79pmooney

I've had parts fail and have paid dearly. I think about the "what if"s. I feel much more secure riding parts from known vendors with good reputations (unless it is a part known to have issues). Now, what the part is and how it might fail matters to me. Example: chainrings. Failures rarely happen, even on really cheap ones. Now that cheap one might wear fast, not be round and shift poorly but it isn't likely to dump me on the road. (Chainring bolts are a different story and have put me on the road.) Forks, stems, bars, seatposts - those failures are scary to potentially life changing. Jerseys and shorts? Pockets might fail. Possible embarrassing situations. But ending up in ER? Not likely.

Edit: Asian made and non-big names? I'll happily ride Wellgo pedals (of any brand name) as they have shown me to be good reliable inexpensive pedals that work. I don't ride them forever. At 10,000 miles, I start considering them expendable. First issue of any sort and they get replaced. I've had cleat mechanical issues maybe twice in many 10s of ks of miles and a half dozen pairs or more (not including lack of oil) on their LOOK Delta style pedals. Vittoria tires are made in China at their factory and are consistent and good (and yes, big name). SunRace FWs (from I believe India) are not as elegant as Shimano or the long ago SunTour but work very well.

PDKL45

Sunrace are made in Taiwan and have really made the jump from vaguely off brand to legitimate brand in recent years, like Microshift as well. They're both Taiwanese, though, and benefit from the island's experience in producing good quality OEM componentry.

The Chemist

Ah, American propaganda in action.

Having lived in China for 16 years now I can assure you that the Chinese do not see the USA as an "enemy nation", whatever the Americans think of them (or rather, what American media tries to make Americans think of China).

And as someone who runs almost entirely Chinese made products on my bike and with Chinese made clothing, I have no complaints. It's just as good quality as anything else I've used. The key is buying from shops that have high ratings with many reviews and sales volume, because then you can see what others are saying and ensure what you are getting will be of good quality.

freeranger

If it goes on my bike, I'll stick with name brands for the most part. I did recently put a Microshift fd on my wife's road bike and it works fine, would not hesitate again. Thought I'd try it to see if it was good, if it wasn't, the $$ wasn't a lot, could afford to try. If it's a tool I might use "once in a blue moon", I might buy an inexpensive tool-but only if the name brand tool was an expensive tool-and depends on the usage-if I could ruin the part on which it's used-not going to be a cheap tool. If it's one I'll use frequently, it will be a name brand tool. I have no problem with off brand clothes, but I don't wear cycling specific clothing, just wicking t-shirts and regular shorts with padded bike underwear. Pedals-I ride flats with pins and will use other than the popular name brands-if I find the reviews to be on the positive side.

mstateglfr 

I have found that many people stateside who dislike 'China' actually either dislike the government(specific policies or general view) and/or they dislike the stereotypes of Chinese production(stealing IP, low wages, yada yada).
The individual people are, for the most part, not even part of the discussion. Ironic, since there are so many people in China.

Anyways, I personally disagree with some Chinese government policies, I dislike the concept of poor working conditions in general, but I cant say I have any contempt or whatever else for individual Chinese citizens. I think that is a pretty common stance, actually.

beng1

I have a Specialized brand carbon-fiber aero road fork here with it's steer tube torn completely off, and other cracking in it's finish around the boss where it looks like a rim-brake was mounted and flexing it's material. I grabbed this fork after a local bike-shop discarded it to save for an example of why I won't ever trust even brand-name carbon-fiber bicycle parts let alone discount no-name equipment. It is very, very easy to find examples of brand-name carbon-fiber bicycle frames and other components cracked and broken along with stories of how even more of them cracked or broke. I have a friend selling an Orbea TT bike and they said they will let me borrow it and take it for some rides to see how I like it. I am not enthusiastic about the offer as if I hit a pothole or something and the bike breaks in half under my 200+ pounds I do not want to pay his asking price for a bag of plastic trash.

SpeedyBlueBiker

What do you do for shoes? Not so much cycling shoes, but just regular walking around in shoes. Try getting athletic shoes from Nike, Adidas, etc. and gets difficult trying to find shoes made somewhere other than China or Vietnam.

VegasJen

I don't want this to go any more political than it already is. Suffice to say I have no animus towards the Chinese people. My issue is 100% the communist government of China.

zandoval 

Think I learned my lesson rebuilding what is now my favoite bike (Peugeot Dolomites). When I first got the frame I was determined to do a restoration. Well 10 years latter Meh... All the parts were simply to expensive and almost unobtainable.

Finally I decided that this bike was going together no matter what! Yep... It's for the most part a ChiCom bike. There are a few Japanese parts on it but for the most part its an Ebay/AliExpress Special of ChiCom manufactured parts.

I was selective, and a few of the parts I ordered I sent back or took the loss and did not use them. But I got the bike together and its ridding fine.

Ya do what ya have to do to ride...

hsea17

Well when even the factory is a copy.....how do we know,,,clothes ,frames etc,.
hsea17

PDKL45

The problem is actually quite serious for brand managers. We all wear and use things made in China, and not all "knock-offs" are mere copies. Sometimes the factory that produces products for (insert high end brand here) will use the exact same machines amd raw materials to do large unauthorized product runs, and sometimes managers and employees will run extra products in secret. They're exactly the same as what you buy branded, but they're sold cheaply because they're unauthorized. Where I live you see handbags like that in the markets all the time. Teens and 20 somethings will actually hire another young person as a consultant on buying fake/grey market goods, as the expert has a list of the best "fakes" and actually communicates with the Chinese sometimes. Not all fake Chinese stuff is really fake and sometimes the off brand stuff is actually the same as branded stuff. That's when you get lucky. I have BUFF-type scarves bought at the same time as I bought an original that are holding up much better than the expensive branded one.

That said, it's a gamble. I wear shorts today that I bought for $10 or so almost a decade ago, and they're just fine. The 3/4 length ones I bought at the same time had their ass explode (the chamois came apart dramatically) within a couple of rides. I don't mind gambling with clothing, but carbon fails catastrophically and I'm just not willing to gamble my life, or a life-changing injury, on saving a few hundred dollars on carbon fiber cycling products. I don't even like legit carbon much at all, preferring alloy or steel, but Chinese carbon? It's like playing Russian Roulette with your bike.

PeteHski

I go for known, high quality brands every time. When something is ridiculously cheap it usually means either low quality or slave labour or both. If I buy a product from a brand that disappoints, then I mark it down accordingly. A brand gets bonus points for demonstrating genuine sustainability and/or fair trade. I'm not a big fan of supporting the Chinese economy either, but I have to accept that many quality brands choose to manufacture there and the products themselves are often top quality. I would be prepared to pay more if they didn't, but it is what it is.

Jughed

Here is my problem with all of this - not just bike related.

We engineer (my job) factories that create a product. We painstakingly engineer measures that keep the factory safe for the workers, safe for the surrounding area (we make sure they don't go boom) and we are doing our best to control emissions and pollution. We build these factories to be safe and reliable for the next 30+ years.

The basis of our design comes from PHD/researchers working for US companies on US soil.

We also do everything in our power to limit ALL injuries during construction.

The technology gets stolen. Cheap/crap unsafe factories are built in China or elsewhere - they don't care about safety, about the environment - they flood the market with cheap knockoff products and put the original manufacturer out of business.

Aside from quality and safety of the products - cheap knockoffs come with other associated costs. Human safety, environmental concerns, theft of proprietary information...

Don't believe it happens or can happen? I was involved in the engineering/construction of a $700mm project that made a high quality proprietary product. Our main firewalls for the networks came from a reputable company, but were built in China. China put in backdoors around the firewall and did access our networks and steal the entire technology. They also had a person in place that downloaded the process on a thumb drive and sold it to China.

That $700mm plant, all the time, money and energy used to design build the place, the 250+ direct jobs and the countless supporting jobs - all lost within three years.

This product is/was used in bikes. The US invented it, the US perfected it, the US lost it to theft.

I am not OK with that.

tomato coupe

Basically, you want to make your political statement and then end the discussion.

mstateglfr 

...the discussion had ended 17 days ago.

tomato coupe

Oops ...