Originally Posted by sjanzeir

Okay, now that Walter is just having his coffee, hear me out! On my Dahon folder - which is my daily rider and my most ridden bike - I've been running a Chinese, no-brand, Hollowtech II knockoff crankset for a while now. I originally intended for this to be a test run before I splash out on a real, actual Shimano deal (which I had already done just recently with one of my 7.6s, and it wasn't exactly plain sailing.) Problem is, this thing has been so smooth and reliable that I'm not in too much if a hurry to replace it with a real Shimano! The same bike came with a rebranded (with the Dahon logo) L-twoo A7 RD and shifter, and the, too worked with nary a hitch for the year and a half that they were on the bike, and when I upgraded to 11-speed I went with an L-twoo A9 and it's been a total workhorse so far.

Mind you, those are the only "Chineeze" components in that upgrade! The chainring is a Wolf Tooth; the cassette is a Sunrace ; and the chain is either a KMC or a Wippermann - I forget which one it is. Everything else on the Dahon is a brand-name item.

So, yeah, I will eventually replace that crankset and bottom bracket with the real deal - it's just that I'm not in a hurry to do it. Politics aside, would I be willing to go for a Chinese component in a pinch? I have little reason not to!