Ali Express for tyres ?

[marshalllucky]

About to purchase a pair of Challenge Strada Pro clincher tyres , which I've used on a couple of builds and found to be great tyres.
Prices on these have rocketed ( previously bought from winstanleys )and now seem to be about £58 each but available on Ali Express for under £24 .
Anyone bought tyres from them , are they legit as I presume they are made in the China anyway?.
Any thoughts or experiences of Ali Express , I know I'm not helping the UK bike shops but you can't ignore such massive savings when we seem to pay over the odds for everything in the UK.

 

[jim haseltine]

Challenge manufacture base is in Thailand as far as I know.

 

[bikeworkshop]

As a rule if its more than 20% cheaper, it's not the same product.
Or there's a tax-dodge going on.

Plenty of fakes out there.

You can ask the manufacturer or official importer if they are genuine.

 

[RobLoasby]

Bought one or two small purchases from Ali Express - bar tape, MTB pedals and grips, and a gilet. Quality is OK but as with other Chinese companies, there’s no guarantee that the products are genuine and not copies.

In fact, Ali Express on Facebook is currently offering Raleigh-badged carbon-frame road bikes, and 70% off Dura-Ace carbon wheel sets, or Garmin pedals, if you download their app. Alongside that, you could buy a compete body shell for a Ford Escort Mk2 or a copy of a Honda C90!

Personally, I’d rather buy tyres from proper shop. At least that way, you can expect them to be the genuine product and have comeback on them if something goes wrong.

 

[bikeworkshop]

If they are copies, they aren't the tyre you want
- the thread count will be rubbish and the rubber will be hard and slimy.

They might look the same, if it's just for displaylike those $30 hope chainsets

 

[jim haseltine]

My policy is to not buy anything other than basic plain moulded plastics from AliExpress. Safety-related and electrical stuff is definitely out.
Some of the companies trading on there are well-known for marking their products with the 'China Export' CE symbols, something which is easily confused with 'Conformité Européene' CE marking.

 

[highlandsflyer]

Banana Industries usually have some cracking deals. Vittoria Rubino Pro IV right now comes in £37 a pair to your door.

 

[sjcprojects]

Banana Industries usually have some cracking deals. Vittoria Rubino Pro IV right now comes in £37 a pair to your door.

I just got a pair of tan wall Vittoria Rubino Pro from Banana Industries - I don't know how well they compare with the Challenge ones, but they are folding and 250g for the 25c size, which is pretty decent. I've put lots of miles on various pairs of the standard black versions and I've found them to be really good.

I would definitely avoid AliExpress for anything like this. There are so many definitely fake goods on there, I don't see any reason why that wouldn't apply to tyres as well.

 

[bikeworkshop]

If it's too cheap, it's fake. Simple.

A fake rolex might "work" in that nightclub environment, but if you dance too hard, the hands will fall off

 

[jonnyboy666]

while i agree with @bikeworkshop in regards to "if it's too cheap etc", and i think it's very true when looking at known brands but i was down a rabbit hole on youtube the other day looking at LTWOO groupsets and Wheeltop stuff, it is alot cheaper than the big names, and i would say it comes out of the same factories as lower end sram and microshift as it's very similar. so it does make me wonder how good or bad some of this stuff is. a LTWOO 1x11 groupset was maybe £170, made me consider buying it just to see how good or bad it is!