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

The helmet test is rather alarming... was thinking about getting an Ali helmet.

I have a Bambchino.

It's not light, and to be fair, not actually a kask copy. It's just the same shape.

The polystyrene foam seems decent and we'll molded, and the shell solidly attached. But I don't think you can be sure unless you test it to destruction.

im not so sure that would be wise..

are you guys also buying medication straight from online dealers in china?

Definitely.

I wouldn't ride down mountains at 80 kph, on untested carbon rims, wearing a untested helmet, if I didn't have cheap meds in the house.

Im not an idiot.

A guy who I used to work with and retired about 5 years ago must have bought some moody viagra from China as they still ring every week trying to sell me some. Fair play to the lad.

Yeah.. Did think that

Also - industry rag in 'stuff that undermines the industry is bad' shocker..

I've had three friends who've delaminated carbon rims on mountain descents. Cheap Chinese shi... oh wait, these were big brand wheels. I think carbon rims are susceptible to failure no matter what.

sounds like rim brake issues to me

what he said. i still wouldnt buy a helmet though

I've got the non-disc version of this, btw. It's bloody good. Light and stiff, no complaints at all. Very easy to build up too.

Sounds like user error to me. Lots of people brake too much in the mountains.

That's without doubt true, but rim de-lamination is so damn unpredictable to make a lot of these things really unsafe. As musch as these things count for anything, my mate got a top 10 Strava time descending the Stelvio, and the following day had his wheel die on him - so whilst 'braking too much' is a possibility, it's less likely in someone who's demonstrated themselves to be good at going downhill.
The problem is, none of us know when we'll be in a situation where we need to brake a lot on a long downhill - imagine a hot day where you're caught behind traffic, for example. Or a storm breaks and you've got to keep the braking even all the way down to prevent lock-ups.
When the rim goes, it goes suddenly. No warning or anything.

"“I saw this handlebar on eBay that was carbon fiber,” he says. “I wasn’t interested in super-light weight. I liked the bend and wanted the comfort factor of carbon.”

The $70 price tag couldn’t be beat, especially compared with $250 or more for similar bars from brands like Zipp or Enve or 3T. “They had a name brand—Hylix,” he recalls. That Avchen had never heard of it didn’t bother him. “I looked at the feedback. They had a good score.” Just weeks after receiving the handlebar, he found himself sprawled across the pavement on Santa Susana Pass. Around him, a couple of cars had stopped. “I crawled to the side of the road, then looked at the bike,” he says. A few inches out from the stem clamp, the right side of the handlebar was snapped clean off.

Avchen lost consciousness in the crash and doesn’t remember the moments before, but he has since pieced together what happened. He was descending on a straight, smooth section of road. “There’s not a scratch on the bar or levers, so I didn’t lose control and then crash,” he says. “The bar broke and caused the crash.” Based on his bike computer, Avchen estimates he was going about 30 to 35 mph. He broke his neck in two places, fractured an orbital bone and a cheekbone, suffered a concussion, and his body “was turned to hamburger.”""

(Rim) brakes are death...

and his body “was turned to hamburger.”

A man's gotta eat

And that's why I take handbuilt, aluminium wheels to the mountains.. (and I am a fat sprinter)....

This is why my new road bike has hydraulic disc breaks and carbon wheels.

Yeah I'd definitely need discs if I went with crabon rims. In the meantime, +1 for alu handbuilts.

I love descending on my carbon wheels.
I recently built some alu tubs up. With descents and wet weather in mind. Grabby as feck.
I guess I'll get used to it. But I'm definitely faster downhill on the carbons for now.

hydraulic disc breaks

True dat.

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/shimano-r785-road-hydraulic-disc-caliper-failure-45088/

#bikerader

Those Bontrager XXX bottle cages Spotter recommends are a bit too intense for my delicate aesthetic tastes.

But there seems to be lots of plain open mould cages around with no logos on. Usually with the letter D and a number at the end of the ebay description. Has anyone tried them?

These are a bit hit and miss. Stuff like badly placed bolts holes, and inflexible arms, can be annoying.

But worth a shot.

Interesting. I've had a shitty Hylix carbon stem from ebay. Not sure if I've mentioned it already. The 'C' clamp area where the bars fit into it came completely unfinished. I couldn't even fit the bars in to it.