This AliExpress Downhill Bike Surprised Us All

This is my AliExpress downhill bike, and this over here is my Orbea Rallon DH. This one costs £1,700 whilst this one costs £8,000, but how much difference is there really between the two? Today, we're going to find out. Oh, it's terrifying. To put this bike truly through its paces, I've brought it here to Bike Park Wales. With a mixture of technical terrain and some big jumps to go with it, it's the perfect place to see exactly how capable this AliExpress bike is. Before we get into testing it, how exactly did this bike come to be? The bosses at GMBN set me a challenge. They gave me a £1,500 budget to build the best downhill bike money can buy, but with one simple rule, every single part had to be ordered from AliExpress. Like many of you, I went a little bit over budget as I saw some shiny brakes, so I ordered those as well coming to a whopping £1,700, but all in the hope of some extra safety. If you want to see exactly how this bike got built and all the fun Adam had trying to get it to work, head over to GMBN Tech where he's done a wicked video explaining exactly how this bike came to be. I am going to be switching those flat pedals for my trusty Crank Brothers mallets. This is all in order to allow me to push this bike to its limits and really find out just how capable it is. Adam did a really good job of keeping it hidden away until today. Seeing it for the first time, it does look really sick. The paint job's really nice. It is the Fastworks Downhill F200. It is a mullet setup. It has modern-day upside-down suspension, which I know is all the craze, and it's got some really, nice-looking parts. I have noticed just a few issues straight away before we even get on the trails. First up are these fork guards. They make quite the racket, so that's going to be quite noisy. We also have a few issues with some cabling inside, so that's going to be pretty noisy as well. One of the biggest issues that I'm probably most worried about is the crank clearance on the frame. The crank clearance is super tight on the rear end. Because I am right foot forward, when it comes to cornering, that rear end's going to flex. I'm really worried that that's going to flex into the crank and potentially snap the crank or do some real damage to that rear end. The other thing I noticed are the tires. As far as I can tell, these are official Maxxis tires, but on the front wheel, I can already see some sealant coming out from the nipples. That is a little bit concerning. If I get a front flat, that will be a bad time, especially if I'm in a rock garden or something like that. I've also gone for some really cool high-rise bars. I've got Jackson Goldstone-spec high-rise bars. I've got some fake ODI grips, and I've got some Ziptoe or Zetoe brakes, which so far feel pretty good. All of this is irrelevant because we need to know exactly how this is going to operate up on the hill. On that note, let's go up there. I just went to put the downhill bike down and the grip came off in my hand. I'm just going to slide that on there again. Nice. Bar end plug for safety. I can't imagine rev gripping off of a takeoff with my whole grip coming off. It's going to be particularly comfortable, but we'll see how it goes. Before we get into riding the AliExpress bike, I first have here my Orbea Rallon. I'm going to be using this as a reference point to compare to the AliExpress bike. This Orbea Rallon DH is an 8,000-pound race-winning downhill bike. It has Fox factory components. It has Shimano XTR brakes. It's got Reynolds wheels. It's got Vittoria tires. This is the ultimate scene. There's not a single part on this I would change. The plan for today is I'm going to do a run on this, then I'm going to do a run on the AliExpress bike. We're going to compare the two, not just in times, but also in feel, and also see if the AliExpress bike can last an entire day at the bike park. Oh, it's terrifying. I have been really impressed with the fast bike so far. It is an amazing downhill bike and it definitely looks and feels like one. When you get on the trail, some of the characteristics that I'm used to on a downhill bike just aren't quite there. This is in part due to the engineering of the bike. I'm sure that fast works has probably been thrown together in some factory somewhere. I have no idea where. I know for certain that this bike here, this Orbea Rallon, has had years and years of development with engineers and also racers alike. Martin Maes spent two years riding essentially an e-bike without the motor, helping the guys at Orbea to develop this bike. Then Tani Seagrave piloted it at the World Cups all of last year to many World Cup wins and also some great success. This bike is not only capable of riding the trails that I'm riding today, but it's also capable of so much more, which is why when I'm riding down the roughest of trails, it is super and confidence-inspiring. It gives you that stability and also that support when you're pumping through corners or you're hitting jumps. You're just not feeling like the bike's bottoming out, whereas when I'm on the fast works, I'm bottoming out a lot. I feel like the fork doesn't quite give me any support. I don't have any of that small bump sensitivity, which is at the end of the day what's going to give us the grip out on the trail. So far, it has held up, but these are definitely some of the differences between this bike right here and the fast work. It's actually sick. God. Well, it survived the easy stuff. That was a nice warm-up and it does feel good, but we're not here for nice mellow trails. That's for enduro bikes and XC bikes. This is a downhill bike. I've brought the bike to A470. This is Bipole Wales' most iconic jump line filled with massive hits and lots of airtime. This is where the suspension setup and also the geometry is really going to come into play. I'm going to focus on really trying to land as smoothly as I can because any added pressure on some of these welds, and I am worried that they might crack. I'm going to kick things off on the Rallon just to be safe. I'm going to hit the jumps, get used to them and see exactly how this bike feels, and then I'm going to get on the AliExpress bike and then give it full send. Oh, it's so sketchy. That was a lot of fun and unbelievable. It took a bit of getting used to after having a bit of a session up there. I did start to get a feel for how this bike rides on jumps. You just have to position your weight a little bit more. I think that's largely down to the suspension. It just doesn't really work, if I'm honest. The rebound dial doesn't really do much and the compression damping on the back of the bike is just non-existent. Nonetheless, we got down A470. We got some airtime, so that was really, really fun. This bike is a downhill race bike. It is a bike designed to go down the most technical, biggest jumps and go as fast as possible and really push the limits. I'm going to race it. We're going to put it up against the Orbea Rallon and against myself on none other than Boomslang, which Bikepark Wales actually use as a pro rider test camp for their Not A Race series. Boomslang, let's go. Straightaway, this bike just feels super stable. Oh, it's terrifying. As you guys can see, conditions are pretty terrible right now. Not looking forward to doing that on the AliExpress bike. Oh, my goodness. This rut is super deep. Oh, my God. Survival mode right here. Of course, the line. Wow. That was something else. Oh, my goodness. That was a challenge even on this beautiful steed, so perfect place to put the AliExpress bike through its paces. Race run number two on the Fastworks F200 with Boomslang. We're going to drop in and see how this goes. Let's go. Oh, my God. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Oh, the brakes don't lock up. Come on, high line. The rear end, I can feel it just flexing super bad. Oh, wrong way. Oh, come on. The drop, don't stop. Oh, whoa. Oh, my goodness. Okay. Come to a standstill. Come on. Oh, that's sketchy. The front end is so far away. I feel like I can't weight the bike. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my God. I survived the break up, but I can't stay down. That was good. Oh, the suspension is just hard. As you can probably tell, I'm alive. I'm alive. Guys, the AliExpress Fastworks survived Boomslang and what a run it was. I had so much fun riding it. It did try to kill me a bunch of times. Honestly, the arm pump I experienced down that last bit of that run was insane, but super impressed that it even survived. I honestly thought when I started today that this bike would last about five seconds and that I'd be riding my round for the rest of the day, but it blew my mind. It stayed up and it's been honestly such a good bike, bar the grips. The grips were terrible. We've had to glue them and all sorts of those grips. Before we get into the results of obviously how the Rallon compared to the Fastworks, I'm going to get myself dried up because as you can see, it's been a traditional downhill muddy day. It's been super fun, but I am now getting pretty cold. I'm going to get myself nice and warmed up and then I'm going to tell you guys what my overall thoughts are on this AliExpress bike. Now I've had a chance to get myself dried off and of course get into a change of clothes after that muddy, muddy ride. I'm sure you guys are busting to know what the results are from the race. Of course, there could only be one winner and that was the Orbea Rallon. It is a much better bike. It was so much more stable, which allowed me to really push my limits even in those super treacherous conditions. That being said, the AliExpress bike behind me did really perform well and it outperformed many of my expectations, but if you're looking to race, it perhaps is not the steed of choice. I accept that I am in a really lucky position with GMBM where I get given some of the nicest bikes to ride. Of course, not everyone is in that position and not everyone has 8,000 pounds to spend. Fortunately, there are lots of other bikes in between this bike and of course the Orbea that are at different price points, which are also really, really good. What are some of my key concerns with this bike? Well, as much as it did survive the day, I'm not so sure it would survive much longer than that. There is already quite a bit of flex in the rear end. You can see from where the bearings are. I think the I did notice that as I was riding it down the race run. The cranks, of course, as much as they didn't wear on the day-to-day, I think over time, again, when you start to ride the bike more and more, all it would take is a small rock to get caught between the two and it would do quite a bit of damage. The forks were terrible. If I was to buy this bike and I was building it up and trying to get it to be a rideable bike, I would upgrade the forks, maybe put a set of boxes or something similar, one of the cheapest sets of boxes. As much as that would cost a little bit more, I think that would turn this into a much more functioning bike. The grips were the worst. My advice is never buy bad grips. If you're going to buy yourself a set of grips, put a decent amount of money into it and buy yourself something that's comfortable. It is one of your key contact points. It really affects how you feel in terms of confidence when you ride. Coming down onto the pedals, like I said, I am no Sam Hill, so I put my trusty clips on. That did make a big difference. Again, it's another contact point, as were the tires. The tires I genuinely think are Maxxis tires. Again, on the groupset side of things, these were really good. I think this groupset is an official SRAM groupset. If you're looking to buy yourself a cheap groupset out there for a downhill bike, definitely would recommend heading to AliExpress for one of those. All in all, this bike was really good. One of my main concerns with it is when it comes to it braking. Like all frames, when you ride downhill, you are pushing the limit. Like I said, there's a lot of flex going on. I do think that maybe in a couple of months after I've ridden this for a long time, I think it would probably snap on me, unfortunately. With that, there would be absolutely no recourse. Whereas, when you buy a more reputable brand like the Orbea or like a Propain, et cetera, you have a really good warranty team. You have someone you can contact. I'm sure in most cases, if you broke it whilst riding, you would be at least sorted out with a replacement frame or better. There you have it, guys. AliExpress bike survived a day at Bike Park Wales. What should I do with it next? Should I upgrade it or should I take it down a World Cup track? What would you guys like to see? Let us know in the comments below. Of course, if you like this video, don't forget to like and subscribe. I'll catch you in the next one.