AEST stuff... Is it any good??

[konaben82]

Right... I keep seeing these smart looking components on ebay made by AEST ...the thing that baffles me is it all seems to look quite smart, they use a fair bit of titanium, the colours are nice, it's all proper light weight....

And cheap? :shock:

Kit like this should be twice the price, that leaves me thinking, is it crap? Poorly made? Or just cheap labour hence the price?

I'm quite tempted to do a weight weenie build kitted out with AEST components just for the sheer sake of it because it's cheap... Has anyone use any of this stuff that could vouch for it being up to the job?? Or should I just stick with hope/shimano components in the future...?

 

[Raging_Bulls]

Made in China.

I too have my doubts about the quality and durability. Only one way to find out, I guess, and that is to build another bike (my modern is all KCNC'd, so it would be a shame to change those parts).

 

[hamster]

Light, strong, cheap: pick two.

 

[konaben82]

I might just have to try out a set of their pedals as my DMR V12s are a bit old and tired....

 

[jimo746]

Funny you should bring this up, I needed some new wheel QR skewers recently and was going to pull the trigger on some of the Hope ones, but after looking through eBay I decided to go for some of the AEST Titanium skewers instead, mainly because they were half the price of the Hope ones, and lighter too.

+ And they are light :shock: noticably lighter than the XT skewers that they replaced.
+T hey look nice, similar in style to the Hope skewers in fact.
+ They have a nice locking/unlocking action.
+ My wheels haven't dropped out yet

- They don't have the same "quality" feel of the more expensive brands.
- The shaped bit that the handle pivots in is made of plastic instead of alloy (light, but how will it wear?)

So a few weeks into ownership I am quite happy with the price and look of the skewers, no problems thus far, but I guess time will tell with regards to the robustness and build quality.

However I wish I'd read the pdf on Chris King hubs, where it says to "only use steel QR's" that can apply "1,100lbs of clamping force" before getting the AEST ones :facepalm:

So I may eventually get the Hope skewers, but I'm in no rush.

 

[cyfa2809]

Been using the jockey wheels and the ano does wear quite fast where youd expect it but you expect that.
Nicely done other wise, cartridge bearing seems quite well sealed and they are cheap anyway. A lot of that sort of stuff probably comes from the same factory as kcnc, along with gub probably.

 

[konaben82]

Interesting comments.. I think I'll give their pedals a try and give an update in a couple of months

 

[THWANG-666]

hi
i have a set of there bar ends and a set of ti skewers never had a problem with over a years abuse.
simon

 

[cpggibson]

slightly off subject but similar, avid discs from taiwan bought some g3 cs , fine, stamped up avid
seller assured me were not copies as they make em for avid but about half of uk prices
or more , are we paying too much for stuff or what
cpg