanks Barbera. 👌🏻🌟

Thanks, glad you liked it and yeh, the value compared to the big names brands is insane! Best of luck with your build. 👌🏻

Cheers Paul. Appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment. 👌🌟

Thanks so much for the sub, Kriss. Great to have you on board. And yes, I now check every box completely before throwing them! 😂

Great to hear, buddy. I love hearing about other people’s custom builds. Funnily enough, I’ve been looking at Ican’s Carbon gravel frames recently, as I really fancy a light, off roader. I hope you get many more miles out of your bike though. 👌🏻

Good info there, Matt, cheers. From your description, it appears I have the Gen 1 hubs (orange seals), so I’ll whip the wheels off this week to inspect the bearings. 👌🏻

Cheers Rob, yeh, can understand people’s apprehension but there really are some huge savings to be made. Appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment though. 👌🏻🌟

Hey, so glad the algorithm reached you with this video and glad you enjoyed it. The problem with the housing is that it's so stiff and thick, that it couldn't;t have been made any longer or with less sharp angles, because of the internal routing holes. That's why I'd never go for the integrated bar and stem again (well, not this one, anyway) As for the cable, it was definitely snug in to the mechanism, but clearly slipper out when the mechanism spun back but the cable was caught up and didn't move, causing the cable end to dislodge! Again though, that all comes down to the angles on the housing. Thanks so much for watching and commenting though. 👌

No problem. I appreciate you taking the time to watch and leaving a comment. 👌🏻

Thanks for that. That’s all really useful info. Definitely puts my mind at ease to think it’s probably real. 👌🏻

Thanks so much. Really appreciate the sub. I don’t think you could get tri bars would fit on these particular bars, due to the flattened shape of them. Nothing to stop you putting a more standard bar on to fit the Tri bars though. 👌🏻

@petertreadway thanks mate, do you have any suggestions for a more standard bar? I'm pretty new to this lol

Cheers mate. Your LBS might tell you differently, but basic bike mechanics isn't honestly that difficult. If you look at everything as just a big Meccano set, you'll see that you just take things apart and put them back together again. The most difficult thing to master is swallowing your pride when you have to take the bike to the LBS after you've tried to fix something yourself and screwed it up! 🤣

Wow! Thanks so much, Steve! I’m not sure how to respond to that compliment other than I really appreciate the kind words. Im actually a photographer though. I mainly shoot weddings, so if my communication skills come from anywhere, it’s probably having to diplomatically corral drunk family members away from the bar for the family group shots! 😂 Thanks so much again.

@@petertreadway yea no worries. Kinda had a feeling you might work with people. 👍🏻 So any negatives on the china build? Anything other than the one piece bars, you’d wished you’d bought something else? Really shock at the price though! Just shows what profits the big manufacturers are making!!

@@steveindorset yeh, the price is crazy good and really highlights just how much the big brands are making (or at least, how much they’re having to charge after spending millions on marketing!). Other than the bars though, the only thing I’d really change now is the groupset for a hydraulic brake one. The mechanical discs are ‘ok’, but you can never have too much stopping power. If I was being really choosy, then maybe electronic shifting too but that would be a luxury more than a need.

@@petertreadway I was thinking the same about the hydraulic discs and electronic shifting. Think I may venture a build myself soon enough. Cheers for the reply. 👍🏻

@@steveindorset no worries, happy to help (if it does!). Take a look at L-TWOO for budget hydraulic brakes. Francis Cade and TraceVelo have both done reviews on them. 👌🏻

Hey Felix, not sure if my old age has finally caught up with me, but I don’t recall buying a mech hanger adaptor but I’m happy to be corrected if you can point me to the video! 😂 That aside, what size rear mech do you have? Was it a 7speed on the Pinnacle? I’m guessing on that, as that’s what my Pinny was. It may be that you need a longer cage version or a specific 9/10/11 speed one, that’ll happily push in and out the correct distance. Not sure if that answers your question, but feel free to come back to me if not. 👌🏻

Hey Chris, that’s a great suggestion and I don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself before! 😂 I’ll collate all the links shortly and add them in the description. 👌🏻

Yeh, it can really depend on how they’re put together and whether the manufacturers give a toss about consumer safety! It’s got to the situation now though where the sheister manufacturers are starting to copy the cheap brands but cutting massive corners! Cheers though, James. 👌🏻🌟

@@petertreadway hear you loud and clear my friend. Part of my argument has been some of the bike shops have had their hand in this as well, selling us this shite and not saying anything. Take care buddy😊👍

@@JamesSocialCycling yes, there is that too sadly! 😏 Cheers mate, you too. 👌🏻

Thanks Derek, glad you enjoyed it. Regards Sava, I’d never actually heard of them but having done a bit of digging, they definitely appear to be a Chinese ‘brand’. That is to say, they take generic frames from a manufacturer and rebrand them as Sava. I can’t really find any reviews on them, so it’s difficult to comment on how good or bad they might be, so you need to be cautious if you decide to spend any serious money on them.

@@petertreadway Thanks, I really appreciate this!

Interesting to hear, Darp. Agree on the brakes too. I’m definitely considering swapping the cable actuated callipers out for hydraulic ones but I’m just put off with the thought of having to run hoses through the bars and frame! 😖 I found swapping the stock resin brake pads for shimano sintered ones helped too. 👌🏻 Thanks for watching and the useful comment. 🌟

@@petertreadway On the plus side, since you already have cables run through everything, that does make it easier to use the existing cables to pull the hydraulic hoses through! :D

Similarly I’ve heard great reviews about all of those frame makers. It just shows that you really don’t have to spend multiple thousands to get a great, lightweight bike. I’m glad you’re getting some decent miles in on your two bikes. 👌🏻

Which do you prefer if on rim brake, elite or ICAN?

@myxti3669 I only have ICAN wheels for my rim brake bike. They have been bulletproof. I should mention, though, that I live in a relatively flat area, and I hate riding in the rain, so the braking surface on my wheels is not subjected to a lot of abuse. Right now, I'm using the Elite Carbon 50D wheels on my Yoeleo R12 disc bike. On an earlier bike, I had ICAN disc brake versions, and they were excellent. They have been ridden at least 10,000 miles, and they have lots of life left in them. But they are sitting in my closet as a spare set for the Yoeleo. I prefer the Elite Carbon wheels because the rims are wider on the inside and the outside. It makes for a super comfortable ride while improving aerodynamics with wider tires. They probably wouldn't have worked on my previous bike, which was an early generation road disc brake bike with much more limited tire clearance.

Yeh, there are a few decent brands coming out of China now. Trifox, Elves, Yoeleo and ICAN are all great companies that seem to be getting good feedback. 👌🏻

Thanks Brian, really glad you enjoyed the video. Regards the seat post, thankfully I've yet to have a problem with it yet, and that's after some 400 miles now, but I understand your want for something more standard, to be able to fit your own one later. As you say though, £1200 for a bike easily worth £3000-4000 is difficult to say no to!

Absolutely, Richard. Sadly it can also make you near bankrupt! 😂 Calvin Jones is a living legend though and the teacher we all needed as kids. 👌🏻

Honestly, I knew very little, if anything, about bikes myself when I built this. Putting a bike together is basically just a large Meccano set though. Just take it piece by piece and if there's a particular bit you're not quite sure off, then there will undoubtedly be a RU-vid video for it. 👌 Really appreciate the sub and kind words though. 🌟

That reassures me even further then. 👌🏻 That said, they’ve caused me zero issues over the last 18 months, so it’s largely irrelevant for me whether they’re real or genuine, but good to consider that they may be the real McCoy. 😉 Thanks for watching and the comment. 🌟

Genuinely really impressed by Trifox and any communication I’ve had with them (beyond the original shipping issue! 😂). I hope your build goes well. Would love to see it when it’s finished, so feel free to tag me on IG if you post it.👌🏻

@@petertreadway I will let you know when the bike is build may be I can send you some impressions

@@nicoladigerlando23 absolutely. Drop me an email. It’s under the about tab on my channel page. 👌🏻

Hi Pete, sorry but I did not find your e-mail and I write here. I did get my X16 frame from Trifox. While assemble it I had a quite big issue with the seat post. Not sure if Trifox need a specific saddle. What I mean is that standard 44mm center to center rail saddle does not fit. Did you install a specific saddle? If you can can you share some pictures of your seat post just to make a comparison? Many thanks for your help

Payment in wine, Charles? Yeh, I could get on board with that! 😂 Completely agree though. I love tinkering with bikes, so having a project like this was great fun for me. The massive cost saving was a fantastic bonus too. 👌🏻 Do you still have the two bikes you built?

@@petertreadway I don't have those two bikes anymore, I sold them. I used to get a new bike every two years. My most recent bike now is a custom titanium frame I had made from a guy here in the US. I'm done buying bikes because this one has all the modern features of a Crit racing bike and I love it. I work on many friends and co-workers bikes since I have invested in a very nice collection of Park Tools over the decades and all I ever ask in return is a bottle of Merlot. I'm not in it for the money and everybody walks away happy. I understand mechanics do it for an income to make a living but I don't do it for that. And most people don't want to wait a week to have their bikes serviced at a shop.

@@charlesmansplaining no better feeling than seeing someone out enjoying a bike you were able to fix up for them, so kudos for that. As for you Ti bike, I hope I one day find my ‘forever’ bike, but for now I think I’ll just have to keep on tinkering with the ones I’ve got. 😂

Those were called Chinarellos. A few guys I ride with raced with them.

Honestly, I couldn't;t be happier with them. Since posting this video, I've probably put another 1000 miles on them and they're still going strong and haven't let me down once. Also, Elite Wheels now have a UCI approved wheel set for use in world tours, so they clearly aren't some fly-by-night outfit just out to make a quick buck from a shoddy product.

Absolutely! Desperately didn’t want a press fit one! 😖

Hey, these are the BR-002 ones. The BR-005 ones hadn’t been released when I built this bike but I understand they are a much better product. 👌🏻

Absolutely! I love tinkering with bikes but this was my first full build and I learnt so much. Would definitely recommend building your own bike to others.

But I’ll bet you still get snobs sneering at you! Ridiculous isn’t it! Sounds like an awesome bike though. I would like a bike with fully integrated cabling but not sure I’d have the patience to put it together! 😂

Thanks Calvin. Yeh, the price I paid all in is incredible. I’m so happy with it too and know it will go for thousands of miles more! So the frame isn’t fully internally routed. The only parts of the cable you can see though are where they come out of the underside of the bars and then go in to the down tube and then a small section at the back for the brakes and RD. 👌🏻

Ahhh I thought they were fully integrated and you changed it. My novice. @@petertreadway

@@calvincrane sorry, I probably didn’t make that clear. It’s an integrated bar and stem, so not two separate pieces. In addition to that, the bars have holes for partial internal routing of the cables. 👌🏻

Cheers Paddy. Yeh, can understand people’s frustration with the delivery times, especially in these times of ‘prime delivery’. I was researching this project over a number of months though, so the couple of weeks it took for any of these parts to arrive wasn’t too bad. As for quality, I’ve actually been seriously impressed with the frame but especially the wheels. I definitely check the frame every now and then though and every time I change the bar tape (which is quite often it seems! 🤦🏻‍♂️😂). I really don’t think that cheap and Chinese equals ‘death trap’ any more though. 👌🏻

@@petertreadwayI’ve been on the search for integrated carbon bars and stem for my Dolan, and have seen some horrifically priced ones, I’ll certainly give Ali express a look later today.

@@paddymallory4080yeh, the price is the main reason I started looking on AliExpress in the first place and was blown away by the price difference! Definitely check out the TraceVelo channel though, as Luke does tons of great budget parts reviews. 👌🏻

@@petertreadwaywill do, thanks Peter have a good week 👍

@paddymallory4080 will do, cheers Paddy. Same to you, mate. 🍻

For a couple of years now, tax has started to be added by AliExpress at checkout, so the chances are you’ve already paid it. Prior to that, it was a bit hit and miss whether you were later invoiced for customs import duty.

@@petertreadway thank you, appreciate the reply.

Absolutely! The Elite wheels are incredible value and are good for thousands of miles. 💪🏻

@@petertreadway i will buy another set soon but the Gravel ones for my Gravel AliExpress Frame build 😆 cheers mate 🇵🇹

Very good point actually, Mark. Cheap implies ‘crap’ whereas in expensive implies ‘well priced quality’. I like that. Really glad you enjoyed the vid too. Thanks so much for watching and commenting. 👌🏻⭐️

Yep, I've had that comment a few times now, John. This was one of my first studio videos, so I hadn't got my lighting settings fully dialled in at that point! 🤦🏻😂 I did post a few pics of it on my community feed though, if you fancy taking a look: ru-vid.com/show-UCWR8VZ3i75GICL0Ggrkv27wcommunity?lb=UgkxAvV1wRVC9H2XQpMVTckbl7aMeZUy1jP5 Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment though, John, 👌

Thanks very much Sofianass. Appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment.

I've not heard of BXT, Lee but they sound very similar to Trifox. People just naturally assume that anything Chinese will be crap and don't give them a second glance. There are some massive savings to be made if you do just a little bit of research though. Thanks so much for watching.

@@petertreadway Not a prob at all, I really like watching these videos, great you do them 👌

Cheers Lee, really appreciate you saying so. So glad you’re enjoying the videos too. 👌🏻🌟

Difficult to say regards the bars, as I’ve not yet had the pleasure of building a hydro brake bike, so not sure of the hoses would be any more difficult to bend than the Kevlar Jagwire ones. It would certainly be easier having to run just one set of cables through the holes though. As for the wheels, absolutely agree on the weight. These are fine for road riding but I’d be wary of putting any extra weight on the bike, as is sometimes the way when riding gravel. Good luck with your build though. I’d love to see it once it’s done, so feel free to tag me in any post of it on IG when you’re done. 👌🏻

I’m honoured that you’ve graced us with your presence, Mr. Vizzle. You are most welcome. 😉🌟

I appreciate that there will be a plethora of fly by night manufactures in China, and even slightly more reputable manufacturers who don’t mind cutting corners to save a few quid. However, just as DJI started out as a cheap Chinese drone manufacturer and Zhuiyun as a cheap gimbal maker, they’ve both now grown in to fully reputable and trustworthy outfits (as much as any ‘for profit’ company can be trustworthy, that is). I’ve always said that as long as you do your research, there are some great companies out there wanting to build a name for themselves, to grow their operations and are therefore willing to stand behind their products, even when things go wrong. When I bought the carbon wheels for this bike, they cost £277 for the pair and barely anyone had heard of Elite wheels. Fast forward 2 years and they have a full range of different spec’d wheels and are UCI approved for racing. My ones haven’t failed me once! Sadly, there are rogue manufacturers all over the world, the trick is being able to spot the good from the bad. 👌🏻

Sadly not. They are ‘designed and built’ in Spain (i.e. the bits are put together there) but the frames are physically made in China.

Cheers Zaahier. Really appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment. 👌🏻🌟

Unfortunately Trifox don’t (yet) make a bike with wide enough forks/stays to accommodate anything larger than about 28mm tyre, which would be pretty pointless on a gravel bike. If you’re looking for a cheap, carbon gravel frame though, take a look at ICAN. I’ve been eyeing up their gravel/CX bikes for quite a while and will probably end up grabbing one. 👌🏻

Ouch! That doesn't;t sound good! Do you know what caused the failures? Glad you avoided serious injury.

@@petertreadway both times air had been in the system. I had to pump the brakes to get them to work bring back rim brakes 🤣

Damn, that’s not good. Touch wood you don’t get any more problems from them or managed to get some brakes back on your bike soon. 😉

Thanks for the tips. I’ll definitely be building another bike in the near future and may try to make it as light as possible, so there are some good selections there. 👌🏻

Just a thought. How about creating the best ali express (chinese) bike - not necessarily most expensive. Something a modern cyclist will agree to and be ok to ride with. There are already very strong parts out there that combines the nuances of price, proveness and popularity.

@Runner9264 I like that idea. I’ll start looking in to it. Cheers. 👍🏻

With bike prices the way they are currently (which obviously isn’t the fault of LBSs), many people are just priced out of having a new, super lightweight frame. TBH though, the type of person that could build their own bike from scratch, isn’t likely to be a bike shop regular anyway, as they would like perform most of their own maintenance and be on the look out the bare frames from elsewhere to build up themselves. I do like to support my LBS when I can though. 👌🏻

I’ll take that to mean you think the bike was worth it, Alberto. 😉👌🏻

@@petertreadway 100 % cheers dude

Nice one, thanks mate. Really appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment. 💪🏻🌟

And sometimes same factory. 👌🏻

Oh man, that sucks that you’ve had such a bad experiences! That’s really disappointing to hear too, as I was just recently looking at getting an L-TWOO groupset for a new build I’m putting together! I was hoping L-TWOO was becoming that rare thing of a reputable direct from China company but sounds like their R&D as well as their quality control are still lacking! I’ll take a look at Sensah for now then I think.

​@@petertreadway their QC is rubbish because I had two gr9 groupsets with the first one returned for a warranty claim with full refund because of that stuck bleed port bolt which I eventually stripped. I asked ltwoo to check them for overtighening before ahipping but they just refused claiming that they check it during assembly but they apparently don't because the second groupset had the same problem only this time I was able to loosen the bolt with a t8 torx bit without stripping it. It's ridiculous... I think the whole design of the bolt is bad because the head socket is too big for the specified 2 mm allen key to engage tightly enough to loosen it. I wrote to ltwoo about it and asked if they could send me a replacement bolt because I am afraid that after several cycles of undo/do, the bolt will eventually strip and get stuck in the reservoir forever rendering the lever useless because it won't be possible to bleed it. They went silent since then so I think I will have to open a dispute over this. Talking about good customer service... And it's not just me or just the GR9. I found one review on ali regarding their electronic e9 groupset where the buyer had the same problem with a stuck and over tightened bleed port bolt. I just have this impression that they rush unfinished products to market and from the earnings and and based on possible customer feedbacks, reviews, opinions and comments, they fund improvements. If you take a look at their 2023 catalog, their range of products is massive. It's amazing at what pace they release new stuff, regardless if it's beta version or final well tested and designed release. I think this is simply unfair towards us, customers who fall for their competetive prices and paid reviews from numerous shills on yt. I haven't ridden the groupset much yet, all that I mentioned are basically first impressions after installing and a few km clocked. If first impressions are that bad and you discover issues that no 'reputable' yt influencer (tracevelo, china cycling, gc performance, cade media) mentioned about, then it really puts you off of stuff from ali, even if you are aware of the gamble and accept the risk of getting a faulty or under developed product. If you planned on buying any hydraulic ltwoo groupset, I'd refrain and wait until they get their sh*** together. If anything, I'd go with their mechanical groupsets. I have their R5 9-speed shifters paired with shimano sora r3000 rd and they work all ok. The overall quality and and actuation is comparable to claris/sora, but the price is half of the price of sora shifters. I also have their AX 11-speed mtb groupset which also works fine, but after half a year of riding and less than 1k km clocked in the clamp bolt of the shifter snapped out of nothing. I haven't used a torque wrench on it but definitely I haven't overtightened it. Guess, these dirt cheap prices don't come from nowhere... Also, the b tension washer that latches on the rd hanger, can fall off when you take out the rd because unlike in shimano rds, it's not held by a clip on washer that clips into the groove of the main rd mounting bolt, but it's held in place by a simple spring-like retaining ring similar to these that hold the freehub pawls in place, which can pop out but is easy to put back in.

Yeh, think I need to upgrade my lighting setup! 🤦🏻‍♂️

Wow! That’s an expensive duty to pay! It’s usually just 6% import duty in the UK (plus the normal 20% sales tax), which seems bad enough at times! Whereabouts in India are you though, out of interest? I’ve visited Kerala a number of times and love it. 👌🏻

@@petertreadway I am from chennai, tamilnadu.

@@pradeeprajaapandian8297 The next State over then. Not too far from where my travels have taken me. Although Chennai is a fair distance though! I hope to tour Tamil Nadu one day.

Thanks for the comment mate and that’s reassuring to hear. 👌🏻 Excuse my ignorance though, but what do you mean by no fake groupsets higher than cheap mountain bike ones?

Not sure about groupos but I've most definitely seen fake Tiagra and 105 chains. Obviously through the slightly different font in the plates and very different quicklink

Yeh, completely agree that bike pricing has gone crazy, chiefly due to the pandemic causing a perfect storm: lack of bikes to sell + people with tons of time at home wanting to get out and exercise. The bike industry was basically naming its price. Now though, interest in cycling has fallen back to similar pre-Covid levels but manufacturers haven’t adjusted prices to suit. That matched with a cost of living crisis, is why the industry is on its knees now. Sad to say but it’s largely their own greed to blame.

@@petertreadway , loads of new bikes on sale now ! Tempted to buy a new bike even though I don’t need one lol ! My scott addict is my first decent road bike and I am very impressed !

Have you got a source for that info? These factories will be throwing out multiple types of frame from different manufacturers every day, so to suggest that each brand has their own technician sat watching over the assembly line seems a little far fetched. They may send an inspector in randomly to make sure the frames are up to spec on a given day, but having someone sat constantly in another company’s factory? I can’t see it.

Whilst I understand that bike shops have a place, and I am a huge supporter of them when I have an issue I can’t fix myself, it has to be understood that times are hard for everyone. Should someone be stopped from riding a bike because they can’t afford to buy one from or afford to get it fixed by their LBS? On another point, if someone is capable of fixing/building their own bike, then they were never going to be a bike shop customer anyway. On your point of there being no innovation because people are buying ‘cheaper possibly toxic’ products, can you explain to me how a ‘cheap, Chinese’ company like Elite wheels went from being laughed at in pretentious cycling circles to having a number of UCI approved products? Yes, there is a lot of crap out there but they usually get found out pretty quickly and don’t last long. There are, however, also highly reputable Chinese manufacturers that stand behind their products, with great after sales service and customer support when needed. As I stated in the video too, pretty much every major bike brand has at least one of their frames made in China and those factories produce products for many brands at once. Why should a consumer pay more for a bike because it has Trek/Bianchi/Giant/Pinarello down the side of it? You may argue that you’re paying for research and development but that argument only goes so far and so the vast majority of your money is going on a huge marketing/PR budget. I’m afraid you will not convince me that a £12k bicycle has as large an R&D and manufacturing cost as a £12k motorcycle. The math ain’t mathing. Ultimately, people are entitled to buy parts from wherever they want at a price they are comfortable with and if that happens to be from China then that’s their prerogative.

A few are made in Taiwan, Roger, but the majority are mainland China.

@@petertreadway Yeah, I just realized you are talking carbon frames, not aluminium. My bad. Anyway, thanks for the informative vid!

@@RogerSartet007 thanks Roger, glad you liked it. 👌🏻

Nothing wrong with either. It’s horses for courses. I have a number of old, steel frame bikes but variety is the spice of life. Cheers for the engagement. 👌🏻

@@petertreadway well, that is a beauty of cycling. Lots of variety for not much money.

I built a road bike from scratch , all eBay and found a bunch of old school Raleigh Reynolds steel tubing, can’t remember what number, but incredibly light and about three kgs lighter than my son’s smaller full aluminium bike

How about if I fix my bike? 😉

@petertreadway more power to you, but it takes a village. Most people spend too much time online w/o a solid answer. When a visit to their LBS would absolve most problems in a shorter amount of time.

@Roadmannerism-cc I’m always really conflicted on this point, as I do feel it’s right to support your LBS but I’m also all about people learning to fend for themselves and, TBH, I’ve been guilty of looking stuff up online and getting 15 different answers. But to me, that’s when you just have to go and get your hands dirty, tinker with the bike and see what you find. You’ll learn so much more about your bike in general that way than anywhere else. Then, if you screw it up completely, you can take it to the LBS to get them to fix it! 😂

@petertreadway Correcto Mundo. At that point once the customer has tinkered/ screwed with it, the LBS then gets to charge you double without you complain. It's only fair to charge you double to clean up your mess. ;)

Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, even if it’s wrong. 😉

👌🏻