Are AliExpress Bikes The Future？ ｜ Dirt Shed Show 574

Welcome, everybody. Now, today, we're going to be discussing, are these bikes the thing of the future? Hint, they're not the ones you're thinking of. Yes, hello. Welcome, everybody, to the Dirt Shed Show. I'm Rich Payne, and I'm joined by- Rich Payne- Thanks, Ryan. Rich Payne- How are you doing, bud? Rich Payne- Yeah, all good, mate. It feels like I haven't seen you in ages. Rich Payne- I know. We've been like ships in the night passing, haven't we? Rich Payne- We have, yeah. There's lots of mental trips going on, so it's all exciting stuff. Rich Payne- Very busy. Rich Payne- But yeah, very busy. Do you know what? Off the back of the weekend's video with yourself, we got thinking that times could be changing. This is off the back of slightly a tech show as well, where they talked about our bikes just getting too expensive. Are people's perception and what people are buying changing? Rich Payne- Yeah. Obviously, I rode the AliExpress downhill bike, and you are a connoisseur nowadays of the AliExpress bike yourself. Rich Payne- I've ridden a few, yeah. Yeah. Actually, it wasn't that bad. That was my main surprise. The bike wasn't that bad, but it got me thinking, how does that bike even exist? Because brands and manufacturers that we see, Auber, Propain, years of design and thought process and money goes into developing these bikes before they pay for the molds and things like that. That explains why the bikes are as expensive as they are in some ways as to the expense and the research. How are AliExpress producing frames? How are they going about doing that? Obviously, I couldn't imagine the demand is high, but clearly, there is more demand than maybe we think about. Rich Payne- Well, that's it, isn't it? I suppose, just to clarify, I suppose it's not AliExpress themselves. They're just merely the portal to buy it from. I suppose it's these Chinese manufacturers, right? How are these Chinese manufacturers putting frames out there which are costing a fraction of the price? How much was your AliExpress? Rich Payne- My frame was £600. Not too bad. It was cheaper, but I wanted to go for something that was a little bit safer. Rich Payne- It was metal, right? Rich Payne- Yeah, it was metal. I looked at the carbon one and I was like, no, I want something safer. Rich Payne- I did the same thing on my Enduro build. I went for a metal frame. I think it cost about £350. It was a fair while back now, but I think it was about £350 for a metal frame, six-inch travel, had a fairly unbranded air shock on it, that kind of whole deal. That is a fraction of the cost of what a well-known, recognized manufacturer's frame could be for a frame-only option. You're talking £1,500, £2,000 plus, right? Rich Payne- Easy. Rich Payne- Now, what I feel like is that actually all of these bikes have pleasantly surprised us to ride. Rich Payne- In the comments, people have got quite engaged with actually singing the praises of a lot of stuff. There's two sides to the argument. Some people are like, wouldn't touch with a barge pole, ropey as heck, that thing's going to kill you. The other people are like, I've been running one of these for X amount of years, whatever, and no problems. I was really surprised to see in the comments, someone had said it was a fast bike frame and that they were really popular over in Asia. I was really surprised to hear that because before going on AliExpress, I'd never even heard of the brand. Like you were saying, it was surprisingly good. Yes, it had its faults that with some development, you would probably be able to iron out, but they are doing it at a fraction of the cost. That research is clearly, that's just not going into it. Rich Payne- More and more of these bikes and parts from AliExpress and similar sites are popping up. What do we think is driving that? I've got one thing in mind. Bikes are expensive. Let's face it, a bottle can be expensive and times are pretty tough for a lot of people. Are people exploring different avenues? I think they are, of still being able to ride, still trying to keep good parts or whatever. I think people are looking for alternate ways to get their bike stuff from. Hank Heather- Yes, I agree. I think that people are wanting to have new parts on their bikes. I think people still search for that new bike feeling, but even parts now, just getting group sets and things like that. The SRAM group set came out the other day, £2,500. Rich Payne- That's pretty nuts, isn't it? Hank Heather- For a group set. That's another £1,000 on top of my entire bike that I built. Rich Payne- You could get your Ali bike and my Ali Enduro bike for that. Obviously, we should say there is quality control issues sometimes. There's manufacturing inconsistencies. There are buying or the whole purchasing process can be a little confusing. The returns process, again, I suppose is a challenge at best as far as- in terms of riding those bikes and also building those bikes. Hank Heather- People are overlooking that. Rich Payne- They are. They're overlooking it because in amongst, I think, some of those terrible parts, and I would highlight my grips, they were- Hank Heather- They fell off. Rich Payne- They literally fell off. Just terrible. In amongst those is some gold. For instance, the group set that I had on my downhill bike, as far as I could tell in terms of riding, it was a SRAM group set. It rode as well as SRAM group set. Hank Heather- Which one did you have? Rich Payne- SRAM GX 7-speed. It had a 7-speed block. It looked and felt like SRAM. Hank Heather- I had the same with Dior. I bought a Dior group set and I think it was £55 for the whole thing. Rich Payne- I think mine was £95 for the whole thing. Hank Heather- You wouldn't know the difference. If it was a copy, and we couldn't determine, you wouldn't know. Rich Payne- It was a very, very good one. Hank Heather- Same with the brakes. I had the brakes that looked like they weren't trick stuff. They weren't- Who's the trick stuff? Rich Payne- Lewis. Hank Heather- They weren't trick stuff. They weren't Lewis. They were like a copy of a copy of a copy. Rich Payne- I think we had the same. I had a slightly different experience with them. They felt like they were good. They felt like they had some bite, but then when I actually needed to slow down- Hank Heather- No power. Rich Payne- Absolutely nothing happened, but the conditions. We rode in semi-slick conditions. It was pretty boggy. Hank Heather- I suppose that highlights the inconsistencies. Rich Payne- Yeah, exactly. Hank Heather- In parts, you could get a good one. You could then get not such a good one. Rich Payne- You could then maybe using a mixture of OEM parts and then Aliexpress parts, you actually could build- Hank Heather- I think that's what people are doing. Rich Payne- Yeah, a race bike. Hank Heather- I reckon we might see a little bit more of this popping up. Rich Payne- We're going to see an Aliexpress downhill team. Hank Heather- Wow. Sounds like we've got a volunteer. Rich Payne- UCI watch out, Aliexpress downhill time incoming. Hank Heather- I'm intrigued. I think we are going to see more, maybe not frames, but certainly parts from Alie and various other similar sites pop up. I'm intrigued to know what you think of these builds. Have you considered maybe shopping online at these Aliexpress or Chinese superstores, if you like, these online superstores? Let us know in the comments down below. Okay, it is time for the news. First things first, we have big changes on the World Cup circuit. For the first time ever this year, we are going to see a women's downhill going last in Leogang World Cup, not ahead of the men, after the men. That's super exciting. They're going to get increased exposure. They're going to ride slightly different tracks. The tracks are going to be a lot more beaten up for them. That'll be an interesting change. In terms of media exposure, fans there, I think that they'll be much better. I think that should drive more equality in the sport, which is really good to see. 100%. Yes, I'm excited to see that. We do have exciting Dirt Shedder news coming up next week. Big changes are coming, people. Stay tuned to next week to find out exactly what. It is now time for Hacks and Bodges. No singing this week, Ferg. No. It's just silly. Do you want to sing? Yes, go on. Hacks and Bodges, Hacks and Bodges, Hacks and Bodges. That was a shaky start to that, wasn't it? Yes, I got a bit nervous. This first one is from John Cavanaugh. He says, at home recovering from oral surgery, crikey, and doing some bike maintenance, local bike shop didn't have rim tape in the correct size so I designed and printed a trimming jig. A few minutes at the kitchen table and jobs are good. Someone clearly has a lot of time on their hands if you're making a trimming jig. Fair play. Like I said, every man and his dog's got a 3D printer now. It's quite cool though. When you've had some oral surgery, I guess that's what you're going to do. You tell me, buddy. You tell me. Now, what are we saying, a hack or a bodge? It's quite hacky, I think. I think that's good. It's got to be a hack with the amount of time that's gone in. I would argue it's a bodge because of the time that's gone in, but we'll call it a hack. Yes. John, thank you very much. Good luck in your surgery or recovery. What have we got next, Ferg? Next up, we have Jason Rogers. It's a photo. He says, I've got zero time for batteries and e-bikes. My legs are the only motor I need. I've got that ADHD hyper-focus when it comes to my bike. If I'm not out on a downhill screaming no way while sending it, I'm in the shed tinkering. This is my latest ADHD engine special. I live by a simple cycle. Fix it, break it, ride it. I don't care if it's a bodge as long as it handles the gravity and keeps me pinned. 100% human power, it's high voltage and absolutely no motors allowed. I mean, that is- Nice, yes. There's a lot of ADHD on that. Yes, there is. I'm going to go hack though. Let's hack it. That's a good hack. Last, but by no means least. We have Lewis Kilty. Yes, Kilty. That's it. I used Rock Bros soccer cups for a while without issue until me and one of the boys got e-bikes and they were too heavy. I removed the axle mounts and used them to build my own mounts that go directly onto the roof rails. It's made with 50mm angle irons so the bikes are solid and the thing will probably outlive me. Yes, definitely with 50mm angle iron, that's solid. That's definitely a hack. My concern would be that the roof would get damaged. It's just like a cave now. It's just bowed in. That's cool though, Lewis. Now, we do need to pick a winner and the winner will be winning a prize up to the value of £50 from the GMBN shop. As always, keep those hacks and bodges coming in with the uploader linked in the description down below. Who's winning this one? Oral surgery, ADHD, or heavy e-bikes? It's got to be Lewis. I like the heavy e-bikes. I love the ingenuity on it. Yes, what a lineup we had there as well, right? I know. Yes, Lewis, congratulations. Don't forget, get in touch to claim your prize and as always, like I said, keep those hacks and bodges due coming in. Okay, it's time for things we like this week and we have some absolute bangers. First up, we have this unbelievable downhill footage from the Nordic MTB Collective. This is a Ludenville downhill World Cup track and it's unreal. He's going so fast off that fire road. The best thing about it, the snow is thawing. I know, it's wicked. Summer is near. Very excited about that. He's not shy, is he? Yes, I'd like to go that fast. Yes, me too. That looks well good. Next up from Technoberto is this step-on, step-off. They stepped on, but oh boy, they didn't step off. They basically, the first lead-out rider cased it and then the following rider crashed into him. Flipping lucky they didn't go off the side too much. I was going to say, you're quite lucky. It's a weird feature. Yes, because it's a step-on, step-up-off. Yes, it's like an inverse whale tail. That would kill your speed. The fact they've put a crash mat underneath shows that they clearly have problems quite a lot. Yes. If that's you in the video, do get in touch because we'd love to give you some credit there. It's quite wild. Those are some pretty cool things that we liked this week. Right, now time for the caption contest. Rich, what was this photo? That was sadly me with no view. We were the last people onto the plane. We were at the very back. I was really excited because we were off to Greece. I thought, great view. I got a window seat. I love it. Nothing. That's what we got. Dark times. We did get some good captions. Do you want to kick things off? No, I'll let you do it actually. What have you got? First up, we have the willy family caption contest. Those Canadian winters, winter views are spectacular. Could have been. I wouldn't have seen. Next up, SteveB79. Noise canceling on, window blocked off. It's basically like riding a night trial just with less chance of hitting a tree. Agreed. Yes, it's like night riding, isn't it? At least you don't know. I guess ignorance is bliss. Very true. Finally, we have Jason True with, when the airline told Rich he'd be sitting at the back of the plane, we're sorry, we ran out of window seats. Kind of not far off what happened. Did they apologize? No, it wasn't really their fault. It was just running late. Right, we need to pick a winner because a winner will win a prize from the GMBN shop up to the value of £50. I quite like SteveB's, SteveB79. Steve, congratulations. Slide into our DMs and drop us your details and we will let you know how to claim your prize. This week's caption contest photo is this guy. Yikes. Yes. Yikes, yes. Keep those captions coming in in the comments down below. Right, it is now time for Bike Vault, which means we need- Oh, where is it? Hey, there we go. Right, first up is this Trek Fuel EXE 8 AXS from Michael Fueling. Goodness me, that's quite the name. I mean, look at this thing, it's pretty trick. See that? Yes, it's got all of the saddlebags and everything. Yes, I mean, I reckon he does some mileage on this looking at the tube, the saddlebag. He's got those Ergon-y kind of grips there. What are we thinking, a nice or a super nice? I'm going to go with nice because the backdrop just isn't doing it for me. Yes, no, I get it. I get it. I'm tough. Michael, thanks for sending that in though. That is a nice. That is a nice. Who have we got next, Berg? Next up, we have Stuart Rustall with a YT Capra Ohlins edition by the looks of things. Swedish gold on there. Yes, it looks very nice. I mean, I'm a big fan of YT. Obviously, they've been in the news a lot over the last year, but they're back and that does look pretty good. Yes, he says, not had it for long, such a sick bike, mostly standard apart from the Ohlins shock and a few other little bits. This is a big upgrade. Yes, real nice. Thank you very much for sending that one in, Stuart. We now have this from Howard Dowell. It's Marin. That's pretty cool, isn't it? An Alpine Trail XR. Built this bike as a new bike to replace my old Trek Hope Pro 5s, Berg Tech 50 mil bars, some bigger enduro events booked in this year as well as Bike Park Wales and Fort William. That's a wind ladder forest as well. I think that's super nice, that backdrop. Howard, nicely done. Thank you, mate. Next up, we have Aaron Maybe with a Specialized Stump Jumper, I believe. It's a 23 Stump Jumper. I increased the front travel to 150 mil with a Fox Factory 36 fork, changed the rear shocks for a Fox Factory X2, converse it to mullet. We are one triad carbon rims, silent Onyx hubs, axis drive. My goodness, this is a hell of a move. All the trickery, basically. Yes, and some other anodized bits here and there. This picture was taken at the local bike park in the US. I was just trying to think of where it was. It looks cool. I'm inclined to go super nice because I quite like the blue hubs. Is it super nice there? Yes, it's going to be super nice. Aaron, thank you as always. Next, we have this combo from Jim Lytton. Now, this says a 2018 Vita Summit VRS and my son's Scott Scale 24. First dry day biking this year and my son's favorite spot. It's got to be a super nice because it's dry biking. I know you love a wet weather ride, but come on. I also love the dry at the moment. That's called Half Odd Trails as well. Nice, or super nice, in fact. Next up, we have Ryder Cuthbertson with a Carrera. Don't see many of them on the show, which is quite cool. 18-inch Carrera Vulcan hardtail, RockShox Silo XC forks, DMR V8 pedals. Do you remember those? Yes, very much so. Love those things. 26-inch wheels, Fun Fatboy bars, Race Face Diablo stem, SRAM X4 rear mech, my first mountain bike ever, and I'm loving MTB with my dad. Yes. I mean, that's cool. If you're loving mountain biking and it's getting you out there, your first bike, ain't nothing not to love about that. Look at the view on this from Lefteris Thaloukou Kantakous. Man, I hope I said that right. Sorry, it is. I apologize now on that one. If this isn't in Greece, yes. Okay, haven't just been. You know. You know a thing. You know if you know. Lived in Prague for a while and that's where I bought this bike. First proper mountain bike ride after moving back to Athens, Greece, on top of an old military building. I kind of actually, I was going to say I recognize it. I don't because it all looks quite similar, but I get where he is. It's a wicked spot. It's a good ride around there, dude. I'm giving that a super nice. Yes, yes, yes. What have we got to end then, Ferg? We have Steve Cheese with a Nukeproof Reactor. First semi-dry ride of the year on the Nukeproof Reactor. A few PT's mods, but recent DMR stem pulled the cockpit in a little. Pic taken by Benfleet Downs overlooking the picturesque Canvey Island with Tilbury Dock cranes in the distance. Great channel. Keep up the good work. Hey, thanks. Anyone who loves the channel. It's super nice. Yes, cheers, Steve. As always, don't forget, keep your bikes coming into the uploader linked in the description down below for your chance to be featured next week. It's nearly time for the end of the show, but we got some cool things coming up this week. We have. On that Greek theme, you won't believe the ride that is there. Well, you will if you watch my video coming out this week. We've also got, I was riding this completely wrong, Ferg. Yes. I returned to the scene of the crime of one of my EWS races in Derby, Tasmania. I decided to analyze and just have a look at the trails and see exactly where I went wrong. You got wedged between the rock. I did. You know it. It's narrow. It's very narrow. I'm packing on the pounds these days. I was thinking of bars, but hey, you turned sideways. All that and much more coming up on the channel. Thank you very much for watching, everybody. Until next time, we'll see you later.