Fake Britain

[Banjo]

You were not paying attention, red-faced Bill DID - NOT - HAVE - SEX - WITH - THAT - WOMAN! (The intimate activities that did take place were NOT 'sex', they were. er, well, political conversations, public relations exercises, relaxation classes ... )

Silly me

 

[Globalti]

I once bought a team jersey from what looked like an American website but turned out to be Chinese. When the jersey arrived it was so obviously fake that I stuck it on Ebay, only to receve a bollocking from Ebay for selling a fake jersey.

More recently I bought an FSA K-Force light crankset from Ebay, much cheaper than from a retailer. It was shipped from Taiwan and the seller, who has a lot of feedback, told me it was a "take-off" from a new bike. It looked perfect to me, apparently very well manufactured and I couldn't believe anybody would go to that amount of trouble to make a fake yet now I read that there are lots of fake FSA parts on Ebay so I conclude reluctantly that it must be a fake. Yet it weighs the specified weight and does the job and externally at least, it looks superb. This begs the question: if a faker can make a functional item that looks as good and performs as well as the real thing for a third of the price, how badly are we being ripped off for the genuine branded stuff? Okay one of the cranks might snap and if it does, I guess it serves me right for my naivety.

 

[mr_cellophane]

Don't know what they did with the rest their stock.

In West Wickham, Kent is the Met Police dog training ground. There is a room in there full of fake tee-shirts and bags. They use the room to hide drugs for the dogs to find.

 

[Cubist]

I once bought a team jersey from what looked like an American website but turned out to be Chinese. When the jersey arrived it was so obviously fake that I stuck it on Ebay, only to receve a bollocking from Ebay for selling a fake jersey.

More recently I bought an FSA K-Force light crankset from Ebay, much cheaper than from a retailer. It was shipped from Taiwan and the seller, who has a lot of feedback, told me it was a "take-off" from a new bike. It looked perfect to me, apparently very well manufactured and I couldn't believe anybody would go to that amount of trouble to make a fake yet now I read that there are lots of fake FSA parts on Ebay so I conclude reluctantly that it must be a fake. Yet it weighs the specified weight and does the job and externally at least, it looks superb. This begs the question: if a faker can make a functional item that looks as good and performs as well as the real thing for a third of the price, how badly are we being ripped off for the genuine branded stuff? Okay one of the cranks might snap and if it does, I guess it serves me right for my naivety.

Unscrupulous manufacturer who is employed/contracted/tooled to make cranks for FSA then decides he can make just as much per unit if not more selling them direct rather than to FSA.

At the end of the day many Far East manufacturers make the same unit for more than one company, only changing logos or even selling in the white for the UK or Western sellers to put their own logos on. One example is brake pads. The same pads can be bought from Superstar, Uberbike, and Discobrakes , the only difference being the logos. Same with pedals, a lot of CNC stuff like stems, seatclamps etc. However, there is an ethical margin between buying unbranded copies or items which are the same items under a different brand and knowingly buying knock-off. Your cranks may not burst into flames, but FSA have had their R&D stolen from them.

 

[Globalti]

I once visited a massive TV factory in the town of Jaszberenyi in Hungary, where they made TVs for four brands including Panasonic and Samsung. I asked the production manager which were the best and he replied that they were all the same, made from the same components and specced by the owners of the brands. The only difference was the outer cases and the names on the cases. When I asked him which one he would buy he replied: "They really are all the same but I suppose I woud buy Samsung if forced to make a choice".

In a place like that which has huge production capacity you have to wonder what wheezes and dodges are employed in order to use up excess capacity or stock. All factories have the ability to turn out extra product and it wouldn't surprise me if they knocked out a few hundred extra Samsungs or whatever for sale to a pal of the owner.

 

[Piemaster]

I've heard it referred to as the third shift. I have seen TV articles about manufacturers bring production back to the UK to try and stop the counterfeiting and give them more control over production. With the rises in production costs in China and transport they were saying UK production was competitive and there were other benefits for smaller manufacturers.

Don't think there are actually many factories worldwide knocking out TV panels as @Globalti says so differences come down to casings and software. AFAIK Sony only make panels for themselves.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Looking at last weeks news Blaupunkt sell well ...

 

[Globalti]

Interesting. I wonder if Hope suffer from counterfieting? They have only ever manufactured in Lancashire. The owner of the company where I work always refused to open a factory in China, citing quality control as his main reason. Once you lose control of QC something will go wrong and you will lose the reputation that has taken years to build up.

We did once come close to signing a distribution agreement with a Chinese company but at the last minute we discovered they secretly owned a factory and were planning to manufacture copies of our products.

 

[mjr]

Were all the faked parts on Fake Britain carbon? Can you make more money faking carbon than faking metal parts? After all, I'd be less likely to spot the difference between different types of carbon fibre weaves and I don't know if an expert could. Would fake metal parts carry similar risks, or would the flaws be even more obvious than the cracks around the metal-carbon interfaces shown on Fake Britain?

 

[Globalti]

@Piemaster 's link above to the Fortune article on The Third Shift explains very well what I've always thought about factories with excess capacity.

 

[Cuchilo]

I reported my fake full carbon smp saddle to Action fraud with the sellers address and an email from Selle themselves saying the saddle was a fake . I got an email back saying not enough evidence

 

[Levo-Lon]

Were all the faked parts on Fake Britain carbon? Can you make more money faking carbon than faking metal parts? After all, I'd be less likely to spot the difference between different types of carbon fibre weaves and I don't know if an expert could. Would fake metal parts carry similar risks, or would the flaws be even more obvious than the cracks around the metal-carbon interfaces shown on Fake Britain?

carbon parts tend to command higher prices..chances are the seat post or bars will be weak sub standard composition and thinner.
more likely to make more money selling high end fakes..there crooks after all.
if either should snap? you could have a very broken face or a sliced femoral artery..is it dangerouse? I'd not want to try any possible fails ..
fake manufacturing and corrupt sellers here really are a blight on us all.
will we stop it? Depends on weather people want a bargain,? so probably not, but paying for stuff from reputable suppliers is a good start and ebay bargains are probably not quite the bargain you thought after a fail ..you pay your money ....

 

[Piemaster]

Interesting. I wonder if Hope suffer from counterfieting? They have only ever manufactured in Lancashire. The owner of the company where I work always refused to open a factory in China, citing quality control as his main reason. Once you lose control of QC something will go wrong and you will lose the reputation that has taken years to build up.

We did once come close to signing a distribution agreement with a Chinese company but at the last minute we discovered they secretly owned a factory and were planning to manufacture copies of our products.

For me theres not enough companies use an American style "Proudly made in the UK" all over their packaging and advertising. Be proud of it and it may just make a difference when making a choice from the shelf. It does for me. Hope doesn't immediately form a UK association in my head the same way Campag does with Italy in my head, but really it should.

 

[Levo-Lon]

^^^ my orange bike has a lovely Union Flag on the seat tube..
and a Made in Taiwan secreated on the bottom bracket housing..ahh well I tried to buy British.

 

[Cubist]

For me theres not enough companies use an American style "Proudly made in the UK" all over their packaging and advertising. Be proud of it and it may just make a difference when making a choice from the shelf. It does for me. Hope doesn't immediately form a UK association in my head the same way Campag does with Italy in my head, but really it should.

It does in the MTB world. And they thrive on the rugged pennine appeal of milled aluminium;solid appearance with that unique Hope flavour... combining form and function. Even their bling bits still look purposeful and dependable.