Different names but same bike?

[davidphilips]

Two of my older bikes seem to me to be the same frame, a De rosa and the other a Viner both alloy bikes have shaped tubes and either one is a copy of the other or else they have came from the same production line and just painted and badged as different bikes?

Recently got another old italian bike an old F Moser and after looking at it it seems to me to look very like a steel Bianchi?

Know there are copies of new expensive bikes about but does rebadging framesets that are made in the same factory happen any one any experience of this?

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I always thought that was quite common, badge engineering.

 

[Cycleops]

Still happens today, Giant make bikes for a lot of big name brands so inevitably some are the same underneath the paint.

 

[fossyant]

Happens. Ribble had a frame, that was exactly the same as a Deda frame, as was a Viner (carbon).

 

[Drago]

I have some experience.

A year or so after i'd bought it, I parked my 2011 Pinnacle Dolomite in the bike racks outside milton keynes library.

I returned a short while later to find a Kinesis Racelight parked next to it. Immediately it struck me how similar it looked, and a close nosey showed that the frames were identical in every visual respect, even down to the same thick, gloss black paint.

Conclusion - the frames came from the same source.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I have some experience.

A year or so after i'd bought it, I parked my 2011 Pinnacle Dolomite in the bike racks outside milton keynes library.

I returned a short while later to find a Kinesis Racelight parked next to it. Immediately it struck me how similar it looked, and a close nosey showed that the frames were identical in every visual respect, even down to the same thick, gloss black paint.

Conclusion - the frames came from the same source.

British Gas?

 

[Sniper68]

Planet-X RT-80 and Viner Mitus(owned by Planet-X) were the same frame.Made in the same factory as Ribble....and probably a few others.As said above Giant have one of the largest factories in the World and make frames,both Allu and Carbon for lots of other makes.Many carbon frames are 'open mould' ie made in the same factory(usually in the Far East) and then sold to whoever wants to put their name on the frame'Open mould' shouldn't be confused with fakes.I've heard riders say they wouldn't by a Chinese knock-off frame without them realising their 3K carbon bike's frame is actually made in China

 

[roley poley]

it goes on in many industries ...like the blind taste tests done on supermarkets own brands often proving it's the same product with a tiny bit of garnish changed.. if you spot it passes it on please

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

Been going on forever.
Most of Merckx’s frames were reputed to have been made by De Rosa regardless of what name they had on them.
My 1980’s Tom Crowther is a Mercian.
Birmingham’s Mike Kowal made loads of frames for shops that sold them with their own name on them.
Armstrong rode Litespeeds badged as Trek.
And now with the adoption of carbon practically everything comes from the same factories regardless of brand.
Edit - just remembered Dawes’s special order only racing frame from the 80’s, that was made by Mike Kowal too.

 

[TheDoctor]

And let's not forget all the folding bikes that are Dahons under the paint.

 

[Faratid]

Been going on forever.
Most of Merckx’s frames were reputed to have been made by De Rosa regardless of what name they had on them.
My 1980’s Tom Crowther is a Mercian.
Birmingham’s Mike Kowal made loads of frames for shops that sold them with their own name on them.
Armstrong rode Litespeeds badged as Trek.
And now with the adoption of carbon practically everything comes from the same factories regardless of brand.
Edit - just remembered Dawes’s special order only racing frame from the 80’s, that was made by Mike Kowal too.

Exactement! This has been known for years. Not only whole frames, but individual tubes come from the same few sources, mostly in Taiwan.
If your bike has a UCI sticker, you can check it's origin here. I have a bike that was marketed as a Merlin Cordite Ultegra Di2, which is actually a Ridley R9, except it was much, much cheaper. I think it was also sold as a Verenti Revelation SRO.3. The R9 now discontinued, nearest current match in terms of geometry would be the Fenix.