General Cycling Discussion - Any experiences with Chinese bike stuff

Whats your experiences?

I bought a chain rivet extractor (ebay China) and it broke after very few uses. Very very bad and cheap product. I haven't learnt my lesson though, I'm thinking about buying a crank puller (search for 'Bike Bicycle Crank Puller Remover Wrench Tool Handle') and maybe handlebar tapes (how bad they can be).

Manufacturing contract requirements vary, so when the contract is written

the difference is in the priority.. good or cheap..

and as some with a little history know that there is the Island of Formosa .

Taiwan the ROC.and the post Mao mainland, the PRC ..

Huge amounts of investment has been made in the Taiwan manufacturing of bicycles sector.

and there are the small citystates Hong Kong and Singapore..

All can be lumped under the label China, but that would be so Macedonian ..

When it comes to specialized high tolerance bike tools, I like to buy Park or other well known brand such as for nipple wrenches, crank pullers, etc. For general use cruder tools, I'm not so picky, like hammers, pliers, screwdrivers, etc.

Ya get what ya pay for...

I have seen some very high quality Chinese made products, I have seen some very poor American made products. It doesn't have much to do with the country and more to do with the specifications, price, engineering and production oversight.

Aaron :)

How can Singapore be lumped in as part of China? It's geographically quite distant and culturally part of Malaysia, with a healthy dose of Indians and Chinese as well. Might as well call the Philippines China since there are Chinese people living there too. ;)

Hong kong, on the other hand, IS part of the PRC. Geographically and politically.

You can buy good stuff from China or bad stuff. You can buy good stuff from the US or bad stuff. Buying the cheapest thing you can find on ebay is usually going to fall into the "bad stuff" category no matter where it's made.