AliExpress Bike Parts - 7 Things to Know Before Buying

I bought fake Shimano chain and it shifts horrible. I wrote them and they gave me most of the money back.

Olá! Estou montando uma Gravel e tenho dúvida entre comprar o pé de vela Zeroing ou o Senicx GR2, também não sei qual freio mecânico escolher post mount o restante já tenho.

All of this was spot on, I really like Ali Express, I’ve used it a number of times to Canada, and am seriously considering doing a road build with all Ali Express Frameset and groupset. There is allot of quality items there to be had. 👌🏼

A carbon groupset, meaning that cassette is carbon? I recall a certain carbon expert interviewed on this channel who said some things should never be carbon, one of which are gears.

I'm too cheap to upgrade my flatbar bike.. but now.. hmmm. This looks pretty good!

I can't help but envisioning an all Chinese bike crumpling to the floor on it's first ride 🤣👍

Regarding shipping times, on occasion you may find the Chinese seller also has an Amazon or eBay store. In such cases, also on occasion, they make actually have product already in-country stored in a warehouse. This has been my experience in America anyways.

Ali express or ebay same items

Anyone able to list more legit brands on AliExpress? Eg. West Biking come up a lot. Are they ok?

The most important thing you need to know:
AliExpress gave up buyer protection, instead they protecting the scammers. I had intentions to buy a few ohter things on Ali, but after this I won't buy a thing there anymore.
I bought 3 pieces of an item, paid for all the three, and got a single one. Ali closed the dispute in the favor of the scammer.

You’re going to pay return shipping out of your pocket back to China because they don’t protect the buyer, even though they said so.

What’s the weight capacity?

You don't receive package, in protected time you can open dispute and most of the time they return money to you, wender can ask you wait more, but if you don't receive extended of protection time just ignor him and you get youre mony.

Ztto!!

I lost money with Ali Express, I purchased a groupset from a Resisted seller, What happened the Seller had his account hacked and someone else pretended to be legit. I lost my money from Ali because they said it was not their fault? After 2 months I got an email from them telling me that the sale failed AliExpress ethics and the case is closed. So don’t trust them.

I totally agree that buying fake stuff isn't a good idea because it's unfair to other companies. However, I would t go as far to say they would be dangerous. I would bet a lot of that stuff is made in the same factory to the same spec. Saying it's dangerous is just adding to the myth that Chinese brands (knockoff or otherwise) can't make good carbon parts. It's just not true.

"Respect patent laws" LOL Coming from china and you say that? LOL

Just a suggestion but how's about doing a vlog to highlight the numerous bike based businesses in the UK instead of all this cheap shite from China 🤷‍♂

Have had good experience with Spexcel clothing. Decent quality and great prices.

About the poor Aliexpress search feature. You're right - it does indeed a lousy job, but the explanation is different.
They have algorithms. Aliexpress lives (among other things) from sellers paying for their products to show up higher in searches.
And that, completely screws up the searches.... not to mention that it's you the customer, who pays this as well.
Also, about the reviews: I'm pretty confident that lately bot, fake reviews have flooded some sellers. They're tipically-5star reviews with a very brief and quite irrelevant comment .... that's how one might recognize them...

Elita One and OG Evkin are both good. Most stuff takes 10 days or so

If you Wanna get killed , get Ali stuff

Thank you for this and other videos. They're very nice. But wait, Shimano is not a Western brand. Haha. Keep up the good work.

Just to add my agreement with the general comments. I started by buying cheap Chinese "stuff" - it was mostly crap - but got me in the game. I worked my way up to a Sensah Empire (11speed) groupset. It has been great from the start - so good it reminded me that my Ulterga kit needed re-cabling. I am happy to buy well-reviewed mid-range Chinese kit (Elite Wheels is next on the list) - but would I buy a Sensah electronic groupset? ..... not before the wise people on the internet convince me

Biggest advice is, be prepared to write off your investment. I shop on there a lot and get nearly all my gear and parts from them, and am very happy as a customer. But There's always a risk and it's hard to return. My attitude if I spend a small amount I'm not that upset if it's not quite perfect or have to write it off.

Other one is shipping options - you can upgrade the shipping option which can reduce delivery times, but they still can be highly variable.

Summed up great, Ali express is great when it's great, and can be shit when it's shit... Still better than western bike industry...

I avoid the fake stuff always. But if there is any consolation, buy the original Chinese branded stuff. The ONE handlebars are a good example. They started out with an integrated stem carbon handlebar and it is well reviewed by Joe (China Cycling). Now, The ONE comes in traditional aero handlebar option without the integrated stem. I am very pleased with it.

Need another video on your retro MTB. what are you doing with it…..

I recommend two Chinese brands: My custom titanium bike frame is made from my design by Waltly Titanium. I use an oval chainring from Stone brand.

You get what you pay for!

I ordered Assioma pedals direct from Italy. The tax bill for those was a shock.

My srx rear derailleur straight up snapped in half yesterday:) Destroyed the derailleur hanger, scratched and bent the frame

Not Aliexpress but Light Bicycle were really good to deal with. I had an issue with a lost parcel and the communication was spot on.

I'm all for fairness and equality although bike/sport companies making items for £2 and selling in for £100 and the brand making all the profit isn't right either. (I appreciate there are some companies selling fairly also)

I bought a set of 1Sensah SRX Pro for my commuter at the start of the year to match up with a bafang 250W upgrade. Six months of use and its been very reliable.
Only problem to date was the B bolt snapped recently where the rear derailleur connects to the frame. Its an aluminium bolt that is probably meant to break rather than the frame.
The set was purchased through the sensah aliexpress site and I sent them an email with photos and via a $1US special link I bought a replacement bolt. Shipping was approx 2Weeks.
It would be good if the sensah store was set up with a spare parts section.

On the delivery note, I had an issue when ordering parts to build my keyboard with my address and it was difficult to sort. At one point they wanted me to fill an address form but it was all written in Chinese, so I obvs couldn't fill it out. We got there in the end though.

I'm thinking about a new 1x groupset for my CX bike, but I'm worried that if I break something in a crash (the crashing bit is inevitable), the season would be over before a new part arrives. Is cross compatibility with more instantly available brands a thing?

I’ve had good experiences with Ali Express…from P/S 100% sunglasses to an S-Works Aerofly handlebar that’s been on my Venge for 50,000+ miles.

Be real happy you are out of the eu. Hard to control politicians you can vote. Impossible to control those you have no vote.

I've been buying Chinese parts for a few years and never really had any major issue, but recently I bought a fake Redshift Shockstop stem on Aliexpress, I received it, it was so shity that it was unusable, so I wrote a detailed complaint about why it was shit and asked the money back, and they gave me the money back without saying anything, in less than 24 hours. Their customer support for fakes can be better than the support of some original stuff.

I have never been to a bikeshop that wasnt full of entitled assholes that litteraly do not want your business

Time to buy a new cap...AliExpress?:-)

Stick with long established sellers and read the reviews, you can filter by country. Don't rely on the dispute process if your bits don't arrive, it's garbage.

Cracking video. It will be good to know if any of the stuff is cross compatible. Like brifters that work with Tiagra 10 speed.

I bought a Shimano Acera drivetrain, unboxed but looks totally legit.

Good overall summary and advice! Yup, of the stuff I ordered (over 10 orders) I've had only had one item not turn up and although got the run around from the company, Ali Ex came to the party and refunded my purchase cost.

I'd like to purchase a ceramic cache for my Shimano 105, which brand do you recommend? Thanks.

I’ve heard amazing things about Carbonda and their gravel frames.