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spot the difference (in price)
NB: Originally posted elsewhere on the Global Riders Network and appears via syndication.
Compare
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?M...
with
http://www.dhgate.com/new-fsa-k-force-carbon-fib...
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It's a Generic chinese carbon stem with FSA stickers on it. When the Ritchey WCS ones are the same price, you know something is suss.....
Its a good stem for $15, but obviously won't be as strong or light as the real one.
the handle bars they are selling look like the ones I bought over a year ago & haven't broken on me yet & i'm not the best rider out there & the bars have had a few wacks unless mine are genuine ?
Definitely not the same product. Not even a good replica either.
The knockoff just looks like an Alu stem with a band on carbon weave around the centre. You can see it suddenly stops at either end. The bolts are also way too long and stick out the handle bar end. The HB clamp also looks like the inside doesn't match up as flush too.
Piece of shit, IMHO.
Better off buying the genuine item or a name brand alu.
Ok - love these games
so FWIW
Diff 1: the side FSA sticker on the DH website doesnt mate up to the shape of the bar clamp area - the CR site one does.
2: the front clamp plate looks different - depth and shape of cut out area?
3: the bolts heads seem to have different curvature, maybe not Ti.
Well You did ask
as for the "Ritchey WCS MATRIX pakage-carbon fiber MTB stem bicycle bike stems 31.8*90mm" (sic)- seems to have the wrong faceplate. http://www.dhgate.com/hot-ritchey-wcs-matrix-pak...
but for $16.
Are you with HBF
I thought I was about to do some great bargaining, been umming and erring to get that 98g stem and save myself 40g and that would definitely be worth $15 but maybe too good to be true ;-(
According to Ritchey their carbon wrap over alloy body is a "new frontier of material and manufacturing technology".
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/component...
Carbon over alloy appears to be an engineering breakthrough according to Ritchey.
carbon over alloy has been around for years that I am aware of. That was one of the types of stems I looked at when building up my Titus so probably over 3 years ago now.
given the crc fsa one clearly says it alu, forged and cnc'ed which is all part of aluminium production- it is clearly alumiunium in a major part as well. the female threads have to be metal for a start, not carbon.
We tend to assume that price means its superior. But lets face it, it is far more complicated to make a car than any mountain bike, yet some mountain bikes cost more than cars. I wouldnt be jumping to the conclusion that the chinese factory that knocks out the crc fsa stem is necessarily more skilled than the one knocking em out for $15
Carbon over alu sounds gay beyond belief.
A decent 7xxx alu stem will be just as light as carbon and last forever.
Im looking for a shorter stem atm, and have pretty much decided on this...
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/_generated/_genera...
As far as i can tell its completely (unidirectional?) carbon, apart from the faceplate.
Goes for ~$150 online.
Dh gate also does cheap Oakly glasses that look like Oakley but are cheap pieces of plastic
Staffe, lightweight al parts have a 2 year working life. Besides I have broken every al bike I have owned. Got 2 carbon bikes that have copped an absolute trashing and still going strong. I have broken al cranks. Carbon still going. I bend al seat posts like cheese 6 year old carbon post still straight as a die. Um I choose carbon for strength you can keep your light al bits
Quote Flynny "lightweight al parts have a 2 year working life".
I have heard this carbon vs aluminium argument a few times now & it strikes me as a bit silly, especially when you are effectively writing off almost all of my bikes due to their; wheels (Light aluminium rims) a couple of my frames and many of their components.
Aluminium parts if poorly manufactured or stressed beyond the limits that they were designed for can fail but otherwise aluminium, or rather aluminium alloys are pretty good. Carbon can also fail for the same reasons. In fact I have broken more carbon posts than aluminium ones.
I won't go into the alloys & metallurgy but essentially aluminium is a great material to use when you want a cheap. light & fairly rigid structure. It is not great when flexed as it fatigues & cracks and it can corrode. Different mixes help to a certain degree but fatigue is invariably still a factor. Imho it makes a good material for duallie frames and stems.
Carbon is not just carbon..... What I'm getting at is that it all depends on the weave, layering etc etc. It can be designed to flex or be rigid, it can be super strong but a bit weighty or super light & weaker.
That is where the designers & manufacturers come in. Where is the part going to need flex & where should it be rigid along with the fine line between being over and under built.
What a carbon component doesn't like is receiving force in a direction that it was never designed to take as well as sharp impact.
A few friends of mine have now damaged carbon frames but not irreparably but are now a little worried how reliable the black stuff is long term off road.
I also think that all of the RPM crew are now off of carbon bikes because of reliability issues as well.
Personally I like carbon for my road bike frame as well as bars & XC race post but for more extreme use & in terms of price as well as the ability to repair Al gets my vote.
BTW. I was gutted when the carbon on my 08 Bontrager seatpost cracked to reveal an aluminium core!!!