Handlebar bag scam
 

I don't know how many people in here have already heard of this. I'm not posting a warning, I'm posting "hey this is really bizarre, read it when you get bored." Road cyclists don't use handlebar bags. If it doesn't fit in your pockets you don't need it.

https://cyclingtips.com/2021/02/rout...ebar-bag-scam/

A company made what sounds like a clever bag that's probably useful if you're into that gravel thing, and no judgement if you are. A bunch of scammers grabbed all the photos and started selling them at a steep discount, shipping cheap crap instead. I'm always amazed at how creative scammers are, if we could harness that energy for good people would already be living in Mars.

That's a crazy story.

I also find it crazy that a company is selling a $179 handlebar bag.

I don't care what people put on their bikes. But if a price seems too good to be true, it usually is.

A bunch of scientific journals were hijacked this way a few years ago. This is the Grift Age. I figure a good 50% of the electronic and paper communication I receive is deceptive in some way.

Yeah, I laughed when I read the article and saw some of the junk that was sent in place of the real bag. Nothing close to similar.

whouda thunk that 60% off a new product which hasn't even shipped will equal a scam?!

My 70 year old mom got a call from the census bureau about the $40,000 she won in their secret lottery. They said they had tried to contact her on Facebook before calling. :lol:

My Dill Pickle bag was about $150. Worth every penny.
https://www.dillpicklegear.com/pickl...egory&path=264

I ran into this Route Werks scam, on IG, as I recall. Thankfully I had known about the bag from when the Kickstarter was live, though I did not buy it there (single bag options were sold out). When I saw the scam ad, knowing RW probably hadn’t shipped any yet, I was suspicious, but thought maybe it was an unusual, but legit, marketing strategy. When I saw the low ad price compared to what I remembered, I went back and found the Route Werks website, and concluded it was a case of too-good-to-be-true, did not buy through the IG ad.

The only thing that saved me falling for it was familiarity with the original. Had I not known about Route Works and how innovative their design was, I might have just thought it was a neat product and given it a go, so I understand why people did get taken in by the scam ad.

I was able to pre-order one through the Route Werks site; I’m excited it may be coming soon after so long!

Isn't there a way for a site to have photography that isn't downloadable, maybe that's a start? The routewerks bag is interesting, but looks like it requires some screwy cable routing to work? Maybe that's why the push for integrated cockpits? :innocent:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e458dbff35.jpg

Perhaps the scammers thought that anyone that would pay $179 for a handlebar bag might be an easy mark?

I've been riding the road on nice road bikes for over 40 years. In the last decade I've tended to carry a small bag (often a trunk, occasionally a small handlebar bag) for tools, sunglasses, phone, couple apples or granola bar..."jerseys", stuffed back pockets, and the NASCAR look have never been a "thing" for me. Apparently I'm no longer a "road cyclist"..gosh..well, I'm over it.

If an image is displayed, it can be captured in some form or another. Sure, you can stop right click and save, but if the image is being displayed, it's on your local machine somewhere in some form that can be captured, even if it's only a screenshot.

That bike in question has a steer tube mounted cable hanger for cantilever brakes which explains the over the stem cable routing. Looks like the bag mounting itself doesn't take up a whole lot of real estate on the bars :thumb:

I wish I could see the original advertisements in question for the supposed scam. However in the pictures I could see, there was nothing that said "Route Werks". I'd have a problem from the get-go if I didn't see who made it in the description of what was being sold to me and the identity of the manufacturer mattered to me.

If I were shown a glass of milk, I wouldn't assume it's any particular brand of milk. Certainly wouldn't assume it to be a high dollar brand of milk.

in the ad I saw, it did not say Route Works, but then Route Works is no more a brand than any made-up web vendor name; RW has had no other products and this one wasn’t even out yet, so seeing a smartly designed project is all there is to go on anyway. Having backed other Kickstarter projects, I’m fully aware there are risks regarding quality and execution, and anyone who expects otherwise does not understand the purpose or reality of the KS platform, and is misusing it. Brand/manufacturer identity is not really a thing on KS because of its basic nature as an incubator, although we have seen established brands use the platform, like Knog.

​​​​​​No. In order to display a photograph on your computer it has to be downloaded to your computer first. There are ways to make it harder but they can all be worked around. Even with all the technology in the world somebody can take a picture of the screen with a camera.

I was kinda suspicious about the amount of gadetry added to this thing, how well that would work in production and use. Expected delivery Jan 2021? Some clone factory beat them to it?

I see a train wreck coming.

Good products with good engineering cost money. Who'd have thought.

The scam was sending cheap, standard style handlebar bags; no one has come anywhere near to knocking this thing off yet, insofar as I am aware.

The bags have started shipping to consumers, though, and James Huang, Tech Ed. @ CyclingTips.com, has just posted the first review 7hrs ago:

Yeah but things should cost the same as they did in 1964.

Exactly! My Berthoud handlebar bag only cost me.... oh... never mind

Also on the front page of cyclingtips.com:

https://cyclingtips.com/2021/03/mavi...erfeit-wheels/

MAVIC WARNS AGAINST THE DANGERS OF COUNTERFEIT WHEELS

More amazing...mavic is still around after years of making underwhelming wheels and rims

I'm working on a counterfeit bike forum. I'm training a bunch of chat bots to argue about disc brakes. Sometimes I can't tell if I'm on the right one.

Maybe they got behind on the wide trend for a few years, but Mavic spent many, more years pioneering all sorts ofwheel tech and never, in my assessment, made bad wheels, so their marketplace preeminence is well earned by the way I call things.

Usually people choose quality products to counterfeit.