Examples of illegal copied items on road bikes and knowledge not to grasp bad products

Even with the influence of the worldwide bicycle boom, from the past several years ago "Chinese frame"Or"Chinese carbon"Road bikes of copy goods called as such are on the market. There are many things that can be called illegally copied items, some of which have problems with quality problems, and there are also cases where accidents like a control are caused, "Bicycles broke while running." What is the actual condition of such copy goods, and what kind of things you should be careful not to buy bad copy goods on the bicycle information siteBicyclingIt is summarized.

To Catch a Counterfeiter: The Sketchy World of Fake Bike Gear | Bicycling
http://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/components/catch-counterfeiter-sketchy-world-fake-bike-gear

Bicycle brand in California, USA · "SpecializedAt its headquarters is the company's finest aero road bikeVenge(VENGI) 's durability test was being carried out. Tests of durability are repeated endlessly, such as adding a shock from the front of the vehicle in a state set on a dedicated machine or rotating the pedal while simulating the actual driving condition.


Especially the pedaling durability test is a harsh content, and when the sprint game is held just before the goal of the race, the crank is rotated endlessly for 14 hours with the same amount of force applied to the pedal as a professional rider stepping on What to say. A tremendous test that the revolution number of the crank finally reaches 100,000 times is done.

This test scenery itself is not rare at the company, but this test is said to be a special case. According to Greg Tombragel who brought this bicycle frame, the frame of Venge being tested isPurchased from China siteIn fact, it is suspected to be a copied product that has the same shape as Venge. And as a result of the test, the frame is the attachment part of the crank which is most powerful when pedalingBB(Bottom bracket) A break occurred around the periphery.

Tombragel, the owner of the frame, is a 43-year-old man who said he has not started to ride a bicycle so much yet. Italian brand in 2007BottecchiaTombragel who entered the bicycle world after purchasing an aluminum frame bike of Bottekia seems to have reached a level to compete in the race soon, It is called a circleBMC Racemaster SLX 01Introducing and plenty of entering the world of bicycles. This bicycle is a model with a combination of aluminum and carbon, so to speak, a "hybrid frame", so to speak, it can be said to be a bicycle with the performance required for lighter and strong races.

CYCLINGTIME.com: BMC Racemaster SLX 01


From the introduction of Racemaster SLX01 four years have passed and Tombragel begins to consider introducing a new car, for example because the frame has begun to rattle. I found that at that time I found the specialized Venge I found on the auction site "eBay", but I bid on some auction but failed to make a successful bid for the convenience of the budget. It seems that the auction was trading at a price of 5,500 dollars (about 650,000 yen), and for Tombragel who is a top company, GE (General Electric), it seems that it was a price that can not be handed out.

By repeating bicycle search on the auction site and Google, Tombragel says that China's net shopping site "DHgateI received a lot of mails from me. Ironically, as I continued looking for genuine items, ads from Chinese sites came to be delivered, but in that there seemed to be a frame that looks exactly like Venge as "Specialized". The price is 500 dollars (about 60,000 yen) with shipping fee. Although it is a product full of doubtfulness to see, Tombragel seems to have decided to purchase the product whether he was interested.

Eventually the frame arrived safely, Tombragel immediately brought the frame to a familiar shop and started transplanting parts from BMC Racemaster SLX 01 which is a front type machine. Although the car body came up soon after it got together, according to Tombragel says some strange points have been seen from the early stage. First of all I noticed that the angle of the rear wheel could not be set properly. In order to set it at the correct angle, it was necessary to attach the wheels slightly obliquely to the frame, so it can be said that the center of the frame is not properly out (= distorted) at this point.

ByHeiner Adams

In addition, it may be impossible to fix the drink bottle holder that should be installed in the screw hole of the frame well, or the part that holds the wire etc will start rusting, etc. There are troubles that can not be considered for a bicycle exceeding 1 million yen at the regular price Frequent occurrence. Actually running on a bicycle, the ride was dominated by Funafuna and unreliable feeling on the whole, it seems that it was a frame of a level that can not be thought of at all, such as riding with very relief or even going out to the race is.

Tombragel who got a "mysterious Venge" was found, but as soon as I showed it to a specialized sales representative who was visiting a familiar shop, the situation turned out. The person in charge immediately told Tombragel, "This is a fake, is not it?"

◆ Luxury brand bike to be copied
In Specialized, we have a wide range of bicycles, from bicycles for beginners to the "S-Works" brand for the highest grade, as well as racing helmetsS-Works Evade, A handlebar that pursued aerodynamicsS-Works AeroflyWe have various high end products such as lineup. The fact that high priced products are lined up means that the risk that a cheap copy product will appear on the market is so high that the specialized brand also places great emphasis on countermeasures against copy products damaging the brand image.

Mr. Andrew Love, who leads the team, started flooding copies since around 2006. Initially it was a small good or cyclical jersey, but around 2009 the company's high-end model "Tarmac(Tarmac) "body of the body itself revealed. The company is working on countermeasures by taking a company and it is said that 10 people, including full-time staff of three full-time staff, are investigating copies and taking countermeasures.


However, it seems that there is a side that does not proceed as it seems that it seems that it seems to be easy to seize the grip as the partner is a manufacturer that manufactures copies illegally and sells. Especially, those copy makers are considered to sell products by individual trading through the net, and it is considered that most of them are online shops such as eBay and Amazon, especially sites like Alibaba (Alibaba) and Craigslist (Craigs List) It is very difficult to grasp the actual situation so as to exchange directly through through. In these copy markets, it is said that specialized bicycles such as bicycles of famous brands such as Pinarello and Savero, and 300,000 yen of one set like Zipp are particularly traded for exclusive high-grade wheels.

In particular, the flow of copy goods became stronger from the time the mainstream of the frame material shifted from aluminum to carbon. Compared to a metal frame made by welding metal pipes, this is a big influence on the characteristics of a carbon frame that can be molded by attaching a carbon material to a metal mold. It is a well-known fact that even the bicycles of the world famous European and American brands are actually carried out in Asian countries such as China and Taiwan, but in fact, these brands There is a reality that design data and real thing of ownership "carbon mold" are traded and it is very easy to make the same type of bicycle once it is obtained.

However, even though the shape is the same, know-how such as "how many layers of carbon cloth is to be laminated" and "how to orient the carbon cloths" and the quality itself of the carbon material are confidential items owned by each manufacturer Therefore, a bicycle like 'specialized form only' that rigidity and accuracy are completely different even in the same shape is born.

Looking at the cross section of the following helmet, the difference is obvious. The left is fake, the right is Evade of the specialized, but the thickness of the black part absorbing shock is thinner, whereas the right real knows that there is a firm thickness I will. In addition, you can see that there are some white spots in the absorbent material in real. This is a section of a structure called "cage" that wraps around the entire circumference of the helmet like a net, and it is designed so that the rigidity of the helmet is further increased by this cage. Of course there is no such structure in the fake, the only thing that is superior is that it is tens of grams lighter than the real thing. However, if you think that its safety is impaired by its lightness, you do not need to think which is superior.


Tombragel brought in by the above-mentioned "fake ladder Venge", but unexpectedly it showed the performance that meets safety standards in the strength test of the front fork. However, this does not satisfy the specialized standards, and if the company's products showed the same performance, it is supposed to be redesigned to maintain more safety margin.


◆ In order not to catch a fake
In Bicycling, in order to get such a fake trick and not to fall into the "loss of purchase of goods", the following points are raised. There are things that can be said to be "common sense," but if there is a cheap frame hanging in front of you, that decision may be shaken. In any case, it seems to be important to consider these points after careful consideration of these points.

1. Confirm the seller well
Special attention is required when the seller's location is China. Regular distributors have their own sites even in China even though there are no cases to sell at auction sites and so on. It is important to check the status of agencies in each country at each brand site and to confirm that it is an authorized route.

2. Confirm the contents of the description carefully
There is no doubt that the site that says "The details of color and design are mailed" is suspicious. It is a technique to prevent the brand name being copied from being specified by becoming bright as the design does not put the details on the table.

3. Confirm the sales policy of each brand well
Some brands prohibit online sales like Savero. Also, there are many cases where other brands also restrict sales routes, and brands that sell only at self-site, not Amazon like shops, are also wary of this point as well.

Four. Thinking in "common sense"
It is appropriate to think that "50,000 yen class regular price frame is available on the net at 50,000 yen" There is something behind. " Sometimes I think that "I found a bargain", but as so often as calm and sensible judgment is indispensable.

Although it is a fake brand that floods in the market unique to the net, it is still better if it is done with "Qian losing", sometimes due to bad products, "Pokitsu" and car body and parts broken, leading to accidents, poor If you do, you will be fully conceived of being in danger of life. Since it is practice of the world that there is a back lot in a nice story, careful attention is paid to the bargains, and in case you absolutely need to buy it it is necessary to prepare to respond with your own responsibility. Also, it seems better to understand well that you may confiscate goods when you purchase copies, or you may be asked for legal responsibilities if you do bad jobs.