I have recently bought a bike for commuting to work and am looking to get some accessories, e.g. bike lights, sunnies, etc
I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience from buying bike accessories from Aliexpress and the like, and what their experiences have been.
Would love some recommendations china or not on some good bike lights (front and rear), and some cycling sunglasses.
Buy something decent - The cheap lights just end up cracking at the mount and you'll be picking it up off the road.
Check out the following
Wiggle
Chain Reaction Cycles
Torpedo7
Pushys
Depends on what kind of light you are looking for as to if they are to be seen or for you to see. Once you work that out just check out the lumens etc.
Torpedo7 is local, know what they are doing, and support their products.
if NZ is local. they're local. but this aint NZbargain.
torpedo7.com.au has always appeared local to me.
I have been buying from them for 5+ years, and it's like dealing with locals.
@insular: Good one :-)
Orders go smoothly, and they get here at least as quickly as from interstate, so I'm a happy customer.
Depends on what kind of price/performance you want?
I've got both lights (both front and rear) from China via EBay. The rears were very cheap and do a great job. The fronts can be iffy depending on price/brand.
I ride trails at night and use a cheap light for roads with streetlights and my expensive high powered torch (on a mount) for the trails. Avoid the multi LED front lights and go for a single powerful LED light. In the end you essentially get what you paid for.
Would something like this be a decent deal for a front light?
https://www.mountainbikesdirect.com.au/azur-1000-lumen-front…
I've never bought one of these so not sure but if the claimed lumens are correct it will be plenty bright for commuting.
Maybe ask search around or post on CandlePowerForum? More likely they will have experience with these cheap rechargeable lights.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/
Price is about standard from when I was looking at lights.
PS. This is what I use but quite a bit more expensive
http://flashlight.nitecore.com/product/ea41
I bought cycling sunnies. polarized. from aliexpress. ~us$5.50 delivered. nice.
are you a lycra warrior?
I've bought quite a number of budget bike lights from eBay but find that they don't last. For example the bright Cree lights either don't have tight contact and shorts out over bumps or the battery gets hot and dies. I think safety is more important than price so go for something more expensive.
For front lights I use and indigo light, it's expensive but they're an australian company. they work really well and the quality is good: https://indigo.lighting
For rear lights I use the Cateye Rapid 3. I've had it for years now and it still works great. It takes an AA battery so you can use your eneloops. Can be bought from most stores online.
As for glasses, initially I used Bolle safety glasses which are about $20 on eBay. they come in clear, slightly tinted or tinted shades. There are also some fake sunnies on aliexpress for $15-20 but you get what you pay for.
Agree that cheap lights aren't the best way to go. I've had a few cheapie rear lights and what has killed them has been the poor waterproofing, get them wet once or twice and they are gone. Paid some extra now and seem to be going well.
Although I do have some mid range front lights - Solarstorm from ebay. No idea what the current versions are, but they've worked OK and are plenty bright. The beam pattern is poor though, not throwing far enough down the road for riding at speed. The battery level meter has failed so I have no idea how much charge is left, plug in the battery and it shows 'full' for a second or two and then shows 'low' for the rest of the time.
I like to try on sunnies, so wont buy online.
The Nitecore HC30 makes a great bike light when paired with a sleek mount. It'll also double up as a headlamp for when you go camping or need to do something in the dark.
It's really bright and runs off 18650 cells.
Haha timely thread.
Cycling home today one of my china 'alloy' pedals snapped in half
Could've been really dangerous but luckily I wasn't in traffic or riding too hard up on the pedals.
Cheap crap!
I bought heaps of goodies from china/ebay:
Bar tape (cork) $1.70~ vs $10
Pedals $50 vs $200 - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/AEST-Cycling-MTB-BMX-Ultralight-B…
Invisible bell $6 vs original which is $40- http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Bike-Bicycle-Handlebar-Invisible-…
Sunnies $2.90 vs $15: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/262801078860?_trksid=p2060353.m27…
Drop bar $27 vs $40 for compact drops, and the only place i could find it for my bar thickness: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/262756211406?_trksid=p2060353.m27…
Saddle (tioga spyda clone) $8 vs $80 - http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Bike-Bicycle-3D-Seats-Cushion-Ho…
I agree bar tape is a good one to save on, other stuff can be a bit hit or miss.
agree,
bar tape is fine, but leather lasts forever, can be had for $40. when they start to crumble and peel, its annoying.
bell is fine, but save $6 by just not having one (useless thing, no-one cares)
sunnies avoid, bought some rubbish ones, they were like prizms
drop bar definitely avoid, if that snaps downhill due to a weakness you'll kick yourself for the $13 saving
saddle, its personal, but if it fits ok, if its inferior plastic and breaks mid ride, youll be out of the saddle all the way home.
saddle, its personal, but if it fits ok, if its inferior plastic and breaks mid ride, youll be out of the saddle all the way home.
Better hope the seatpost doesn't break through. :)
Why would the drop bar (or any made in china™ bar) made of metal break? I can understand Carbon fiber having problems, but wouldn't metal tend to slowly bend over time?
the problem is similar to chinese steel that causes so many headaches. inferior quality through poor QC. branded bars at least have some QC. the absolute cheapest may vary in thickness in critical points, or skimp in thickness to save $$.
it might be fine for casual riding but the weight of the body in a sprint and a normally tightened bar to stem may snap when you don't want it to. you might not get as much warning if it fails as you would from a minor failure.
carbon, as you recognise, is prone to this as well. not by material, but poor construction.
@insular: steel, and alloy can break, but it will usually show signs of cracking first, this might be hidden by the clamp, or bar tape.
thanks for the informative post, how has your mileage been with the sunnies?
I got clear ones and i've been using it for about a month (200~km worth of commuting).
I have no idea if they are actually UV protected - It says they are, and if it is indeed made of polycarbonate, then it should be.
(UV protection. Polycarbonate and Trivex lenses both block 100 percent of the sun's UV rays without the need for special UV-blocking lens coatings.)
The arms are quite nice (vaguely rubbery/tacky) and it seems well built. The hinges seem decent. I put it in my backpack with no case/protection and it hasn't snapped yet (though it's only been a month), unlike my previous $20 pair from Big W which lasted about a year before its arms snapped off.
I just received a USB powered red LED strip. Not too shabby for the price to feature ratio. http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/232126384913?varId=531326694714
I'm not sure how they can classify something that costs $2ish as 'durable'.
For your lights I have a few questions:
Is weight important? ie are you riding up hills and need lightweight components? You can get those enormous MTB lights with a separate battery that hangs off the top tube but they would seem overkill if you rode a lightweight road bike. No point buying a sub 7kg bike then putting 2kgs of batteries on it.
How long does the light need to stay on for? Do you ride a 15 min commute or are you up at 5am to knock out a quick 100 km before work 3 days a week as part of your Triathlon season tapering effort.
Do you want the front light to see with to ride or to make drivers aware of your presence. I say this as a white light flasher to make you visible to drivers is normally relatively cheap. A decent front light that you can use to see an unlit road or path/trail will need to be much more powerful and accordingly much more expensive. I started out with a cheaper 'moon' brand rechargeable light suitable for flashing and tried to ride up some early morning roads with it. Even between streetlights it was next to useless. Friends with much more expensive could actually see where they were going and were much safer. In all honesty, if you want the light for seeing the road and where you are going or if you are any chance of riding down unlit paths/trails or roads you need something with at least 600 Lumens (lm) of power. I use a Bontrager Flare but it is probably too expensive for this thread.
For a rear redlight flasher the things i would be looking for would be the bracket (as with handlebars do you need to fit an aero seatpost) and the duration. Flasher is no good to you when it is flat and because it is behind you you probably wont know it is flat until you get home. Also I prefer rechargeable lights rather than swapping out batteries often, particularly those little watch batteries.
How are you planning to connect it to your bike? I had a Lezyne light that I bought off Pushys on special. Light was good but the bracket it came with was diabolical, first time out I went over a railway crossing and bike and i went one way, front light went the other, dodgy screw on the bracket had worked loose. I would be wary and look closely at the type of mounting bracket in pictures before I bought. My current No 1 bike has 'aero' handlebars and the traditional brackets for round tube handlebars wouldn't fit my bike. Similarly if you had a MTB and planned on getting one ot the setups with a battery in a bag hanging from the top tube I would want to know that the bag was going to be clear of any suspension or water bottles depending upon your frame and overall setup.
I've bought bits from a few of the chinese carbon manufacturers, seatposts and a set of forks. Nothing has imploded on me yet, probably not as good quality as a Zipp or Enve but a fraction of the cost. i have toyed with the idea of buying a cheap 'chinarello' frame and wheels and making a cheap chinese carbon bike!
weight
it just doesnt make that much difference if you have a few hundred grams to even kilos depending on your fitness and weather conditions. this is mostly people chasing the fastest PB (roadies) over several KMs, and even then it only makes a few seconds difference if the conditions are exactly the same, which they never are. IMO don't waste your money on superlight components, buy carbon for ride quality and not weight, and because some parts are genuinely well built. steel is just too heavy, but there are great alu frames, good titanium frames, and decent carbon depending on what brand and how much you spend.
light
no-one does 100km before work lol, but yes, i just put it on if i know i'm going to ride in dark. an small lezyne micro i find is fine and cheap. i buy a chinese light once, the battery pack was huge, and the light started to fail. barely lasted 20mins on full brightness, and the epileptic inducing flashing mode on lowest brightness, i got maybe an hour. don't bother imo. they're poorly made.
for rear light, i use fly6 cos of integrated camera, but cygolite hotshot lasts ages and is bright enough. fly6 has a velcro mount now so easier. i hope mine doesnt fail again. but when camera stops recording youve got a couple of hours left in the light so its good.
my front lezyne micro has a silicon strap. so relatively easy to put on/off, also has a red indicator so i know when its gonna fail. a knog frog can be used as a backup if you like (coin cell batteries).
bottom line is, on the road, if people want to see you they'll see you. if they don't care, doesnt matter what you have. sometimes too bright is dangerous.
chinese carbon
i only have some chinese carbon rims yet to build. already seen a YT vid of them failing spectacularly. TBH i think it wouldnt be bad to use them on disc brakes so no rim braking leading to overheating leading to failure can occur. thats my future plan. otherwise be damn careful and inspect regularly.
im not sure whether you're a sold MTBer or roadie, different parts for either. its a completely diff area.
Some people actually do 100km before work! Not me, but lately I've done a few long commutes, up to 2 hours detouring for extra riding time at about 45km. This time of year I need up to 1hr of light, enough to see the road and where I am going on those rides.
My Solarstorm lights were pretty cheap and off eBay from China, but they light up the road well enough and last for about 90min on high, which I rarely use. except for fast descents low or medium is enough. For 50ish they were a great trial run for lights before spending big on lighting.
bike lights:
Some good $2-$3-$4 AA/AAA battery-taking models from China (from ebay). Small quanity of badly-designed gimmicky ones (like a 'laser' rear light one I tried). Most well woth it. I don't think 99.5% of people need to spend more. These are basic devices that will keep you visible. They don't cost much to make. You can spend well in excess of this if your demands are greater than this. As always.
Being the guy that always sorts by price, I have had very, very bad luck with budget bike lights in particular.
In one of them only 1 out of the 6 or so LEDs were working. In another the the plastic wedge snapped on the first day. On another I couldn't screw the bulb lid back on straight.
I wish they could make them of the same build quality as those $3 K-mart torches (which may not be waterproof?). I bought 2 of those universal torch/phone/GPS elastic straps for for $1 but haven't tested them yet with my torch. The battery would drain too quickly anyway since there's no blinking mode.
So I'm in the same boat…