The rise of carbon copy fiber technology brought lighter bikes , loyal speeds , and innovative aerodynamics to the world of cycling . But an unexpected side effect is starting to scotch the world ’s top bike builders . Taiwanese factoriesare counterfeit their productsand selling them for a fraction of the price . It ’s grievous , too .
As part of this year ’s Tour de France coverage , The New York Timesreports on a microphone boom in the carbon vulcanized fiber bike counterfeiting market place . If you ’re a wheel caller like Trek or Specialized , pull ahead the Tour means priming the brand up for an explosion of clone . It takes less than five minutes to rule elite physical body solidification and components for sale on Alibaba for less than one tenth the retail Leontyne Price . This is n’t just a business issue , either , say the caller .
“ It really just becomes an tremendous safety issue for consumer , ” Chad Moore of Mavic , a French roulette wheel company , told the newspaper . “ The steering wheel just kind of pin aside . ”
If there ’s anything you do n’t want while speeding down a steep hill on a carbon fiber bike , it ’s for the rack to fall apart . Unlike the blade or aluminum bike human body and factor of the past times , it ’s easy for manufacturers to skip steps and use flash , weaker materials so as to cut price while still produce a very lightweight bike . Using brassy materials for a alloy frame usually mean the bike will be much heavy than one built with higher-ranking craftsmanship . But with C vulcanized fiber , the counterfeiters just slap an name stigma decal on a garish frame and let the customer contend with the side effect .
The bicycle above , for lesson , looks like it ’s made by Time , an elite manufacturer from France , with components from Campagnolo . However , it ’s listed on Alibabafor just $ 500 . That seems impossible since the frame arrange aloneretails for $ 6,000 , and Campagnolo ingredient are some of the most expensive ones on the marketplace . But it ’s very possible that the Alibaba ’s seller ’s “ publicity sales event ” is just a received imitative price for a knockoff C character bike . This is a too plebeian taleaccording to many bicycle forums .
The problem is made worse by the fact that some of the factories that farm carbon paper fiber frames and component part for those name brands , also develop some duplicate for the counterfeit market . ( This approach is explained wellin a New Yorker article from a few years ago . ) As such , many bike companies are moving the manufacture away from China in rescript to see their trade secrets are n’t being stolen . Nevertheless , it ’s obvious that Chinese factories can make tolerable carbon vulcanized fiber bikes and sell them for usurious prices . Just do yourself and your base hit a favor and do n’t buy them .
[ New York Times ]
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