The philosopher would ask: “which is the scam, the one charging a low price for a knock off product, or the OEM charging an inflated price because they carry additional manufacturing, advertising and brand marketing costs (and profit expectations)”? Saddles and wheels are good examples of this, plenty of “copies” available that are high quality, comparable performance and low cost. Many (most?) riders would buy the 70 quid saddle and be perfectly happy.
I would use that saddle right now and be comfortable with that. I tried a lot of Chinese saddles in the years and never had a problem with them, except some of them being flexi. It even happened to me with a Prologo saddle that the Chinese copy was flexier in the middle of the saddle, and because of that I found it more comfortable than the original one I bought after trying that. 4 years later that saddle s still on my commuter/garage pieces gravel bike
@@Seppes94 I think it's a hit and miss when it comes to the quality of these knockoffs. I watched a review of the fake fizik saddles and his saddle was creaking when he installed it. I ordered the same saddle but didn't experience that creaky sound.
@@bosross6992 dude, you are totally on point! I check the negative reviews, see all the possible downsides of the product and if it's acceptable just buy the damn thing and save 80% of the price
@@Seppes94 looks don't always tell the full story. I want to see them go through with the tests. In this case, judging by the looks of it, they won't take it seriously, won't test more than a single item of the given product, or do a blind/objective test in any way shape or form (nobody tried to rip the Met helm apart, for example). If they did , I bet most of the products would be functional with the crappy ones failing spectacularly. But let's not judge prematurely and wait to see what will happen.
One piece of advice I've seen when buying cheap cycling kit is not to buy counterfeit goods which are deliberately copying the expensive brands but to buy cheap goods which are trying to be their own brand.
Berm Peak Seth recently tested counterfeit helmets... he was able to completely crush one flat with his foot! Governments should ban more products like these that can easily be fatal!
He tested a fake helmet that pretends to be the real deal. Those products are imported illegally across borders and do account for huge industry losses each year. So governments are invested quite a lot in stopping those imports, but there is always a way for fraudsters (see drug smuggling as an extreme). The fashion or rather luxury industry is hit hard by that, but I don't care about them. Governments should definitely take closer looks when it comes to safety relevant products. Is shit happens due to malfunction not only the individual is affected but the whole society which will cover costs due to the accident - at least in a social democratic country.
Who wears Scicon glasses you ask? Tadej Pogačar wears them, maybe you've heard of him. They are great glasses btw with lifetime lens replacement which you don't get with Oakley.
The issue with the glasses even if they are made of poor grade polycarbonate they will still block 100% UV light because that's just what it does. Even acrylic will block 97% (which is good enough) but acrylic won't flex like that.
@@wuzihuzi Well it's an issue in the sence it tells you nothing about the quality of the material and using it as a metric to determine if the glasses are any good or not is pointless. They could block laser beams but that's no good if after a crash you need a white stick and a labrador, because the cheap plastic splintered on impact and gouged your eyes out.
@@chris1275cc I have fake ones and crashed 3 days ago. Dragged my face over the ground at 40 km/h... The glasses were totally scratched but didn't break.
@@Babolatplayer Great, now you just got to hope the pair you replace them with come from the same factory, and are made to the same standard from the same material for the next time. 🤦♂
It can be foolish, but difficult to criticise people buying the fake stuff when the price points are so appealing, manufacturing is often very similar and the rest goes into the commercial costs of the business
Yeah, but the biggest problem isn't people selling fake stuff saying it's fake (it's one thing), but when you think you're buying the real one but you got a fake and only realized it later.
Buying fakes is madness though, the people making them actively do NOT want to be represented by what they're making. Going for much cheaper chinese alternatives of companies that actually care a little bit about their brand name are a much better option.
Bontrager XXX carbon bottle cage is one of the most popular counterfeit bike products, I have several fake ones including unpainted and they don't have any problems in construction and function. Those may be the only fake bike bits that I will buy and use. I once bought a fake Alivio rear derailleur unknowingly, which had atrociously bad quality and was not even useable (loose pivots, weak spring, distorted cage), fortunately it's less than US$10 and a lesson learned.
I'm sure would go as follow, sturdy robust, durable and 100% functional with just a bit of a bigger margen of error on the wattage Example you're riding at 200w, an expensive one will tell you somewhat between 195-205w watts and the affordable one somewhat between 185-215w You may be thinking 30w are a lot but is not cusse doesn't dance between those numbers, the calibration is the one with the margin of error but the lecture is consistent meaning if you're doing 200w and the calibration says 185w it will always show 185 for you, allowing you to properly train since is consistence
I've got a magene spider power meter, 300€ with crankset included. It gives me readings a little higher than my favero Assioma double sided pedals, but something like 2+ more watts on my 280w ftp and maybe 30w on 1100w sprints. to me it's more than acceptable.
Tooled bar plugs are really good when taping opposite of tradition (from middle to bar ends). Once you start taping like that, you never go back. So much neater.
Well, I guess I'm just plain Looney Tunes then. I have 3 of the genuine saddles on my bikes. Fizik Antares 00 3D, one of the most comfortable saddles I've ridden. 🤫
The problem is any Polycarbonate will block all UV light, but there are different grades, the really cheap stuff is stiffer and will shatter. Then there are really cheap plastics like polypropylene (the stuff they make CD cases out of) which they could be using that will also block UV initially but will degrade over time with exposure and shatters really easy.
I’m pretty sure I saw a program on tv about sunglasses fake and very low price ones and they tested them against high end glasses and they offered very similar protection
Great video but when it come to copies if it isn’t a safety issue I will take a chance if I’m saving a significant amount of money . I just recently purchased a copy of a specialized mirror saddle for 49.00 us and it’s very comfortable only time will tell if it is reliable and that’s a 400.00 savings. So for me it’s worth taking a chance 👍 . If companies sold their products for a reasonable price people might not be tempted to buy knockoffs.
100% I have two fake saddles now which have performed admirably. I am taking it a step further and arguing massive tiers in pricing for safety items is unethical and should not be supported. What is the message when one family is rolling around with $1200 kask mips helmets and another with $200 super cycle level helmets? Those with means get premium safety and brand names and those without get the cheap stuff, should not be supported.
The reason Chinese products can be that cheap is because they don’t have to do the months/years of R&D that go into designing that product. They just grab one and make a few new copied molds. They don’t do any marketing either, which is an astronomical cost that has to be recovered. The material cost of a product is a tiny fraction of the total cost.
I agree completely with the cleat conspiracy. The yellow rubber bits all fell off of the cleats that came with the pedals way quicker than the new ones.
Uh-oh! I use a lot of that fake stuff :) especially curious to see what the optometrist says about the UV blocking of the knockoff sunglasses. And wouldn't you be able to pull apart a brand name helmet the same way because they're supposed to be breakable?
I literally own a dozen pair of knockoff sunglasses and they're perfectly fine. I paid anywhere from $2 to $15 per pair and they all do what they're supposed to do, keep the sun out of my eyes while making me look stylish. I also buy all my saddle bags and other bike bags from China for $2 to $5 each and they're all great as well. Lastly, I have at least a dozen bib shorts/jersey combos that I've bought from China for $25-$30 each as well as cycling socks and they're all great. I would buy the real sunglasses if they weren't such greedy bastards. $300 for a pair of sunglasses? $400? I think not. Same for bib shorts and jerseys. They're all made in China anyway, which is why they are exact copies of the overpriced models.
agree except for bib's and jerseys. I think that is actually one place where it's worth investing in the real product. I buy Assos and nothing else comes close to those bibs ;)
You can’t see uv light so you won’t know if the glasses are blocking it or not. Also with the price of a dozen knock off glasses you could have gotten 2 legit ones.
@vesale, polycarbonate blocks 100% uv, it's a property of the base material not some coating. I could use clear $2 safety glasses and I'm still blocking uv
@@filipsusmelj1817 I wouldn't know because I've literally never bought a pair of name brand bibs. I've been buying cheap bibs and jerseys for 12 years and never had an issue. Maybe high priced bibs are more comfortable, but you'll never convince me that some $150 jersey is better than the ones I buy for $12.
I've had a few pairs of the Oakley fakes, in fact I still wear them, probably 7 years old now! An American lad on a forum I used to use said he took the lens to a optometrist friend for testing. He basically said the fakes had full UVA and UVB protection,who knows? Your results will be interesting! ✌️
I think a better test would be looking at these products individually. A lot of the time you could tell the fake by comparing the two, whereas most people would only order one part at a time. Francis made this point with the Fizik saddle. Still a great fun video and laughed so much at Jimmy hulking out! :D
Emily, Francis and Jimmy. During the film Jimmy makes several comments which really present as a dichotomy - and I think should be a focus for a future film. When discussing the products, he comments on the ‘high’ price of the real item, but the ‘terrible’ quality of the fake item. This gets to the heart of the matter & is a suggestion for investigation. Those items which are real come from companies which are supposed to uphold ethical work and environmental standards. The question is “what is the true value cost for having such standards?”. Whilst a fake company may be able to produce a saddle for very little money, do they engage in modern slavery to achieve this outcome? Most of the products you highlighted are not made from organic materials, and therefore what is the environmental cost and/or health costs if a factor producing fakes dumps its chemical into the environment? I would like you to take one of the real products and disappear down its supply chain, examining the ‘cost’ at each stage. This must include looking at the factory where it is made, how its shipped, packaging materials etc, and how many upsellers the item passes through - if each person/group in this process is paid a fair wage, are the expensive products actually expensive? You also need to make comment and account for the R&D investment - what is a fair price if it costs $X to innovate a 3D printed saddle? I’m sure that a reputable company would delight at the opportunity to showcase its credentials & show the world its produce. On that basis, are any of these companies B corps? And if not why not? Perhaps you could ask reputable company to comment? Perhaps your opinions on what is an ‘expensive’ price would change when you consider all these factors?
What you said about the cleats is funny! I just put new cleats on my shoes. I had three sets of cleats in my drawer, and I knew one set came with the last pair of Shimano pedals, but I couldn't remember where I got the others. I pulled out the 'real' Shimano cleats, but when comparing them to the ones I took off, I thought they felt different. The color did look the same, though. I ended up weighing all three of the new sets, and they all came out the same. They just seem to feel lighter and less well made than how I remember the old cleats, but maybe now I'm just imagining things. It can be so hard to tell what's real and what's fake these days.
@@xfg007 What? You DO know that Shimano makes Red (0 float) blue (medium float), and yellow (most float). The color is arbitrary to whether it is fake or real.
A lot of "counterfeit" items are made on the same factory assembly lines, just in the off hours or between making products for legitimate sale. The tolerances aren't as good because there isn't as much emphasis on quality, and they just focus on cranking out as many products as they can in a given time. They may be made from the same materials, but with some corners cut.
I have a pair of Scicon glasses that was given to me by a friend who works for them. They have a warranty that’s outrageously good, and they’re on par with Oakley in terms of build quality. However the fit was a bit different in the nose bridge area. I would recommend them provided you can try them on.
I have the Silca mini pump and the printing of Silca on the rubber grip faces the opposite way. Also there is no Silca logo on the pump head. Oh, and it works great!
100% agree with you, francis. the plastic on the cleats included with the pedals IS different and it wears out WAY more quickly i have found. too quickly. i thought it was just me...!
Also correct about the different shimano cleats. There are infact two production lines… one OEM. one retail. I know this as my local bike shop owner has been on factory tours in the far east and has seen for himself.
Please please please do those tests soon 👍👍👍 Especially the pumps cause mine needs pumping up too often nowadays (and the hose seems to be leaking a bit)😋🤣
Sadly, or fortunately, polycarbonate lenses block UV very well. Might not be a great metric to judge authenticity. Fit and finish is probably the best way to judge.
13:35 'in the next episode of real vs fake, we're going to be testing all of these products'.... I can't wait to see Jimmi wearing the Met helmet he split in half! 😂 Hopefully he'll be static when he does though!
The brake disc was the one that I'd buy without hesitation. When they couldn't really see the difference and the measurements were nearly identical, the weight nearly identical and the price was a fraction of the real one, I'd go for the knockoff. I found it ironic that after all the doubt that Jimmie had about which one was real, he still said don't buy the fake one even though the difference had to be given to them.
I wonder if the metal used in the fake one would not be as good. Would it degrade faster and possibly crack/brake? If it was a crap metal would it eat brake pads because it heats up to quickly?
@@tylerbollmann3234 I suspect they were made at the same factory using the same processes since the guys had a VERY hard time telling them apart until Emily chimed in about the dot. The finish quality could simply be a step cut out of the finalizing process to save time and money.
Yeah but to be fair the one difference they did spot was the rivets, and if they go, say due to heat on a fast decent and the outer rotor separates from the inner jamming the wheel, you will be eating your meals through a straw for the foreseeable future.
@@chris1275cc Wouldn't the wheel just skip? I can't come up with a scenario where your discs are completely locked yet there is enough traction to put your momentum into to torque to snap all six rivets. And even then you hopefully have another brake you could use.
@@chris1275cc If the rivets fail due to heat on a decent, you're in the Olympics going for gold. lol The rivets would fail over time due to the braking torque placed on them from the ring to the spindle... and that would require a LOT of time unless there's play in them at the beginning. Even so/so rivets do a fine mechanical job as fasteners. Rivets fail mostly due to not being properly sized or pressed into place securely. They don't have to be pretty.
Please don't underestimate yourselves. I respect you because, you pay attention to details but do risk your lives every time ride your bike. You do this to have a better understanding the bicycle by riding it. You examine for quality but amateurs would buy for flash. You are doing this in order to educate all of us how to tell the difference. The equipment is a controllable risk since you can examine It before you install it, insure proper installation and control how you use it. But the conditions out on the road surface, the weather and other moving vehicles are not things you can control and could seriously injure either of you. You can try to avoid those risks but you can't control them. Both of you are authentic, not imitations, not knock offs!
All my bikes have chinese saddles. For years now. Not a single problem. I even find them more comfortable than the one original saddle I own. And if Shimano wouldn't charge ridiculous prces for a cleat, they wouldn't get knocked off. And i actually have chinese discs that work perfectly for a fraction of the price. Knockoff is not ok, but the quality really isn't always bad. I do buy quite a lot of Ali stuff, but I usually try to avoid fakes. Except for my saddles ;-)
I'd not call the other one "fake Supacaz", I'd just say they're both bar tape. Buy as cost or style economics allow (if people don't change bar tape at often as they should, why budget for a longer lasting one that'll get mouldy but stay intact).
@11:00 Those are SRAM Centerline XR rotors for Road use (Rival/Force/Red). You can find the real discs for approximately EUR160 per pair from several online retailers. Other thing I would like to know is if the fake ones had the direction arrows stamped into the rotors. The real ones have those, another point to check.
A lot of "counterfeit" items are made on the same factory assembly lines, just in the off hours or between making products for legitimate sale. The tolerances aren't as good because there isn't as much emphasis on quality, and they just focus on cranking out as many products as they can in a given time. They may be made from the same materials, but with some corners cut.
I've got the fake fizik saddles and they've been awesome. It's light weight, It doesn't make my balls go numb on long rides😂 they say it's a 90% copy of the original at 25% of the price
Been using fake glasses for over 10 years and a have a pair of original Radar Ev the original lens are peeling and they where bought in the oficial website, so quality it’s no as good as 10 time the price. Believe when I tell you won’t hurt yourself to have fake sunglasses.😎
I doubt you will find any problem with UV filtering on sunglasses. There was some tests made for regular sunglasses years ago and all cheap ones passed. Simply, most materials do not let UV light through. There are no additional costs to provide that UV protection. I would be more afraid about mechanical safety... how easy the fake breaks and what way they break. You dont want sharp splinters of plastic around your eyes when you crash.
The lenses will be as shatterproof as the real Oakleys, simply because it's the same material, polycarbonate. The frames are different thing, Chinese ones are often made out of pretty fragile plastics.
Francis' conspiracy theory of the included cleats being of inferior quality to the ones you buy separately is 100% true! They always wear out so much quicker! 😂
OK...Thank you , Emily , Francis and Jimmi...I hear the "Jimmi Rip " is now and industry standard ? and , yep " Pump Action " Francis , from the trip across the USA .
6:54 are the cleats not just a different colour as standalone cleats are exposed to UV (plastic packaging) whereas the ones with pedals are enclosed in a cardboard box and therefore aren't.
As an owner of an original 2019 SuperlightM6LXBromton I have found lot of titanium, aluminum and carbon parts from China, Korea and Taiwan, making it weigh around or just below 8 kilo when finished, and still with my mudguards. I have no doubt that a titanium, seat post, bolt or nut are just as good as any part of my original Brompton, but lighter and much less expensive. And they don't claim to be original Brompton parts, but AceOffix, H&H or what ever named. I also have a Selle marked, plain and superlight Carbon saddle, which may be fake? Also a harder, rubber suspension block from Taiwan (I am a large 100 kilo man, and need an, as less suspended frame as possible, during rides). Finn. Denmark
Well, I did get fooled :( I purchased, on-line, what I thought was legit a whole Ultegra 11 sp mech groupset. I didn't even think there was such a thing as fake bike products. Anyways on close inspection when I received the group, ya, it was easy to see that the components were fake. There was no way I was going to build up a new frameset with this group. They looked ok from a distance but really, who is to say how safe the brake calipers or pads would be or would the chainset fall apart? And the chain and BB were really bad fakes. Anyways, lessons learnt, expensive but I did not use the parts. All that said, I did purchase from my neighbourhood bike shop and got that bike built with a 105 Di2 group, love it!
Component manufacturers are partly to blame. Astonishingly high prices for components with visually looks invite knock offs. Rolex is a good example of this. Lots of ways to cut down on this, like laser etching, holographic features, and unique serial numbers that can be registered on line. Also visual recognition guide and buy-back programmes used to support litigation (companies like Shimano may not be able to stop manufacturing of fakes in China but they can go after distributors and retailers here).
People are more weary of buying cheap premium brands, if people are looking for 40€ sunglasses they won't think much about it if a relatively unknown brand is 40€ or 50€ and when it arrives they will think "well it's cheaper for a reason I guess"
220£ for a non MIPS helmet, is a scam, even if it comes from a legitimate brand. And supacaz is also a scam, worst bar tape i've tried, awfull to put on, doesn't last long and twice the price of good bar tape.
Talking about knockoffs that come with the official product, the cheaper cervelo aspero comes with "gravelking sk sport", which doesn't exist online and is a really bad ride compared to the real ones (gravelking sk), also the real ones are made in Japan, the OEM ones in China
OEM being skimpy. Scott do the same with all the cheap Syncros stuff (Scott house brand). It's all made by third parties such as Alex Rims in case of wheelsets.
OEM and aftermarket items are different. I had the same experience with a pair of Schwalbe G-one bite "tube only" tyres, not being able to find such online. Turns out they exist, just not available for sale. They're simply OEM only. Nothing more, nothing less.
Well wish me luck with the 2 AliExpress saddles I purchased recently, I hope they will be fine. At least those are not fake, it states the brand Wildside on it.
The philosopher would ask: “which is the scam, the one charging a low price for a knock off product, or the OEM charging an inflated price because they carry additional manufacturing, advertising and brand marketing costs (and profit expectations)”? Saddles and wheels are good examples of this, plenty of “copies” available that are high quality, comparable performance and low cost. Many (most?) riders would buy the 70 quid saddle and be perfectly happy.
if it wasn't so flimsy. By the looks of it this saddle would snap within a month.
I would use that saddle right now and be comfortable with that. I tried a lot of Chinese saddles in the years and never had a problem with them, except some of them being flexi. It even happened to me with a Prologo saddle that the Chinese copy was flexier in the middle of the saddle, and because of that I found it more comfortable than the original one I bought after trying that. 4 years later that saddle s still on my commuter/garage pieces gravel bike
@@Seppes94 I think it's a hit and miss when it comes to the quality of these knockoffs. I watched a review of the fake fizik saddles and his saddle was creaking when he installed it. I ordered the same saddle but didn't experience that creaky sound.
@@bosross6992 dude, you are totally on point! I check the negative reviews, see all the possible downsides of the product and if it's acceptable just buy the damn thing and save 80% of the price
@@Seppes94 looks don't always tell the full story. I want to see them go through with the tests. In this case, judging by the looks of it, they won't take it seriously, won't test more than a single item of the given product, or do a blind/objective test in any way shape or form (nobody tried to rip the Met helm apart, for example). If they did , I bet most of the products would be functional with the crappy ones failing spectacularly. But let's not judge prematurely and wait to see what will happen.
One piece of advice I've seen when buying cheap cycling kit is not to buy counterfeit goods which are deliberately copying the expensive brands but to buy cheap goods which are trying to be their own brand.
Berm Peak Seth recently tested counterfeit helmets... he was able to completely crush one flat with his foot! Governments should ban more products like these that can easily be fatal!
He tested a fake helmet that pretends to be the real deal. Those products are imported illegally across borders and do account for huge industry losses each year. So governments are invested quite a lot in stopping those imports, but there is always a way for fraudsters (see drug smuggling as an extreme). The fashion or rather luxury industry is hit hard by that, but I don't care about them. Governments should definitely take closer looks when it comes to safety relevant products. Is shit happens due to malfunction not only the individual is affected but the whole society which will cover costs due to the accident - at least in a social democratic country.
Did he also try to crush real/original helmets? That's the comparison I want to see.
Who wears Scicon glasses you ask? Tadej Pogačar wears them, maybe you've heard of him. They are great glasses btw with lifetime lens replacement which you don't get with Oakley.
Came here to say the same. Scicon glasses became really big in recent years, in no small part down to Tadej's ascendancy.
The issue with the glasses even if they are made of poor grade polycarbonate they will still block 100% UV light because that's just what it does. Even acrylic will block 97% (which is good enough) but acrylic won't flex like that.
Not even an issue then really
@@wuzihuzi Well it's an issue in the sence it tells you nothing about the quality of the material and using it as a metric to determine if the glasses are any good or not is pointless. They could block laser beams but that's no good if after a crash you need a white stick and a labrador, because the cheap plastic splintered on impact and gouged your eyes out.
@@chris1275cc I have fake ones and crashed 3 days ago. Dragged my face over the ground at 40 km/h... The glasses were totally scratched but didn't break.
@@Babolatplayer Great, now you just got to hope the pair you replace them with come from the same factory, and are made to the same standard from the same material for the next time. 🤦♂
Some plastics like polycarbonate block UV light so any glasses with polycarbonate lens are fine from a UV light perspective
It can be foolish, but difficult to criticise people buying the fake stuff when the price points are so appealing, manufacturing is often very similar and the rest goes into the commercial costs of the business
Yeah, but the biggest problem isn't people selling fake stuff saying it's fake (it's one thing), but when you think you're buying the real one but you got a fake and only realized it later.
Buying fakes is madness though, the people making them actively do NOT want to be represented by what they're making. Going for much cheaper chinese alternatives of companies that actually care a little bit about their brand name are a much better option.
The s-works 3d fake power saddle is awesome.
I can attest to that. I paid 70 bucks and it’s incredible.
is the one from Ryet?
@@8paolo96 Mine was from Bucklos. Seach for "Bucklos 3d saddles".
Agreed I’ve had a full carbon version for £21 lasted several seasons and slightly lighter than the real thing excellent product
Bontrager XXX carbon bottle cage is one of the most popular counterfeit bike products, I have several fake ones including unpainted and they don't have any problems in construction and function. Those may be the only fake bike bits that I will buy and use.
I once bought a fake Alivio rear derailleur unknowingly, which had atrociously bad quality and was not even useable (loose pivots, weak spring, distorted cage), fortunately it's less than US$10 and a lesson learned.
Only $10 and it was unknowingly. Didn’t it seem likely.
I would like to see tests on budget power pedals please!!! Great job guys. Fantastic fun chemistry
I'm sure would go as follow, sturdy robust, durable and 100% functional with just a bit of a bigger margen of error on the wattage
Example you're riding at 200w, an expensive one will tell you somewhat between 195-205w watts and the affordable one somewhat between 185-215w
You may be thinking 30w are a lot but is not cusse doesn't dance between those numbers, the calibration is the one with the margin of error but the lecture is consistent meaning if you're doing 200w and the calibration says 185w it will always show 185 for you, allowing you to properly train since is consistence
There aren’t any budget power pedals
@@mradelphi02 all are ridiculously expensive true, but price gap between models and brands is big, more than twice so
I've got a magene spider power meter, 300€ with crankset included. It gives me readings a little higher than my favero Assioma double sided pedals, but something like 2+ more watts on my 280w ftp and maybe 30w on 1100w sprints. to me it's more than acceptable.
Tooled bar plugs are really good when taping opposite of tradition (from middle to bar ends). Once you start taping like that, you never go back. So much neater.
True on direction, but push in plastics work pretty well here to.
Anyone who pays £300 for a saddle is a bloody lunatic
Well, I guess I'm just plain Looney Tunes then. I have 3 of the genuine saddles on my bikes. Fizik Antares 00 3D, one of the most comfortable saddles I've ridden. 🤫
The other may be fake, but the other is a scam.
Nice, I only paid 269€.
It is very likely that the "fake" saddles are those that did not pass the quality test,
For that price it better has a massage option.
Cycling Maven had the fake Oakley glasses lens tested and they where ok.
They will break at the hinge unless you put a drop of oil on the pivot pin.
The problem is any Polycarbonate will block all UV light, but there are different grades, the really cheap stuff is stiffer and will shatter. Then there are really cheap plastics like polypropylene (the stuff they make CD cases out of) which they could be using that will also block UV initially but will degrade over time with exposure and shatters really easy.
Came here to say exactly this, I remember watching that Cycling Maven video years ago. Wish he still made videos!
I’m pretty sure I saw a program on tv about sunglasses fake and very low price ones and they tested them against high end glasses and they offered very similar protection
Great video but when it come to copies if it isn’t a safety issue I will take a chance if I’m saving a significant amount of money . I just recently purchased a copy of a specialized mirror saddle for 49.00 us and it’s very comfortable only time will tell if it is reliable and that’s a 400.00 savings. So for me it’s worth taking a chance 👍 . If companies sold their products for a reasonable price people might not be tempted to buy knockoffs.
Same I bought it as a goof and honestly works amazingly well
100% I have two fake saddles now which have performed admirably. I am taking it a step further and arguing massive tiers in pricing for safety items is unethical and should not be supported. What is the message when one family is rolling around with $1200 kask mips helmets and another with $200 super cycle level helmets? Those with means get premium safety and brand names and those without get the cheap stuff, should not be supported.
The reason Chinese products can be that cheap is because they don’t have to do the months/years of R&D that go into designing that product. They just grab one and make a few new copied molds. They don’t do any marketing either, which is an astronomical cost that has to be recovered. The material cost of a product is a tiny fraction of the total cost.
Where can I find this fake saddle for $49? You know, to ensure that I don't buy the wrong one.
i got the same one, its amazing
I agree completely with the cleat conspiracy. The yellow rubber bits all fell off of the cleats that came with the pedals way quicker than the new ones.
Uh-oh! I use a lot of that fake stuff :) especially curious to see what the optometrist says about the UV blocking of the knockoff sunglasses. And wouldn't you be able to pull apart a brand name helmet the same way because they're supposed to be breakable?
I literally own a dozen pair of knockoff sunglasses and they're perfectly fine. I paid anywhere from $2 to $15 per pair and they all do what they're supposed to do, keep the sun out of my eyes while making me look stylish. I also buy all my saddle bags and other bike bags from China for $2 to $5 each and they're all great as well. Lastly, I have at least a dozen bib shorts/jersey combos that I've bought from China for $25-$30 each as well as cycling socks and they're all great. I would buy the real sunglasses if they weren't such greedy bastards. $300 for a pair of sunglasses? $400? I think not. Same for bib shorts and jerseys. They're all made in China anyway, which is why they are exact copies of the overpriced models.
agree except for bib's and jerseys. I think that is actually one place where it's worth investing in the real product. I buy Assos and nothing else comes close to those bibs ;)
You can’t see uv light so you won’t know if the glasses are blocking it or not. Also with the price of a dozen knock off glasses you could have gotten 2 legit ones.
@@vesalehtinen4534 I own 2 pair of Oakley glasses, and they're no better than the knockoffs. But you go right ahead.
@vesale, polycarbonate blocks 100% uv, it's a property of the base material not some coating. I could use clear $2 safety glasses and I'm still blocking uv
@@filipsusmelj1817 I wouldn't know because I've literally never bought a pair of name brand bibs. I've been buying cheap bibs and jerseys for 12 years and never had an issue. Maybe high priced bibs are more comfortable, but you'll never convince me that some $150 jersey is better than the ones I buy for $12.
Totally agree about the shimano spd with pedals vs without pedals
I've had a few pairs of the Oakley fakes, in fact I still wear them, probably 7 years old now! An American lad on a forum I used to use said he took the lens to a optometrist friend for testing. He basically said the fakes had full UVA and UVB protection,who knows? Your results will be interesting! ✌️
Big Bar Tape will have issues with this video 😂
Lol, thankfully there's a lot of good cheap options now, especially with brands like Lizard Skins costing almost $50!
SRAM centerline have rounded edges on the outside of the disc, fake are usually sharp, in my experience.
I think a better test would be looking at these products individually. A lot of the time you could tell the fake by comparing the two, whereas most people would only order one part at a time. Francis made this point with the Fizik saddle. Still a great fun video and laughed so much at Jimmy hulking out! :D
Emily, Francis and Jimmy.
During the film Jimmy makes several comments which really present as a dichotomy - and I think should be a focus for a future film. When discussing the products, he comments on the ‘high’ price of the real item, but the ‘terrible’ quality of the fake item. This gets to the heart of the matter & is a suggestion for investigation.
Those items which are real come from companies which are supposed to uphold ethical work and environmental standards. The question is “what is the true value cost for having such standards?”. Whilst a fake company may be able to produce a saddle for very little money, do they engage in modern slavery to achieve this outcome? Most of the products you highlighted are not made from organic materials, and therefore what is the environmental cost and/or health costs if a factor producing fakes dumps its chemical into the environment?
I would like you to take one of the real products and disappear down its supply chain, examining the ‘cost’ at each stage. This must include looking at the factory where it is made, how its shipped, packaging materials etc, and how many upsellers the item passes through - if each person/group in this process is paid a fair wage, are the expensive products actually expensive? You also need to make comment and account for the R&D investment - what is a fair price if it costs $X to innovate a 3D printed saddle?
I’m sure that a reputable company would delight at the opportunity to showcase its credentials & show the world its produce. On that basis, are any of these companies B corps? And if not why not? Perhaps you could ask reputable company to comment?
Perhaps your opinions on what is an ‘expensive’ price would change when you consider all these factors?
What you said about the cleats is funny! I just put new cleats on my shoes. I had three sets of cleats in my drawer, and I knew one set came with the last pair of Shimano pedals, but I couldn't remember where I got the others. I pulled out the 'real' Shimano cleats, but when comparing them to the ones I took off, I thought they felt different. The color did look the same, though. I ended up weighing all three of the new sets, and they all came out the same. They just seem to feel lighter and less well made than how I remember the old cleats, but maybe now I'm just imagining things. It can be so hard to tell what's real and what's fake these days.
What's the point to weight plastic cleats? What difference did you expect? 2 grams? Go on a diet if it is so important!
I think the fake yellow cleats have less float vs real Shimano
The fake version lose their rubber points very quickly in my experience. Bought once from Amazon but now buy from LBS because of this.
@@Afrikakorps68 I didn't care how much they weighed. I was checking to see if they were the SAME WEIGHT!
@@xfg007 What? You DO know that Shimano makes Red (0 float) blue (medium float), and yellow (most float). The color is arbitrary to whether it is fake or real.
"Never buy fake products"
Unless we're talking a certain brand & model of crank that would breakout in a sweat facing Jimi's biceps ! :)
Nice video concept. Next time, please do more close ups when you're comparing, so we actually see the differences like you guys do. 👍
Some cleats copies are undistinguishable from the real stuff, but they snap early on the front, I learnt it the hard way 😄
Fake centerline rotors are actually widely used over here, and people swear by them 😅. I have a pair mounted on my gravel bike and no complain ...
It's not like there is much to break there either, if you shear of all 6 rivets you are braking wrong.
A lot of "counterfeit" items are made on the same factory assembly lines, just in the off hours or between making products for legitimate sale. The tolerances aren't as good because there isn't as much emphasis on quality, and they just focus on cranking out as many products as they can in a given time. They may be made from the same materials, but with some corners cut.
More Pump Action Francis please!!!
I have a pair of Scicon glasses that was given to me by a friend who works for them. They have a warranty that’s outrageously good, and they’re on par with Oakley in terms of build quality. However the fit was a bit different in the nose bridge area. I would recommend them provided you can try them on.
I love watching you two your a fantastic comedy act and the chemistry you have is amazing.
Hey Jimmy! You’re good at identifying the fake. Impressive!
I have supacaz bar tape on my bike at the moment (for the first time). Never doing that again lol. It's so hard it made my hands bleed.
Sram rotors (centerline to be exact, don't know about others) have polish marks in all directions, while fake ones have unidirectional marks.
I wear Scicon glasses! And I have a fake pair too
I have the Silca mini pump and the printing of Silca on the rubber grip faces the opposite way. Also there is no Silca logo on the pump head. Oh, and it works great!
100% agree with you, francis. the plastic on the cleats included with the pedals IS different and it wears out WAY more quickly i have found. too quickly. i thought it was just me...!
Also correct about the different shimano cleats. There are infact two production lines… one OEM. one retail. I know this as my local bike shop owner has been on factory tours in the far east and has seen for himself.
Please please please do those tests soon 👍👍👍
Especially the pumps cause mine needs pumping up too often nowadays (and the hose seems to be leaking a bit)😋🤣
Going back to Jimmy saying they were going to start giving away products... Let's see a real Rolex to fake Rolex analysis. 😉
Sadly, or fortunately, polycarbonate lenses block UV very well. Might not be a great metric to judge authenticity. Fit and finish is probably the best way to judge.
Pogacar wears scicon glasses I think
Came here to say the same. I should think their popularity has skyrocketed in the last few years
Cade media bringing us the content we want, but didn’t know we needed!
Many years ago, cycling Maven had a pair of fake Oakleys tested and they passed the UV test.
I have the impero pocket. Works great up to 28mm. However, anything greater and you will be there a while.
13:35 'in the next episode of real vs fake, we're going to be testing all of these products'.... I can't wait to see Jimmi wearing the Met helmet he split in half! 😂 Hopefully he'll be static when he does though!
The brake disc was the one that I'd buy without hesitation. When they couldn't really see the difference and the measurements were nearly identical, the weight nearly identical and the price was a fraction of the real one, I'd go for the knockoff. I found it ironic that after all the doubt that Jimmie had about which one was real, he still said don't buy the fake one even though the difference had to be given to them.
I wonder if the metal used in the fake one would not be as good. Would it degrade faster and possibly crack/brake? If it was a crap metal would it eat brake pads because it heats up to quickly?
@@tylerbollmann3234 I suspect they were made at the same factory using the same processes since the guys had a VERY hard time telling them apart until Emily chimed in about the dot. The finish quality could simply be a step cut out of the finalizing process to save time and money.
Yeah but to be fair the one difference they did spot was the rivets, and if they go, say due to heat on a fast decent and the outer rotor separates from the inner jamming the wheel, you will be eating your meals through a straw for the foreseeable future.
@@chris1275cc Wouldn't the wheel just skip? I can't come up with a scenario where your discs are completely locked yet there is enough traction to put your momentum into to torque to snap all six rivets. And even then you hopefully have another brake you could use.
@@chris1275cc If the rivets fail due to heat on a decent, you're in the Olympics going for gold. lol
The rivets would fail over time due to the braking torque placed on them from the ring to the spindle... and that would require a LOT of time unless there's play in them at the beginning. Even so/so rivets do a fine mechanical job as fasteners. Rivets fail mostly due to not being properly sized or pressed into place securely. They don't have to be pretty.
Looking forward to see if you can make content regarding original vs fake tyres
I use a knockoff Specialized Power saddle and it's really comfortable and robust,imitation is the highest form of flattery.
Please don't underestimate yourselves. I respect you because, you pay attention to details but do risk your lives every time ride your bike. You do this to have a better understanding the bicycle by riding it. You examine for quality but amateurs would buy for flash. You are doing this in order to educate all of us how to tell the difference. The equipment is a controllable risk since you can examine It before you install it, insure proper installation and control how you use it. But the conditions out on the road surface, the weather and other moving vehicles are not things you can control and could seriously injure either of you. You can try to avoid those risks but you can't control them. Both of you are authentic, not imitations, not knock offs!
All my bikes have chinese saddles. For years now. Not a single problem. I even find them more comfortable than the one original saddle I own. And if Shimano wouldn't charge ridiculous prces for a cleat, they wouldn't get knocked off. And i actually have chinese discs that work perfectly for a fraction of the price. Knockoff is not ok, but the quality really isn't always bad. I do buy quite a lot of Ali stuff, but I usually try to avoid fakes. Except for my saddles ;-)
I wore Oakley for years, switched to Scicon 2 weeks ago and it's in a different league. When will Oakley have a lifetime warranty on their lenses?
Love my SCICONS, my Sutros gather dust
Were these guys school friends? I mean the chemistry between them is just off the charts.
It's the return of Pump Action Francis!
The fake supercaz bar tape is quite good. I have it and love it.
I'd not call the other one "fake Supacaz", I'd just say they're both bar tape. Buy as cost or style economics allow (if people don't change bar tape at often as they should, why budget for a longer lasting one that'll get mouldy but stay intact).
Good luck breaking the saddle. I've been trying to break mine for years and never managed to.
@11:00 Those are SRAM Centerline XR rotors for Road use (Rival/Force/Red). You can find the real discs for approximately EUR160 per pair from several online retailers.
Other thing I would like to know is if the fake ones had the direction arrows stamped into the rotors. The real ones have those, another point to check.
I would love to see the comparison vs unbranded. We have mostly unbranded here in Asia.
A lot of "counterfeit" items are made on the same factory assembly lines, just in the off hours or between making products for legitimate sale. The tolerances aren't as good because there isn't as much emphasis on quality, and they just focus on cranking out as many products as they can in a given time. They may be made from the same materials, but with some corners cut.
I've got the fake fizik saddles and they've been awesome. It's light weight, It doesn't make my balls go numb on long rides😂 they say it's a 90% copy of the original at 25% of the price
I’d love to see another one of these looking at fake kit. I bought some Rapha kit on eBay that I’m pretty skeptical of.
I brought some PNS kit from Ali' just to annoy my mate who has the real deal, The shammy was awful and I got a saddle sore but it was worth it.🤣
I fully agree with the cleat theory. I find the cleats in the box wear much faster than those you buy after 💯
I wonder if its because the pedals are new and the first set wears the pedals in so they they are less harsh to the second set.
Mate the colours on the video looked amazing. Is this down to the ND filter you mentioned last week? Are u running a regular GoPro? 4k @25fps?
Been using fake glasses for over 10 years and a have a pair of original Radar Ev the original lens are peeling and they where bought in the oficial website, so quality it’s no as good as 10 time the price.
Believe when I tell you won’t hurt yourself to have fake sunglasses.😎
"Eaten by bears" - absolutely horrible 😂
Bringing back pump action Francis! Awesome video.
Also I agree that cleats that come from 105 pedals are different than the normal cleats. They do wear out faster.
Yey, The return of Pump Action Francis!
I doubt you will find any problem with UV filtering on sunglasses. There was some tests made for regular sunglasses years ago and all cheap ones passed. Simply, most materials do not let UV light through. There are no additional costs to provide that UV protection. I would be more afraid about mechanical safety... how easy the fake breaks and what way they break. You dont want sharp splinters of plastic around your eyes when you crash.
The lenses will be as shatterproof as the real Oakleys, simply because it's the same material, polycarbonate. The frames are different thing, Chinese ones are often made out of pretty fragile plastics.
I buy from decathlon
Please make that shrine to SILCA a real thing and put in the studio
Francis' conspiracy theory of the included cleats being of inferior quality to the ones you buy separately is 100% true! They always wear out so much quicker! 😂
OK...Thank you , Emily , Francis and Jimmi...I hear the "Jimmi Rip " is now and industry standard ? and , yep " Pump Action " Francis , from the trip across the USA .
THE SHRINE TO SILCA😂😂😂😂
Francis and Jimmy smash helmets.. em, okay
the good ali express reviews just dont lie.. quality polarized sunglasses for 15$...90g carbon saddle with 0 bending for 30$
I have used the fake cleats and surprisingly they have done the job
6:54 are the cleats not just a different colour as standalone cleats are exposed to UV (plastic packaging) whereas the ones with pedals are enclosed in a cardboard box and therefore aren't.
Pump action Francis is back 😅
Easily the best channel
Don't tell anyone, but this is way better than GCN
I'm hoping for bears in the product test segment.
I have no idea why “I’m hiding it in my knee cavities “ is so funny. But it is.
As an owner of an original 2019 SuperlightM6LXBromton I have found lot of titanium, aluminum and carbon parts from China, Korea and Taiwan, making it weigh around or just below 8 kilo when finished, and still with my mudguards. I have no doubt that a titanium, seat post, bolt or nut are just as good as any part of my original Brompton, but lighter and much less expensive. And they don't claim to be original Brompton parts, but AceOffix, H&H or what ever named. I also have a Selle marked, plain and superlight Carbon saddle, which may be fake? Also a harder, rubber suspension block from Taiwan (I am a large 100 kilo man, and need an, as less suspended frame as possible, during rides). Finn. Denmark
Well, I did get fooled :( I purchased, on-line, what I thought was legit a whole Ultegra 11 sp mech groupset. I didn't even think there was such a thing as fake bike products. Anyways on close inspection when I received the group, ya, it was easy to see that the components were fake. There was no way I was going to build up a new frameset with this group. They looked ok from a distance but really, who is to say how safe the brake calipers or pads would be or would the chainset fall apart? And the chain and BB were really bad fakes. Anyways, lessons learnt, expensive but I did not use the parts. All that said, I did purchase from my neighbourhood bike shop and got that bike built with a 105 Di2 group, love it!
There's no way you got fake ultegra
Component manufacturers are partly to blame. Astonishingly high prices for components with visually looks invite knock offs. Rolex is a good example of this.
Lots of ways to cut down on this, like laser etching, holographic features, and unique serial numbers that can be registered on line.
Also visual recognition guide and buy-back programmes used to support litigation (companies like Shimano may not be able to stop manufacturing of fakes in China but they can go after distributors and retailers here).
People are more weary of buying cheap premium brands, if people are looking for 40€ sunglasses they won't think much about it if a relatively unknown brand is 40€ or 50€ and when it arrives they will think "well it's cheaper for a reason I guess"
220£ for a non MIPS helmet, is a scam, even if it comes from a legitimate brand.
And supacaz is also a scam, worst bar tape i've tried, awfull to put on, doesn't last long and twice the price of good bar tape.
I knew someone who bought a "Kask Protone" for about USD25. The insides looked different from mine which cost USD299 at the time.
I like supacaz bar tape, _and_ I have Scicon glasses.
Super pump Francis is back! I thought you left him in LA
Talking about knockoffs that come with the official product, the cheaper cervelo aspero comes with "gravelking sk sport", which doesn't exist online and is a really bad ride compared to the real ones (gravelking sk), also the real ones are made in Japan, the OEM ones in China
OEM being skimpy.
Scott do the same with all the cheap Syncros stuff (Scott house brand). It's all made by third parties such as Alex Rims in case of wheelsets.
OEM and aftermarket items are different. I had the same experience with a pair of Schwalbe G-one bite "tube only" tyres, not being able to find such online. Turns out they exist, just not available for sale. They're simply OEM only. Nothing more, nothing less.
Again a very interesting video.
Pump action Francis
yes the cleats are differnt when u buy pedals I know from experience they don't last as long
Can I get a link to those oakle
y's please...lol seriously...
With legitimate, trackable products you're also paying for the ability to sue if your safety is compromised by poor quality.
Well wish me luck with the 2 AliExpress saddles I purchased recently, I hope they will be fine. At least those are not fake, it states the brand Wildside on it.
The reason SCIcon glasses have rip-offs made: Tadej Pogacar wears them.