Orient Express - Cheap Chinese Rims / Wheels / Forks / Frames / Cranks / Etc

Sent you a message.

All those that were on the preliminary order confirmed except those below.
Some new additions as well.

@motoko @snoops @spinnnout @stelfox
If you could DM me your email I will send you a link for the final order spreadsheet. Any late joiner may want to do the same.

Also, apologies for making this convoluted.

Not for me this time, thank you for organising. you've made it pretty simple and not convoluted at all, given the task at hand.

I know this is mostly a frames, wheels, components thread, but does anyone have any mtb/trail style Chinese lights? (Cree lights?) That are well regarded..?

Has anybody ever come across something similar to a Carradice Bagman Support or Nitto Erlen Rack?

Tempting cc/ @Maj

Looks pretty German

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Faux-kley Kato have arrived from AliExpress.
Ordered 09/09, delivered 18/09 so 7 working days only.

This is the black Prizm version, fully "Oakley" branded.

It is a convincing replica, including the rake mechanism to adjust the lens angle - pretty neat feature.

The one difference I can see is the "O" logo on the branches that is matt black instead of being colour match to the lens.

Comes with two nose pads.

Oakley price = £241
AliExpress price = circa £17 incl. UK VAT

US $17.00 17%OFF | Kato Cycling Glasses Men Women UV400 Outdoor Sports Sunglasses Mountain Bike Cycling Eyewear Road Bicycle Goggle 1 lens
https://a.aliexpress.com/_v0qPUY

I have ordered a second set from another seller and will report when they arrive.

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@hoops

I've got some arriving this week. Looks good initially.
May go back for blue ones if they turn out not shit

LOL.

Jerry does it better.

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the "O" logo on the branches that is matt black instead of being colour match to the lens.

You can get that if you go through the "Oakley Custom" programme 🙂

The “thickened pipe design” is really nice.

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Sutros and sutro lites about $20 a piece. Postage was around 12 days. Both came with polarised and clear lenses. Lenses look decent. Seem better than the last set of fauxkleys I ordered a few years ago.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_vlOZ7K
https://a.aliexpress.com/_v46pEY

UPDATE logo has fallen off the full framed ones and one of the arm seems to be about to fall off after a week or so

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Shimano glasses.

Pretty ugly tbh. I suspect they may be for fishing.

EDIT: Actually they look amazingly like these Quicksilver ones. So they're probably not even real fakes.

I bought some Frogskins off AliExpress once. They were great, but I broke them.

Anyone seen any? Can't seem to find them.

Has the order been finalised ?

Yes it has

Ah damn. Thanks anyway !

Has anyone had dealings with this vendor? They seem to have a LOT of Shimano stock
https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/ridingislife

Just got a knock-off quad lock mount for £8.

Quad Lock will charge you £30 for just the mount plus another £13 for the self-adhesive thingy that attaches to the phone.

I don’t know how much I’d trust the self-adhesive bit, but the bike mount is solidly made and a good fit for a genuine QL case.

https://m.aliexpress.com/item/1005003133901739.html

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Did your Lekkis arrive? I’ve had my eye on them, seem tasty for the price!

Yes they did! I mentioned them in the thread about my touring bike project but I haven't written them up here because I thought I would probably be the only weight weenie at LFGSS. Actually, even at the weight weenies forum I seem to be in a minority of one. Nobody else admits to liking them, and they've nearly all given up on rim brakes anyway. And they all hate Ted Ciamillo, who has stiffed pretty much everyone in the world.

The seller claims they've sold 23 pairs and there are 3 positive reviews. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003081042664.html

They do work, they're easy to fit if you follow the instructions and they don't need lots of adjustment. I'm using them with Sram Red Etap 11 levers. They need more throw than my Sram calipers

The downsides are that they look and feel flimsy and they're narrower than the Lekki8, probably no good for rims wider than 25mm. And after max pressure has been applied between rim and pads, you can continue to squeeze the lever, because the arms bend so much! Probably best not to do that. But very weird to see.

There are stories of them breaking but I've not been able to pin them down. One story does have a photo to authenticate it- allegedly it shows that the 'finger' has cracked. The finger is an AL7075 casting and the instructions say it might be damaged if you don't set the 'lobe' correctly. See the para about 'How to use the microcam'. It's vital to get this right before you fit the calipers. https://www.lekki8.com/instructions The cracked finger story is about a pair installed by a customer. So if it's a true story it could well be a case of RTFM. The other breakage stories are garbled and seem to be about arms snapping near the pad holder. Some of it is probably sour grapes...Ted does have a lot of very bitter enemies.

My theory is that the brakes on aliexpress are a legit Ciamillo product,and were going to be the Lekki8, but Ted redesigned them for wider rims after production had started, leaving his supplier in the lurch with stock of a model which Ciamillo has never announced.

The other difference is that they have the long pad holder extensions from the Ciamill0 Brompton B1 model. No idea why.

Fantastic, thanks for the review! I'm a weenie deep down (when the bank account allows), and there's definitely a few on here.

The bending doesn't entice me, even if they do work. The interested friend is placing well at local hillclimbs so has more investment in them, but I'm unsure if he'd be able to get over the flex.

I first heard of them on your tourer post, didn't make the connection between the two threads! Interested to see how you get on with them on with them over distance. I'll be keeping an eye out!

I'd love to get my hands on some Lekki8s to see if they're as bendy.