I want to cry!

[Super Sywurm]

I posted the link to the Carte Blanche and Specialized pages on Facebook, lets see what happens.

[Tumbleweed]

I have tweeted it to @SpecializedZA let's see what they say .....

Mmmmm...you can buy Giants at Game, but can get Speshes at street corners...interesting :-)

[BarHugger]

 

Mmmmm...you can buy Giants at Game, but can get Speshes at street corners...interesting :-)

 

Hey you........you should still be in La-la-land.........enjoying a ride with a hot blonde on a tandem. This early morning stuff is buggering up your hormonal levels, circadian rhythm and ultimately CPU performance. The body needs some REM.

 

Please ignore above rant if a hot blonde is the reason for you being awake.......and it is not the pooch.

[Vetseun]

Wrong

[SwissVan]

anyone who knows anything about bikes will realize these frames look about as close to a Specialized as a GWM bakkie looks to a Isuzu bakkie. These look like cheap Makro bikes,awfull. If you buy them and rock up at a race, I will give you *** and laugh at your cheapness. Please know that.

 

I just don't understand why anyone would want to buy something like this which is obviously not the real thing.

 

[Dirkitech]

what about this here site?

 

http://www.cipc.co.za/Enforcement_IP_Complaint.aspx

 

would that allow for a suitable outcome against people/companies that sell counterfeits?

[jcza]

Where's the F8??

['Dale]

Where's the F8??

 

Interested, are you?

 

Hehehe

[Long Wheel Base]

When the whole cycle science thing broke I did some research on the matter. ALIEXPRESS has a few brands for sale including pinarello, specialized, time, colnago and a few other high end brands. All ranging from $500 up. I dug deeper and with not too much googling I found out that what happens is a brand like pinarello employs 50(just a figure for argument sake) factories in china to make their frames. Pinarello supplies the mold and instruct them exactly what weave carbon to use. Pinarello will then say to each factory they must produce XXX amount of frames to be shipped back to Italy. Now this is where it gets dodgy. The "approved" factories firstly make duplicate molds and supply them to non approved factories. These non approved factories use any carbon they want but have the "proper" mold. Those frames are what get labelled as fake. Then the next thing the approved factory does is when pinarello says make XXX amount of frames they go and make XXX + a few. These extra frames are made with the correct carbon and same spec as the XXX amount going back to Italy. These frames are called grey imports. Its all wrong in so many ways but if there wasn't a demand they wouldn't do it? The scary thing is I looked on this ALIEXPRESS site and the things you can buy on there are crazy, literally ANYTHING you can think of. Im not sure in the long run its worth it as firstly I want to support my LBS, secondly I'm sure you got zero warranty, thirdly how do you insure a fake? and lastly doesn't it play on your mind?

I'm pretty sure this guy selling these got them from ALIEXPRESS.

[rouxtjie]

When the whole cycle science thing broke I did some research on the matter. ALIEXPRESS has a few brands for sale including pinarello, specialized, time, colnago and a few other high end brands. All ranging from $500 up. I dug deeper and with not too much googling I found out that what happens is a brand like pinarello employs 50(just a figure for argument sake) factories in china to make their frames. Pinarello supplies the mold and instruct them exactly what weave carbon to use. Pinarello will then say to each factory they must produce XXX amount of frames to be shipped back to Italy. Now this is where it gets dodgy. The "approved" factories firstly make duplicate molds and supply them to non approved factories. These non approved factories use any carbon they want but have the "proper" mold. Those frames are what get labelled as fake. Then the next thing the approved factory does is when pinarello says make XXX amount of frames they go and make XXX + a few. These extra frames are made with the correct carbon and same spec as the XXX amount going back to Italy. These frames are called grey imports. Its all wrong in so many ways but if there wasn't a demand they wouldn't do it? The scary thing is I looked on this ALIEXPRESS site and the things you can buy on there are crazy, literally ANYTHING you can think of. Im not sure in the long run its worth it as firstly I want to support my LBS, secondly I'm sure you got zero warranty, thirdly how do you insure a fake? and lastly doesn't it play on your mind?

I'm pretty sure this guy selling these got them from ALIEXPRESS.

this is where campy got it right...check the "italian job" story

 

Giant and schwinn story is also a good one to read

Edited September 10, 2014 by rouxtjie

[carbon29er]

 

I'm pretty sure this guy selling these got them from ALIEXPRESS.

I doubt it. But as you googled it you must be right in how it all works, particularly the XXX + a few that become grey imports.

 

FTR: A grey import is a genuine item made by the genuine manufacturer but imported by a party other than the official distributor. A frame from any one other than the official manufacturer is a fake.

[Long Wheel Base]

this is where campy got it right...check the "italian job" story

 

Giant and schwinn story is also a good one to read

Will do, Thanks rouxtjie.

[Maniax]

When the whole cycle science thing broke I did some research on the matter. ALIEXPRESS has a few brands for sale including pinarello, specialized, time, colnago and a few other high end brands. All ranging from $500 up. I dug deeper and with not too much googling I found out that what happens is a brand like pinarello employs 50(just a figure for argument sake) factories in china to make their frames. Pinarello supplies the mold and instruct them exactly what weave carbon to use. Pinarello will then say to each factory they must produce XXX amount of frames to be shipped back to Italy. Now this is where it gets dodgy. The "approved" factories firstly make duplicate molds and supply them to non approved factories. These non approved factories use any carbon they want but have the "proper" mold. Those frames are what get labelled as fake. Then the next thing the approved factory does is when pinarello says make XXX amount of frames they go and make XXX + a few. These extra frames are made with the correct carbon and same spec as the XXX amount going back to Italy. These frames are called grey imports. Its all wrong in so many ways but if there wasn't a demand they wouldn't do it? The scary thing is I looked on this ALIEXPRESS site and the things you can buy on there are crazy, literally ANYTHING you can think of. Im not sure in the long run its worth it as firstly I want to support my LBS, secondly I'm sure you got zero warranty, thirdly how do you insure a fake? and lastly doesn't it play on your mind?

I'm pretty sure this guy selling these got them from ALIEXPRESS.

 

After Cycle Science we are all quite specialized on the differences between fake and grey. This aint it..... but please lets not restart the debate.

Edited September 10, 2014 by Maniax

[carbon29er]

this is where campy got it right...check the "italian job" story

 

Giant and schwinn story is also a good one to read

In reality Giant used the IP it learned from making CMT products under contract to launch itself as a brand. As did LG in the electronics field.

[Long Wheel Base]

I doubt it. But as you googled it you must be right in how it all works, particularly the XXX + a few that become grey imports.

 

FTR: A grey import is a genuine item made by the genuine manufacturer but imported by a party other than the official distributor. A frame from any one other than the official manufacturer is a fake.

correct

[rouxtjie]

In reality Giant used the IP it learned from making CMT products under contract to launch itself as a brand. As did LG in the electronics field.

Yip, exactly....what the big brands don't realize is that you sign in blood when handing over your IP to the east. Sure you save bucks on labour....and in the short run the board will be happy...profits are up, costs are down. But then they have you by the short and curly's, your IP that you laid out big capital for, you hand over in the form of a mold.