2300 euros for 850 grams of carbon? That's how much high-end hardtail frames from major manufacturers cost. Easy. Is that a fair, understandable price, or are we paying a huge premium in our local bike shop? There are many bikers who ask themselves this question. And quite a few have set out to explore alternative routes. Hundreds of pages in the MTB forums bear witness to this, where the advantages and disadvantages of various direct sellers are discussed in detail - in Europe, but also in the USA. The basic tenor: "At a tenth of the price, you're not taking a huge risk by buying direct, and if something doesn't fit at all, you just send it back."
The trade relationship between West and East seems to be working, as the forums confirm. Serious problems are rarely reported. The direct purchases largely satisfy their Western owners. Between the lines, however, you can see that the recipients are lenient in dealing with shortcomings. Reworking is sometimes carried out or an imperfect finish is accepted, which would result in a complaint from a brand manufacturer. Serious problems with frame breakages with direct imports are not documented, but there are examples of carbon seat posts breaking off. It is also clear that customised painting and labelling of frames often goes wrong.
The high demand for direct imports made us curious. We wanted to find out what the Chinese goods really do and what the differences are to the big brand manufacturers. So we bought two frames the way most bikers do: via Aliexpress, a subsidiary of the Chinese trading giant Alibaba.
You can find the entire article with these topics as a PDF in the download area below:
- Bicycle frame from China in the Zedler-Institut test laboratory: Works Well WCBM-062
- ISO 4210 - Minimum requirements for load capacity
- Delivery times from Aliexpress and Ebay and the alternatives
- Goodwill in the event of complaints
You can find this article in BIKE 2/2019. You can read the entire digital edition in the BIKE app (iTunes and Google Play) or the print edition in the DK shop reorder - while stocks last:
