Chinese made Parts and Accessories Opions?

1892 Views 8 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Homyality, Apr 8, 2016

denyewlR3

Discussion Starter · Apr 6, 2016

I'm looking for opions on chinese made parts and accessories mainly the rearsets and leavers, i myself have had an so-so experience with them as i just recently bought the carbon rear seat cowl from china, the part did not sit flush and would wiggle(atleast 2-3cm each side) and have a gap and the rubber was not polished felt cheap but for the price its ok.

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JiiMc

· #2 · Apr 6, 2016 (Edited)

A few months ago I bought a chrome wind screen off of ebay from a chinese seller (~$30), and the quality was good enough that I'm happy with it. I decided recently to go through the same shop for levers ($20), grips ($15), and passenger seat replacement ($33), received them from hong kong yesterday (7 days, free shipping), but because I am away right now I haven't seen them in person. The levers and grips are off a bit in color, which doesn't really bother me too much. I might try from a different shop or buy "better" levers to better match the color, but haven't compared the seat color to the red of my bike.

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Stirz

· #3 · Apr 6, 2016 (Edited)

Quality can vary widely as you've seen. Sometimes, parts can be quite good - other times they can be total junk.

I'd offer that for brake levers in particular, consider this: Do you really want to get a critical piece of equipment that could potentially save or ruin your life at the cheapest price possible? That's one item where saving money may cost much more than you think.

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Bird

· #4 · Apr 6, 2016 (Edited)

The Chinese brake levers have been proven themselves to be way too dangerous. There was a post on socalsportbikes just last month with someone testimonial on literally almost dying from a chinese cheap lever failing on his front brakes. Adding that extra play to the already mediocre front braking is just not an option. Bought two Chinese sets, they were identical. One was from an auction snipe for $3.35, and when I sold them for $28 I felt guilty like I compromised someone else's safety. The ones I have from Hong Kong are good enough to use.

My China bar ends, just started to shatter apart slowly from vibration. They shipped with the wrong bolts that were way too long and the seller accused me of being a scammer. Replaced them with Evo-Tech from the UK, solid properly weighted stainless slug capped off. Super strong. Way better experience.

I have bought (and sold) quite a bit of Chinese stuff. Would I buy any more of it. Nope.
I would be hard pressed to buy out of Asia at all with all my combined experiences so far.
I don't trust my TYGA rearsets as far as I can throw them, they look good enough but I am skeptical.

The only China aftermarket parts I have left are the flush mount front indicators and those are coming off the bike next. I can't say I will keep a single part.

I understand now why USA/UK/Japan/Italy/AU made parts cost more. Its worth the quality.

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JiiMc

· #5 · Apr 6, 2016

Bird said:
The Chinese brake levers have been proven to me anyway to be way too dangerous. The ones I have from Hong Kong are good enough to use. Adding that extra play to the already mediocre front braking is just not an option. Bought two sets, they were idential. One was from an auction snipe for $3.35, and when I sold them for $28 I felt guilty like I compromised someone elses safety.

My China bar ends, just started to shatter apart slowly from vibration. They shipped with the wrong bolts that were way too long and the seller accused me of being a scammer. Replaced them with Evo-Tech from the UK, solid porperly weighted stainless slug capped off. Super strong. Way better experience.

I have bought (and sold) quite a bit of Chinese stuff. Would I buy any more of it. Nope.
I would be hard pressed to buy out of Asia at all with all my combined experiences so far.
I dont trust my TYGA rearsets as far as I can throw them, they look good enough but I am skeptical.

The only China aftermarket parts I have left are the flushmount front indicators and those are coming off the bike next. I can't say I will keep a single part.

I understand now why USA/UK/Japan/Italy/AU made parts cost more. Its worth the quality.

Oh that reminded me I bought $3 flush mounts (bright, but taking off because I don't trust flush mounts no matter what brand) and $5 shitty rear LED turn signals that were almost invisible during the day (binned 'em).

IDK I wouldn't recommend fleabay as the main source to get all your parts. I'm fine with poor quality cosmetic things like the rear seat or grips, but the levers are mostly just to see if I liked the style and the color mounted on my bike

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Homyality

· #6 · Apr 6, 2016

For what it's worth, MANY of your OE parts were Chinese made.

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Stirz

· #7 · Apr 7, 2016 (Edited)

Homyality said:
For what it's worth, MANY of your OE parts were Chinese made.

This is true - even H-D uses them. But the key difference is that OEM's generally will do independent QA and are liable for failures should they occur, so they go to some effort to make sure those parts are 'good'. The 'knock-offs' you often find for cheap are cheap for a reason - things like ripping off stuff that someone else spent R&D on, copyright/trademark/patent infringement, child/prison labor, toxic materials, improper fit and function, and taking absolutely no responsibility for their product should they fail (and kill you).

Reputable manufacturers and OEM's do not want unhappy customers or bad product reviews, so will generally go the extra mile to make things right should there be a problem. These knock-off guys could care less. Like Bird's experience: " They shipped with the wrong bolts that were way too long and the seller accused me of being a scammer."

Consider this scenario - you are a small inventor or manufacturer and come up with a great idea or product. You invest a lot of time, money and effort developing it and bring it to market, hoping to recoup your investment and maybe get rewarded for your innovation. Soon after, some slime-ball gets hold of one, copies it, pays you no royalties, sells it, makes money off YOUR efforts and causes you to go out of business or bankrupt. You have no recourse because they cannot be held morally or legally accountable. Where is the justice in that?

If you want to give these people your money so they can keep doing it, that's your decision I guess - I call it the WalMart mentality. In my mind, what they are doing is borderline if not outright criminal - so I have nothing to do with them (but that's just me and I'm not the boss of you).

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Capn Kirk

· #8 · Apr 7, 2016

Stirz said:
Consider this scenario - you are a small inventor or manufacturer and come up with a great idea or product. You invest a lot of time, money and effort developing it and bring it to market, hoping to recoup your investment and maybe get rewarded for your innovation. Soon after, some slime-ball gets hold of one, copies it, pays you no royalties, sells it, makes money off YOUR efforts .... Where is the justice in that?

I work closely with a local machine shop and was talking with my contact there and he told me the exact same story....

A customer of his developed a vapor machine (the kind people smoke). This shop made a few of the vaporizer components for him. He sold the vaporizers on Ebay for around $100 and made a small profit. Within a couple months a Chinese seller was selling exact clones for just under $30 shipped. The quality was crap by comparison but it didn't matter. His sales dropped drastically.

While on the subject, Any US sellers making blue levers in deep blue to match our bikes? I have looked at CRG and theirs are too light in color blue..

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Homyality

· #9 · Apr 8, 2016

Stirz said:
This is true - even H-D uses them. But the key difference is that OEM's generally will do independent QA and are liable for failures should they occur, so they go to some effort to make sure those parts are 'good'. The 'knock-offs' you often find for cheap are cheap for a reason - things like ripping off stuff that someone else spent R&D on, copyright/trademark/patent infringement, child/prison labor, toxic materials, improper fit and function, and taking absolutely no responsibility for their product should they fail (and kill you).

Reputable manufacturers and OEM's do not want unhappy customers or bad product reviews, so will generally go the extra mile to make things right should there be a problem. These knock-off guys could care less. Like Bird's experience: " They shipped with the wrong bolts that were way too long and the seller accused me of being a scammer."

Consider this scenario - you are a small inventor or manufacturer and come up with a great idea or product. You invest a lot of time, money and effort developing it and bring it to market, hoping to recoup your investment and maybe get rewarded for your innovation. Soon after, some slime-ball gets hold of one, copies it, pays you no royalties, sells it, makes money off YOUR efforts and causes you to go out of business or bankrupt. You have no recourse because they cannot be held morally or legally accountable. Where is the justice in that?

If you want to give these people your money so they can keep doing it, that's your decision I guess - I call it the WalMart mentality. In my mind, what they are doing is borderline if not outright criminal - so I have nothing to do with them (but that's just me and I'm not the boss of you).

I am no stranger to the difference in manufacturing quality between different types of Chinese facilities. I do, however, have problems with the typical "Made in China" is crap stigma. Chinese parts can be good or bad, just like American made parts can be.

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Chinese made Parts and Accessories Opions?

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