[Closed] No more Aldi scrums?

Gave up on it ages ago. The gear is average at best and only worth it when it's dirt cheap, pennies to a couple of quid max.

Leave the pensioners fighting over ski/biking/running base layers as winter underwear, they love they do, gives-em purpose 😆

Aldi doesn't deliver here in the US. And they hardly have any bike stuff anyway... 🙁

Is it just me who thinks alot of their stuff is meh/priced abit under regular stuff to give you the appearance that it's a bargain? That goes for all their stuff, food (not 'bad' but not exactly sparkling quality).

Just you I think if the routine threads are anything to go by. Bike wise I have had some mediocre stuff but the winter gloves, softshells, pro gear and socks are some of my favourite/per£ bits of kit. Food wise fruit and veg, butchered and cold meats, jaffa cakes, eggs and yoghurts are all better quality and or better priced than my other supermarkets.

Price is a very poor indicator of quality. Aldi stuff, food included, is good quality gear. Sizing might be off or limited, but the materials and their function is as good as the proper brands. Not for the brand snobs i'll grant you, but perfectly functional.

Depends what you mean by 'proper brands' it might rival Endura/Altura etc. but it's not Rapha/Assos/Castelli quality (nor does it need to be at the price it's sold at but it's simply not true that it's as good quality/materials/function).

I've no idea why so many on here see it as the holy grail of cycling kit.
It's cheap tat, always was, always will be, yet loads on here swear by it.
I do feel sorry for them if the actually think it's decent kit..

Just picked up a nutri bullet copy, 'sposed to be good...

I think it's ok starter kit.

When I was fat basket I could buy cheap gear and while slimming down changed my gear to fit.

Saved a bit of money going from a size 40 to a 32 waist.

Now I buy Altura or Endura until I'm in shape to to pose as a slim basket.

To be fair you can snap up some Altura gear from bargain bins/sales for a bit more than Aldi.

Tried Decathlon but material was good for summer not winter. Didn't cry when I caught on it trees/bushes and tore up a sleeve.

I don't think anyone is holding it up as a holy grail, but it is half decent quality at a very good/sensible price. Not everyone can see the value in Rapha/Assos/Castelli. I think that stuff is a rip off no matter how good it might be - but then i'm not spending 8hrs a day in the saddle. Having said that i'd probly not get cycling shorts from Aldi, but i got a cycling jersey from them which was almost identical to my Gore one and a third of the price and, despite not fitting quite as well, it is easily of equivalent quality. Similarly I got one of their Moon rear light copies, about half the price of my proper Moon rear light and it is practically identical.

As for Aldi food a customer of mine who works in the food industry was telling me a while ago that he visited a factory making ice cream. This is a premium brand and they were putting excatly the same product into Aldi tubs on the same production line. Just saying like.

the winter gloves are acceptable for daily commute use in awful manchester weather. i wouldn't bother with any of the other cycling kit though, personally.

You just need to be selective about what you buy.

I got some sunglasses last year that are probably as good as my £40 bloc glasses. They cost £2.99 a pair so I got a tinted pair & a yellow lens pair.
Brilliant for slinging in a bag & not worrying about getting trashed or keeping in the glove box as a spare pair.

The waterproof socks appear to be waterproof & are more comfortable than the Sealskinz I own.

Bought some 'winter tights' which are rubbish, but I was swayed by the price. They're fine for a bit of leisurely cycling but aren't comfortable for longer rides.

Bought some bib shorts last year which are easily better than the mid-range DHB shorts that I've got and were about £15 cheaper. They've got a much improved pad in them compared to the winter tights.

Oh, and there is that Moon Comet rip-off light. I bought a front one of those & can't really tell the difference between that and a mate's genuine one. Maybe the battery isn't as good (we haven't done a run time test), but it's fine....

Get yourselves down to Lidl and join their New Romantic tat revival, it's like back to the future. This is why they're kicking Tesco's arse.

[img] [/img]

I wear Aldi tops and gloves for commuting day in day out. They last ages and are great value. Shorts etc just don't fit me, so I don't buy them, but a mate seems happy enough with them.

I also have a couple of Rapha tops for long days out on the bike - well designed, well fitted, and decent value in the sales.

The whole everything/brand/product is perfect for all occasions or is complete crap seems to be part of the over opiniated, everything is black or white, short attention span internet age.

Edit - sorry for being cranky this morning, medication not working today!

Same as MoreCash ,I get through a lot of commuting kit,so it's perfect.
I also have posh stuff for big miles days and posing. 😉

EVERYBODY buys their drinking kilts from Lidl,they are the way ahead. Interesting stains are much easier to get out of wool effect polyester! 😀

Again on Aldi food - just about everything is as good, if not better than the Tesco/Sainsburys etc equivalent own brand. And our weekly shop varies between 60 and 70 per week. Previously it was costing between 85 and 95 from Tesco, or more from Sainsburys. Some people don't like the shopping 'experience' but who gives a sh1t, its not a social event, its stocking up on food for the week.

As for the perceived bargains such as cycling gear, toys etc. I don't think they are all they're cracked up to be. My wife falls for these, we got a big inflatable paddling pool last year and she was convinced it was bargain of the century. I saw pretty much the exact same thing in Tesco a week later for £5 cheaper. So its not ALL cherry pie.

For me the Aldi model is not just about price, although that's what got me in there in the first place, all those years ago.

What Aldi have done well is build a retail model that can compete with online. Prices are competitive, the quality is pretty good on the whole and the varying special offer stock means that people keep coming back to browse to see what's new in store. If they stocked everything they sell all the time, the stores would be huge and a large part of their charm and appeal would be lost (I'm looking at you Tesco).

They manage to sell a huge range of quality stuff in a small space at a good price.

That said, the cycling gear is OK rather than great. I use Aldi for hats, gloves, arm/leg warmers etc but I don't like the cut of their shorts and tops and would prefer to spend a bit more for a higher quality club top and shorts.

[EDIT] - I agree that not everything is a good price though, but that's a business model all shops use. Bring 'em in with the bargains and let them go home with something with a good markup.

This did not go as expected.

Is it just me who thinks alot of their stuff is meh/priced abit under regular stuff to give you the appearance that it's a bargain?

Had a pair of their winter gloves that lasted a couple of winters until seams split, ordered a pair of Altura Vision waterproof gloves in a sale, had them just over a month and a seam have already split 🙁 Hoping it's just a one off, and replacement pair will last!

I can never tell Lidl from Aldi tbh but I got my most-worn cycling kit from one of them. And my welder 😆 This seems like good progress.

I saw Aldi USA had a 3D printer in the weekly deals, not a bad looking bit of kit either. That I'd scrum for.

I like fighting tooth an claw with tight fisted pensioners for shit I don't really want, something about the heady mix of the aromas of carbolic soap and charity shop gets my pulse racing.

soft shell jacket i got a few years ago is great. winter gloves don't keep my hands warm whatsoever though.

I don't think anyone is holding it up as a holy grail, but it is half decent quality at a very good/sensible price

This: it's brilliant for commuting & mtb, but the fit is a bit off for longer road rides.

Aldi provided me with the best baselayer for the cash that I have ever had the fortune of owning.

For this reason alone it is where I continue to do my weekly power tool / ham shopping

Aldi fruit and veg is appalling, as is the cheese and meat (the 'jamon' my dad bought from there last Christmas was utterly revolting). Their canned fish is alright I suppose.

Leave the pensioners fighting over ski/biking/running base layers as winter underwear, they love they do, gives-em purpose

It's a shame my Grandmas are no longer with us, they honed the skills and sharp elbows needed over many a year of Manchester jumble sales. They'd make mincemeat of this current generation of namby pamby indexed linked final salary early retired pathetic excuses for pensioners.

'jamon'

[img] [/img]

Aldi Brioche (vanilla or chocolate, im not picky) is one of the greatest foodstuffs availiable. I'm talking the tear and share tray loaf however, not the individual ones.

I only by Castelli these days - or so I thought until I popped into Aldi a few months back and saw a soft shell jacket for £30 that looked fanstastic. Decided I could cope with wearing it when on my own road rides in the winter to save my nice gear for when others might see me. It really is very good though fit for my lean physique not so good - maybe I should have got a smaller size but sold out.

Doubt I'd buy much else from them though for cycling.

Aldi fruit and veg is appalling

I know a farmer who supplies their carrots. Exactly the same as the ones he supplies to Sainsbury who charge twice the price.

Aldi fruit and veg is appalling

Their blueberries were a bit rubbish, but asparagus and sweet potatoes seemed fine.

Not bike stuff, but the car battery charger/conditioner I bought has been far more reliable than the Optimate I had before.

I bought a load of their clothes for commuting expecting it to be low quality and not last but cheap and disposable. I have been proven wrong though and wear it for everything now even though I have posher alternatives. The leggings, soft shells and base layers are all great but the gloves don't fit me.

It always makes me laugh how many people I see on bikes costing upwards of £5000 wearing Aldi clothes myself included. Either they spent all their money on the bike or the kit is just pretty good. I'll go with option 2.

they sell 4x440ml proper strength Stella for £3.50! mmmm Stella!

Andysredmini you can spend abit of time and not much more buying proper tested kit with proven brands for not much more in Sale bins/online.

My aldi £5 gloves are way warmer than anything else but they started perishing quite quickly along the palms as presumably the maker didn't expect grippy ridged grips.

When it's all online I'll have a nosey at the aldi stuff but I don't want to visit my local stall frequently on the off chance.

BTW I don't own a 5k bike. I do own Morvelo bib tights and TLD shorts- none of which was anywhere near retail/RRP 80

hora - Member

Andysredmini you can spend abit of time and not much more buying proper tested kit with proven brands for not much more in Sale bins/online.

I don't think anyone is saying you should ONLY buy Aldi stuff....

No more scrum! There goes my only form of human contact 🙁

Hora. I have got plenty of more expensive branded stuff from gore, fox, endura, altura, etc. and still think some of the aldi stuff compares just fine regardles of how cheap it is.

Better than the scrum is the earlybird cyclists with eyes bigger than their panniers who've grabbed more booty than they can actually cycle home with. 🙂

I don't 'swear by' their kit - but I've tended to buy items (either clothing of the for the bike) that I've not used before and cheap way of seeing if I'd get on with it or not. Back in the day my first dalliance with hydration backpacks was with an Aldi/Lidl one, and the way I learned Bar-Bags for touring weren't my cup of tea was with an Aldi/Lidl one too - it was a cheaper way to find that out than buying an Ortleib one then not use it. It was also a good way to find out that [url= https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2009/08/ftc-charges-companies-bamboo-zling-consumers-false-product-claims ]'Bamboo'[/url] is nothing it claims to be - but makes for a nice comfy casual tshirt non the less.

I bought some Aldi ski gloves at the end of last year as a pair to walk the dog so not to ruin my North Face. Never worn my North Face since the Aldi ones are far superior.

bought some Aldi ski gloves at the end of last year as a pair to walk the dog so not to ruin my North Face. Never worn my North Face since the Aldi ones are far superior.

Shirley, by your own logic, you should now be wearing the North Face ones to walk the dog so as not to ruin your superior Aldi gloves?

At the price I don't care that's the logic from when I bought them. The fact they are better is a bonus.

The dog wears the North Face ones.

He looks very smart.

[b]you can spend abit of time [/b]and not much more buying proper tested kit with proven brands for not much more in Sale bins/online.

Therein lies the problem. People will always be strapped for time and Aldi's "one-stop (small) shop" model serves such people very well.

The winter jacket and gloves are great for cold commutes, but I found the waterproof socks to be, well, not waterproof.

All in all you get what you pay for and I've been more than happy overall. As others have said, it makes great commuting kit, but prefer other stuff for "decent" rides.

duckman - Member
EVERYBODY buys their drinking kilts from Lidl,they are the way ahead. Interesting stains are much easier to get out of wool effect polyester!

Missed those. Need a kilt for cycling. Polyester would be much better. 🙂

What if like me you weren't broke and actually went to Aldi on purpose just to buy bike clothing?