# Bad Experience with Chinese Carbon Wheels



## chemistry76 (Mar 2, 2010)

This is just an FYI. I knew the risk when I ordered them, not looking for an "I told you so."

Ordered the wheels last fall from a vendor on aliexpress.com, they arrived, looked good, and I had no trouble with them after mounting up some Schwalbe One's.

Four months later I broke a spoke on the rear wheel. I took the wheel to my team's mechanic (lbs owner). He told me another spoke busted as he was taking the tire off the wheel. I asked him to give me his honest opinion about them and he said that he would have great hesitation about riding on them.

Parts of the tire bead has a lot of residual resin. Some of the rubber mold was in the bead as well, and I was able to remove that, but the resin is a part of the rim and will not come out. The front wheel has the same problem.

I went back to aliexpress.com and the vendor no longer had a store. I dug around and found his gmail account, emailed him and asked if he was still selling wheels. He replied he was. I then told him my story, and he said that it's normal and to scrape it out. Well it's obviously not normal and it's a manufacturing defect. The stated warranty was for one year and covered manufacturing defects. He stopped responding to my emails.

I contacted aliexpress.com about it and they sounded interested, but when I sent them a picture of the serial number, they said the number had been defaced. A fricken spoke hole was drilled in the middle of the serial number yet I was to blame for defacing the serial number.

The name of the "store" is Xiamen Power Bike, and the link is: Xiamen Power Bike * - Small Orders Online Store, Hot Selling and more on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group


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## tvad (Aug 31, 2003)

Hopefully, a lesson learned. We've all had them.


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## MMsRepBike (Apr 1, 2014)

I know it's hard folks, I know it is. But save them dollars and buy something nice and authentic with a real warranty.

As for those counterfeit... Easton's is it? Well I think the seller is probably telling the truth. Maybe it's time to get some tools and scrape some resin. And maybe save those for days where no hills are involved.


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## chemistry76 (Mar 2, 2010)

I tried using some tools to scrape it out... It's part of the rim.. A dremel may do the trick, but if I have to grind on the carbon fiber, I don't think I'll ever feel confident in putting my life on top of them.


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## obed (Jan 12, 2014)

serial number defaced, seriously? you can clearly read it...and you can tell by the spacing it is a factory drilled spoke hole...
maybe try and contact the mfg direct...but seems like a wash to me.


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## MMsRepBike (Apr 1, 2014)

They drilled holes through the carbon fiber...

Unless your wheels are made by ENVE, the spoke holes are drilled. I wouldn't worry at all about scraping out the resin with whatever was needed if it was in the way of something. Dremel sounds okay if you're really careful. It might fracture though and a chip too big may come out.


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## rruff (Feb 28, 2006)

chemistry76 said:


> The name of the "store" is Xiamen Power Bike, and the link is: Xiamen Power Bike * - Small Orders Online Store, Hot Selling and more on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group


I'm wondering why you didn't at least buy from a company that has a couple years of solid feedback in the US?


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## chemistry76 (Mar 2, 2010)

rruff said:


> I'm wondering why you didn't at least buy from a company that has a couple years of solid feedback in the US?


I have a friend who had good luck with her wheels from aliexpress... Also, I googled around and found a few success stories and no horror stories. 

Hopefully this post can help someone else in the future make a more informed decision.


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## MMsRepBike (Apr 1, 2014)

Well this site has seen dozens of horror stories. Must not have looked here.

Yours is just a minor defect. They haven't delaminated on you yet.


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## ergott (Feb 26, 2006)

There's a big difference between buying Chinese carbon rims from a reputable company (not hard to find) and buying cheap knockoffs of Easton. 

Mistake one was getting counterfeit Easton. 

Mistake 2 would be to continue riding them. There's no accountability whatsoever if something should fail and you crash. No recourse. Are you prepared to accept that and continue using them?


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## tvad (Aug 31, 2003)

rruff said:


> I'm wondering why you didn't at least buy from a company that has a couple years of solid feedback in the US?


Because a cheap price was at the top of the priority list.


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

I've bought a bunch of chinese carbon rims and a couple frames. I would not buy knock-offs or buy from a random aliexpress vendor. However some of the well known vendors do sell on aliexpress in addition to direct via email/web.

What happens if parts fail and you crash as a result? With an american company you can sue them in court. You may or may not win and if you do win you may or may not be able to get compensation. A small company may just go bankrupt to avoid judgement.

With a chinese trading company that has no US assets, you'd need to sue in Chinese court. Even if that was possible it would not be practical. Some guy selling parts on Aliexpress is even less accessible to judgement.

So if you think that being able to obtain judgement if the parts fail and you crash as a result is important, you should stick to US companies and products.


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## ergott (Feb 26, 2006)

tvad said:


> Because a cheap price was at the top of the priority list.


Even so, there are cheap options that aren't knockoffs. Any company that blatantly rips off another company's products will not hesitate to cut corners elsewhere.


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## SauronHimself (Nov 21, 2012)

Don't beat yourself up too hard, OP. Everyone makes expensive mistakes in their life. Luckily, yours was on the scale of several hundred dollars and not tens of thousands.


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## Notvintage (May 19, 2013)

"Bad Experience with Chinese Carbon Wheels" LOL. . Why would you expect something else?


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## tvad (Aug 31, 2003)

Notvintage said:


> "Bad Experience with Chinese Carbon Wheels" LOL. . Why would you expect something else?


Another sinophobic post from "Notvintage". Nothing to see here people. Move on...


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## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

chemistry76 said:


> I have a friend who had good luck with her wheels from aliexpress... Also, I googled around and found a few success stories and no horror stories.


Aliexpress is like eBay. Anyone can list products there. It's a crapshoot what you get when you buy from these unknown OEM carbon stores.


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## mikerp (Jul 24, 2011)

This^^^^
I've bought a few carbon items from China, no issues, chances are I'll buy more in the future. The key is buy direct from the manufacturer that wants to use their name on the item. Don't bother with someone that is willing to sell a counterfeit item, let's face it if they are willing to fake the name/item what else are they going to do?


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## rruff (Feb 28, 2006)

ericm979 said:


> What happens if parts fail and you crash as a result? With an american company you can sue them in court.


That isn't my concern, but I at least would want to buy from a company that has a couple years of US sales, good feedback on the forums, and some reports of defects being warrantied. This means they care about their reputation and have something to lose if they dump junk on you. 

Too many Chinese companies are very "fly by night". If you don't practice some common sense, then you will get the crap that no reputable company would sell.


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## Jay Strongbow (May 8, 2010)

ergott said:


> There's a big difference between buying Chinese carbon rims from a reputable company (not hard to find) and buying cheap knockoffs of Easton.
> 
> Mistake one was getting counterfeit Easton.
> 
> Mistake 2 would be to continue riding them. There's no accountability whatsoever if something should fail and you crash. No recourse. Are you prepared to accept that and continue using them?



Bingo.

And if you're going to get fakes get fake Enve, Lightweight or the like. They'll suck too but fake Eastons is like getting a fake Timex so may as well go Patek if you're going to stoop that far. 

Sorry dude, no sympathy for anyone who rewards knock off goods producers by knowingly buying fakes. You did know, right?


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## froze (Sep 15, 2002)

hmmmm, well all I can say about all of this is yup.


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

I can understand people buying cheap chinese wheels, but buying obviously fake chinese manufactured copies of a highly recognizable American product? 

Wow...:frown2:


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## chemistry76 (Mar 2, 2010)

I see I've found a school of bottom feeders who forgot or ignored the first line of my post.

Thank you for the entertainment, but if I wanted sympathy I know where to find it - in the dictionary between **** and syphilis.

Had this story popped up when I was searching around, it might have saved me a few bucks.. As it is, I chose to share my folly so the next person who types in some keywords I dropped in my original post will perhaps be spared. For those who couldn't resist with an "I told you so."... Go ride a bike, you'll be much happier... Some of you have a long history of snarky negative commentary... Maybe you should go ride a bike and pet a puppy.


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## 00Garza (Nov 15, 2013)

chemistry76 said:


> Had this story popped up when I was searching around, it might have saved me a few bucks.


There is a stickied thread about Chinese carbon up top and also another in the frames forum. Both are great resources for discovering the reputable sellers to buy from. Also, both contain multiple stories of bad experiences with random eBay/aliexpress. Many people including myself repeatedly warn people in those threads about buying from random sellers. The (slightly) lower prices are alluring and I've almost done it myself on a few occasions.

That said, I'm sorry for your experience, and hope you have many great trouble free miles on those wheels.


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## robdamanii (Feb 13, 2006)

chemistry76 said:


> I see I've found a school of bottom feeders who forgot or ignored the first line of my post.
> 
> Thank you for the entertainment, but if I wanted sympathy I know where to find it - in the dictionary between **** and syphilis.
> 
> Had this story popped up when I was searching around, it might have saved me a few bucks.. As it is, I chose to share my folly so the next person who types in some keywords I dropped in my original post will perhaps be spared. For those who couldn't resist with an "I told you so."... Go ride a bike, you'll be much happier... Some of you have a long history of snarky negative commentary... Maybe you should go ride a bike and pet a puppy.


I kinda like this guy...


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## BelgianHammer (Apr 10, 2012)

^^^ +1, in a major way

(not sure if you were joking or being ironic, robdamanii, but your 5 words says it all, lol, to a T) Chemistry76, ignore a select few here incapable of reading English in your first thread. Though, in their defense, maybe it is quite actually the case they are Chinese, or maybe Indian, and reading/speaking the English language is their 3rd tongue  Anyhow, it was obvious you weren't looking for sympathy, clearly even wrote that in your post, and just wanted to give a heads up to others. I for one want to say thank you. 

Wife has been bugging me about wanting a pair of carbons, but when I show her the price of Enve, Zipps, and others, she hesitates and says no way. Then, of course, she gets online and finds Alibaba, and now I am dealing with her talking about those. I know there is a RBR thread (2, actually) dedicated to Chinese carbon wheels and the Alibaba.com/Ebay sellers, but for anyone who has tried to wade through (especially the first that has nearly 4K posting-replies), it is almost impossible to get a bearing on which sellers are good and which are bad. I may have overlooked it (if it actually exists), but it'd be nice to see a summary thread (at the beginning of each of those 2 threads) that plainly lists the sellers on Alibaba, Ebay and elsewhere, and whether people who bought from that seller had problems and/or had a good experience, with a brief explanation of why it was good and/or bad.

People are going to keep buying Chinese carbons (and the fact they are Chinese, as tvad correctly points out with our resident sinophobe poster, has nothing to do with anything)...but they are going to keep buying Chinese carbon wheels no matter what. So I wonder if the RBR site-advertisers (and moderators) would even allow such a post--like mentioned above--to go up & gain traction since it clearly will clash with the ad-driven revenue from the wheel sellers who pay up and support RBR with ad-dollars (_note those ads that flash on the side of your loaded browser page...some are from wheel sellers_). That's a tough call. 

Hey, let us know if dremeling the resin works out......Ibet if you went slow, it'd work out and things would be fine.


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## Jay Strongbow (May 8, 2010)

BelgianHammer said:


> ^^^ +1, in a major way
> 
> (not sure if you were joking or being ironic, robdamanii, but your 5 words says it all, lol, to a T) Chemistry76, ignore a select few here incapable of reading English in your first thread. Though, in their defense, maybe it is quite actually the case they are Chinese, or maybe Indian, and reading/speaking the English language is their 3rd tongue  Anyhow, it was obvious you weren't looking for sympathy, clearly even wrote that in your post, and just wanted to give a heads up to others. I for one want to say thank you.
> 
> ...


man it takes you a lot of words to say nothing.
Do you not understand the difference between cheap wheels from China and fake wheels from China (or anywhere)?
Cheap is cool. Fake is a crime. Get it??


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## robdamanii (Feb 13, 2006)

Jay Strongbow said:


> man it takes you a lot of words to say nothing.
> Do you not understand the difference between cheap wheels from China and fake wheels from China (or anywhere)?
> Cheap is cool. Fake is a crime. Get it??


I don't necessarily disagree. I'm not into fake stuff at all. 

I give the guy credit for saying "I fu**ed up, and I know it. Spare me and let someone else learn that fake stuff sucks."


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## ergott (Feb 26, 2006)

ergott said:


> Mistake 2 would be to continue riding them. There's no accountability whatsoever if something should fail and you crash. No recourse. Are you prepared to accept that and continue using them?



I'm quoting myself for emphasis.

Do not Dremel out the resin and continue riding the wheels. Excess resin is a major sign of weakness in carbon. Having all that excess resin right at the base of the hook in the rim is really bad. A tire/tube is a pressure vessel and the hook is what keeps it together. The last thing you want is a failure out on the road. The tire instantly deflates and potentially locks up your brakes. It's asking for a crash. You will have no recourse with the company, but more importantly you can get seriously hurt.

I'm not particularly endorsing this company over any other, but Light-Bicycle repeatedly gets mentioned as a company that's been around a while. There are definitely others if you use Light-Bicycle as a search term on forums.
light bicycle-carbon frame,carbon rim,carbon wheel,carbon wheelset,carbon mountain bike,carbon road bike Light-Bicycle

Again, counterfeit companies have no scruples as it is. You can be sure they don't have your safety in mind when they sell that imitation garbage.

Live and learn.


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## BelgianHammer (Apr 10, 2012)

Eric,

A day and half ago, told the wife she should "give up" some of her GNOs (Girls Night Out) and save the dough up to get a good, reliable set of carbon clinchers. Along this line, I had given her your email, saying: ".._buy the wheels from someone who makes them right and stands behind them._" You think any of this made made a dent with that woman? Decades of marriage and I still, half the time, can't figure out what goes on up there. 



P.S. To our resident grouch (not you, Eric, lol), the grouchier & grumpier you get, the more the words tumble forth like butterflies from a Romany field


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## ergott (Feb 26, 2006)

Thanks for the compliment.:thumbsup:


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## froze (Sep 15, 2002)

Bottom feeders? all I can say about that is slurp slurp slurp!


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

chemistry76 said:


> I see I've found a school of bottom feeders who forgot or ignored the first line of my post.
> 
> Thank you for the entertainment, but if I wanted sympathy I know where to find it - in the dictionary between **** and syphilis.
> 
> Had this story popped up when I was searching around, it might have saved me a few bucks.. As it is, I chose to share my folly so the next person who types in some keywords I dropped in my original post will perhaps be spared. For those who couldn't resist with an "I told you so."... Go ride a bike, you'll be much happier... Some of you have a long history of snarky negative commentary... Maybe you should go ride a bike and pet a puppy.


Hey, I resemble that remark.


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