Originally Posted by
PeteHski
Well my perception of super-cheap, totally unbranded components is one of complete lottery and it can be assumed that no signficant QC was involved in the process. The best you can hope for is that it was over-engineered to avoid any potential failure.
Genuine branded, high-end components on the other hand are far more likely to have been designed and manufactured to a high standard. Of course you pay for that assurance, but that's the whole point. Some of the more reputable Chinese brands (particularly some of the wheel brands) are reducing this additional cost of assured quality, but that's a different story.
One example is the "3d printed saddle".
I've watched the manufacturer video from selle Italia on the work they put into it
AliExpress sells a number of knockoff "3d printed" saddles for as much as $70. The knockoffs don't have the r&d put into them and reportedly don't have the same variable compression and support in the right spots.
But on this sort of saddle to begin with the margin for comfort is really low because lots of high end bike gear is about shaving as much as is possible to reduce weight to the tenth gram or whatever.
Point is that lots of high end stuff is pseudoscience to begin with and knockoffs just don't have the same marketing speak.