General Cycling Discussion - chinese wholesale kits. are they safe?

Has anyone ever ordered any kits from those chinese wholesale sites?

4ucycling.com?
lightinthebox.com?

i'm sure the quality may not be the best but kits for 50 bucks sounds pretty cool.

any ideas?

i'm kinda worried that they are scams.

$50 for a bike- sounds fantastic. Then you try to assemble the bike and find that the brakes will not lign up- The wheels are a bit heavy as the are made out of Steel- the deraillers only have movement through 3 of the 5 gears and as you tighten the bars up- something goes "Ping".

How do I know? My neighbour bought one and asked me to help assemble it as he only had metric tools. Don't know what the bolt sizes were as they were not Imperial either.

$50 for a bike- sounds fantastic. Then you try to assemble the bike and find that the brakes will not lign up- The wheels are a bit heavy as the are made out of Steel- the deraillers only have movement through 3 of the 5 gears and as you tighten the bars up- something goes "Ping".

How do I know? My neighbour bought one and asked me to help assemble it as he only had metric tools. Don't know what the bolt sizes were as they were not Imperial either.

They were szechuan bolts. Spicy too.

i think he is talking about KITs as in clothing. Not bikes. I figure all of the team gear is made in china/taiwan/indonesia anyhow... maybe they are just overruns? (probably not). I for one am not scared to give china companies a try... usually u just have to take some good with the bad

look at the sizing CLOSELY. for example, lightinthebox's XXL bibs are only a 32" waist. buyer beware...

They're clothes; what can go wrong? The worst that can happen is they don't fit or they aren't comfortable and you donate them to the Salvation Army. In general you get what you pay for, but labor in China is cheap, so maybe they're worthwhile.
Under ordinary circumstances I'd drop in my lecture about buying American to support the economy, but I haven't seen an article of clothing in years that was made in the US...no, wait, I think Rivendell still sells some. But nearly everything else I've bought in at least a decade has been imported.

safe? heck no! if you enter a burning building in an attempt to save your gold fish they will catch fire!

safe? heck no! if you enter a burning building in an attempt to save your gold fish they will catch fire!
That is one creative sentence :thumb:

Hey, waiter, I want some of what he is having... :lol:

safe? heck no! if you enter a burning building in an attempt to save your gold fish they will catch fire!

Why would your goldfish catch fire? ;) Presumably, they are surrounded by water.

LightInTheBox? Why does that sound familiar...

Oh, right: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5434521/img/hiphone4.png

The clothes look good, just their sizing is off, I bought a jersey and the XXXL was more like XL in the USA.

Why buy poorly made athletic clothing? Seems like that's almost certain to rip.

:popcornSee what you've got yourself into, OP?

BTW, guys I beg you please, DO NOT buy fakie livestrong products on eBay...

I bought a jersey off lightinthebox.com, fit fine, felt fine, looked fine. Probably same damn thing I woulda bought anywhere else, just half the price. Took a while to get to me, but a $25 team jersey that retails elsewhere for $90? No brainer.

I didn't think they had cycling stuff anymore though.

They both accept PayPal payment so I dont see too much danger to buy from them...except quality of products.

They're clothes; what can go wrong?

The stitching could give out in the butt leaving you exposed for all to see.

Hey, you asked what could go wrong! :P

Sorry to bump such an old thread, but a search for "4ucycling" yielded only three results. Some time has passed and, before I place an order, I just want to get some feedback from anyone who made a clothing purchase from this site. I really love the Look kit and the price is right but would hate for my first traffic ticket to be for indecent exposure.

I have bought several and found the quality to be fine but the sizing to be super small like 2 to 3 sizes small. I am 5'9" 175 and fit a xxl.

I have bought several and found the quality to be fine but the sizing to be super small like 2 to 3 sizes small. I am 5'9" 175 and fit a xxl.

Thanks for the feedback! I did pay attention to the sizing charts and found that I'd have to get sizes one size up from my norm. Sounds like I'll be getting more than shoes next week! :D

Question for those of you who ordered from 4ucycling.com

How long did it take for your stuff to get to you? Good quality?

Chinese wholesale means the quality will almost certainly not be what you're used to in the USA/UK/CA/AU, etc. Thin single stitching is the norm and often starts coming undone with "normal" wear in a short time. Logos, team names, etc. are almost guaranteed to be counterfeit and often of poor printing quality. Sizes will run considerably smaller as already stated. If a Chinese salesperson tells you it's all good, then buyer beware. I know this from first hand experience seeing Chinese and Taiwanese made goods on the Taiwan cycling market.

Chinese wholesale means the quality will almost certainly not be what you're used to in the USA/UK/CA/AU, etc. Thin single stitching is the norm and often starts coming undone with "normal" wear in a short time. Logos, team names, etc. are almost guaranteed to be counterfeit and often of poor printing quality. Sizes will run considerably smaller as already stated. If a Chinese salesperson tells you it's all good, then buyer beware. I know this from first hand experience seeing Chinese and Taiwanese made goods on the Taiwan cycling market.

Actually, a lot of the products you buy in th USA/UK/CA/AU, etc, are made in China but they slap a "name" label on it to make everyone feel better. Obviously, not all, but you´d be surprised.

When I first got the majority of my camping/biking gear, I went with US products. I had to pay for regular shipping plus a package service plus import costs since I live in Mexico. Finally, I wised up. I went online with Ebay and bought things from Hong Kong/China and got the exact same items at about a quarter of the price (and often even less than that). The only downside was the delay in mailing--which occurred here, not because of the shipper. I bought 4 red, waterproof blinkie lights for the price of less than one of the "name" lights. These are hardier and have lasted through the bumps of my local riding...the "name" did not. I also bought handlebar tape (better selection), reflective tape, cycling shorts, etc, etc, at a much cheaper rate. So, be careful of the sizing with clothing, but I would have no problem with ordering from a Chinese or Hong Kong company. It´s nice to support your local economy, but my wallet comes first.