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Have you ever bought a jersey from China? Or one of the bib tights and jersey sets? At around £15 on average per set, some can seem quite tempting.
If you have given in, what was the sizing/quality like?
My clubmate bought a full Sky kit, bibs, warmers the lot. The fit was so bad and the material so poor that it was a joke. His defence was well it was only 35 quid. Best avoid.
I havd about 3 sets of china copy shorts which i regularly use as short liners on my mtb & Tbh I can't tell the difference between one set and my £50 brand name road kit (similar fit and comfort). However It's a bit hit and miss - one of pairs I have I used on the road bke once and wouldn't again - fine on the mtb though.
Bought a Bardiani jersey a couple of years back. Its actually not bad. Material feels like a full price jersey (ie, perforated fabric). Fit is ok as well. Would get another. Tried some shorts by they were a bad fit for me. To be honest I have had some bad fitting shorts from Craft and Campagnolo as well, so might be ok for you.
A mate bought a set. Cant think what it advertised as not worn it for a while, but it seemed very poor quality and almost see through.
FKW
I see what you did there.
Bought some 'Castelli' bib longs.
They are a reasonable fit and the pad is no worse than dhb but they are black with white inner 'roubaix' fabric so the have a weird sheen to them.
One of the few pairs I have that have legs long enough for 34" inside leg, unlike dhb, Boardman or Endura...
I've a couple of long sleeve Mavic jerseys I bought from Ali express £9.45 vs £45 took about a month to come with free post. Fit is perfect as is the material.
Really pleased with them. Won't be wearing till summer so no opinion on quality/wear but at that price I'm not going to get upset when I fall and tear it.
FKW
+1
I cant see how which bike you use crap kit on makes any difference ?
I tried on a pair of chinese shorts once that I bought from Aliexpress and they literally went up in flames as soon as I put them on!
The team sky pro kit is bloody thin mind..Fenton got sunburnt through his
I bought a Morvelo top from China, it wasn't even close to being anything remotely resembling the fit, finish, pattern or materials... I could knit better (& I can't knit)... a £12 gamble. That I lost.
I bought a bike maker long sleeve jersey, not from Ebay but from a website that looked American. It turned out to be in China and when the jersey came I saw straight away that the colour was wrong and the material awful so I stuck it on Ebay, only to be bollocked by Ebay for selling fake goods!
^as above, "Morvelo" jersey from eBay advertised as genuine. Utterly awful, rather have decathlon. I was firmly in the camp that thought all polyester shirts were equal, they're not.
I got a cheap pair of non branded, generic black bib shorts for Turbo work. Pad fine & material OK. Perfectly fine & even wore them outside. Not as good as my "posh" decathlon ones but for I think a fiver, you'd not expect more.
Useful if your doing 2-3 Turbo sessions a week and want a fresh pair each session without spending a fortune.
I bought a Morvelo top from China, it wasn't even close to being anything remotely resembling the fit, finish, pattern or materials... I could knit better (& I can't knit)... a £12 gamble. That I lost.
I find this rather depressing. Small UK base company producing nice kit having their designs stolen.
Does your Hermes hand-bag smell of plastic and your Rolex make your wrist go green?
Morvelo" jersey from eBay advertised as genuine. Utterly awful, rather have decathlon. I was firmly in the camp that thought all polyester shirts were equal, they're not.
Wow, must have been bad. I ordered a jersey direct from Morvelo and that was as shit as they come.
Can't see how people would rate them based on the three examples I had delivered.
I find this rather depressing. Small UK base company producing nice kit having their designs stolen.
Does your Hermes hand-bag smell of plastic and your Rolex make your wrist go green?
I spoke to the Morvelo guys when I bought it, they were aware, it was the 'a bloc' design that got ripped off, I've not seen any others.
Flattering I suppose.
Not seen any fake Rapha but I don't really go looking.
Flattering I suppose.
Not seen any fake Rapha but I don't really go looking
Flattery doesn't put food on the table.
I'm not sure companies loose much as a result of Chinese copies. Different customer groups.
No but why rip off other people? Buy the plane shit, buy the other stuff dont fund the fakes
Zips on all of them failed. Bib's get used for turbo work.
Leku - Member
I find this rather depressing. Small UK base company producing nice kit having their designs stolen.Does your Hermes hand-bag smell of plastic and your Rolex make your wrist go green?
i'll be honest, i don;t even know why i bought it, i was just having a nosey on ali express and i saw and yeah, ok, why not.... 😐 i've learnt my lesson
on and on - Member
Wow, must have been bad. I ordered a jersey direct from Morvelo and that was as shit as they come.
Can't see how people would rate them based on the three examples I had delivered.
i'had a genuine one from the and was excellent, but i ripped it in a crash
Not seen any fake Rapha
I have some fake Rapha from AliExpress. I needed some more bibs and they were cheap, and the Rapha styling is about the most 'normal' (ie non-FPKW) on there so I thought I'd take a pop. They were about £20 for bibs and top IIRC and they arrived within a week or so. The cut is weird and the sizing is TINY - even tighter than 'Italian'. Which means the black shorts are stretched to a pale grey on me. The quality is low but it's nothing to cry about.
Because of the sizing I probably won't wear them so I guess it's lesson learnt.