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

When I lived in Hong Kong, I used to go to Shenzhen to buy glasses and all the black market retailers there were very open about where their frames came from. The markup on brands like Oliver Peoples etc must be insane.

At £20 cost price, I assume the lenses are 95% of that. Injection moulding three bits of plastic can’t cost more than £1.

I wouldn’t mind but most current fashion glasses are rip offs of 50s/60s styles anyway.

A couple of years old but a really good article on exactly this (re sunglasses) right here:

https://theweek.com/articles/784436/secretive-megacompanies-behind-glasses?amp

It’s worth the read.

I think that price was landed in Europe including lenses, box, cloth and all that.

I was targeted with this Insta Ad.

Save 125 USD on Farsports rim brake wheels with the code SAVE-THE-RIM.

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What a great twist to the fake brakes story! There was an argument at WW when I insisted the Lekkis are real, albeit different, while others said they are copies. And now we have a third possibility, for both CC and ZG I suppose, that they are real but rejected.

100% genuine fake cinelli carbon wheel from lightbicycle (UFO-C21). Review coming soon where I'll mostly talk about noise as I've no frame of reference for aero and let's face it, got it for the looks/noise, it might see some HHV racing.

I have some Lightbicycle AR46 carbon disc rim, running tube with 28mm GP5000. Had my first puncture yesterday and it took an absolute AGE to get the tyre out, it was ridiculously difficult. It felt like the bead of the tyre was sitting really deep within the rim, so getting leverage to get the lever under the bead was so difficult. I snapped two levers. Took me about 45 mins by the road side to swap and luckily it didn't go again. Any tips on decent levers, or any other pointers on what I was possibly doing wrong?

GP5000 can >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

https://thecycleclinic.co.uk/collections/tubeless-bits-and-bobs/products/irc-tubeless-tyre-levers

yes i think LB + tubed gp5000 is a deadly combo.
tubeless is the way to go with this and hope for a plugabe punctures at worst, until the tyre needs to be replaced.

Any tips on decent levers

Try again with Pedros.

Got a 25c TL GP5K off a LB R55 this week but maybe the tubed version are harder.

May I ask why you both say that? On it being a bad combo? Are the GP5000 known for being particularly tight/difficult to get on/off?

Maybe this should be time for me to finally go tubeless...

I say that from my experience and the feedback i get from friends using gp5000 on wide rims. Not impossible of course but more difficult.
Personnally i find the gp5000 beads very grippy/sticky, which makes tubeless sealing pretty easy and long lasting, but installing new tyres harder. I wouldn't try using tubes with it as i am not very good at not pinching tubes :)

Cool it is interesting to hear this and fairly reassuring as it makes me think I wasn't doing anything completely thick by the road side yesterday. The tyres have a lot of life left so it isn't economical for me to switch to tubeless now but this is something I will strongly consider when this current set start to die.

In the meantime, I will invest in a sturdier set of tyre levers (welcome any suggestions) and pray for the best! Maybe start training the strength in my thumbs/hands

Also make sure you go all the way around the wheel ensuring that you press the tyre bead out of the hook and into the central channel in the rim, both sides. Or it won't be easy to get it off

ensuring that you press the tyre bead out of the hook and into the central channel in the rim

+1 for this

Some tyre/rim combos can induce a nervous breakdown.
Sometimes this step it’s self can take a ridiculous amount of effort, bleeding thumbnails and effectively crying gets me there in the end.

i prefer the plastic/metal ones that Condor sell in store under their name.
Pedros as said above work welll and are super strong, but the plastic is tougher and possibly more damaging to rims.

GP5k tubed 28c on LB AR56 no problem with newer flat Park Tools levers – TL 4.2. I do talc the rims, but who doesn’t?!

I have loved the cheap chinese bike kit, but due to the whole ukrainian situation I've decided to halt any purchases for now and even uninstalled the Aliexpress app. Am I being totally daft?

This is the latest amazing solution..
https://tyreglider.co.uk/

This is the latest amazing solution..

https://tyreglider.co.uk/

Gliding hard plastic down the side of your nice rims, do not want.

I had this exact combo (rims I got from you). I even took up the challenge of using latex tubes so had to avoid levers too. Took me an hour to do and now I'm terrified at riding the wheels

oh those ones are hard to mount too ? I wouldn't call them wide since they are 25mm, the battle i fought was with 30mm LB rims !...

Am I being totally daft?

China seems to fence sitting over Ukraine. Their genocide of the Uighurs is already ample reason to stop trading with China if you want to make a gesture🖕

GP5000 TL put me off tubeless for life. Near impossible to put on despite trying ALL the tricks, wouldn't seal properly then near impossible to take off to correct. Sitting in a pool of tears and sealant with aching hands, I vowed to always appreciate the humble innertube. Would have been an absolute nightmare if I got a cut on a ride that was too big for sealant (and plugs didn't work).

I managed ro get the regular tubed type on with no levers. 3k km in and zero punctures (using latex!)

Dude, gp5k TL are literally famous for being the worst for fitting onto rims. I can testify to that, I can also report that the newer S TL are still tough , but not especially bad.