Quantcast

Alibayexpress parts you love

sethimus

neu bizutch
Feb 5, 2006
5,388
2,463
not in Whistler anymore :/
I know that many of you wouldn't be caught dead on a road bike, but I am absolutely blown away by the quality of my Ali cycling jerseys, and to a lesser degree my bibs. I bought the bibs because they were cheap AF and I intended to use them on the trainer or under MTB shorts, but they are nice enough on their own. The bibs don't have the greatest chamois, even the high end "italian" ones, but the jerseys hold their own against anything under $100 out there.
a bib is only as good as its chamois. i recently acknowledged that there are even better ones than rapha‘s. those assos ones with the golden gate technology are the real deal.
 

Flo33

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2015
2,144
1,373
Styria
a bib is only as good as its chamois. i recently acknowledged that there are even better ones than rapha‘s. those assos ones with the golden gate technology are the real deal.
Interesting. Have you ever tried Santini? So far the best I've ridden. Will give the Swiss cheesy ones a try though.
 
Last edited:

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
22,014
7,252
borcester rhymes
a bib is only as good as its chamois. i recently acknowledged that there are even better ones than rapha‘s. those assos ones with the golden gate technology are the real deal.
I’ve heard assos makes the best, but then their bibs START at roughly 4.5 times the cost of a Spexcel or YKYW bib set. That’s a lot of days spent riding and not washing clothes if you are not doing 4+ hour rides that require such a nice set of bibs.
 

Bikael Molton

goofy for life
Jun 9, 2003
4,088
1,235
El Lay
I remember someone on this website simply ran racing car schraeder valves after drilling out his mtb rims for them. I've still never tried that, but a buddy of mine did, and now there are even schraeder tubeless valves for MTBs available on aliexpress and elsewhere.
 

Bike078

Monkey
Jan 11, 2018
599
440
I remember someone on this website simply ran racing car schraeder valves after drilling out his mtb rims for them. I've still never tried that, but a buddy of mine did, and now there are even schraeder tubeless valves for MTBs available on aliexpress and elsewhere.
Have tried said tubeless valve on one wheel. Worked fine.

@Sandwich may I ask which chainstay protector did you buy?
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
22,014
7,252
borcester rhymes
ya all suck at this game, 5min search:


(hard overpriced though)
A) I’m impressed- I honestly searched but I didn’t think to search “road bike fluid Valve converter” because I’m not a weird euro. ”valve adapter presta tubeless” didn’t turn up much.
B) Not that anyone cares, but the fouriers stuff tends to be similarly priced to real brands. I was all set to buy some valve extenders for my TT wheels but decided to buy non-knockoffs (TopeaK) as the price delta was like $2 between weird junk and Topeak and fouriers was the same price.

Have tried said tubeless valve on one wheel. Worked fine.

@Sandwich may I ask which chainstay protector did you buy?

This one. Pretty decent, good adhesive on it and it really quiets things down. I’m searching for/planning to buy a down tube protector as well to match, at least at some point…
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
22,014
7,252
borcester rhymes

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,600
6,504
UK
Oop, just noticed one of the panels is peeling up a bit. It’s a little early but I can add some adhesive and if all else fails, $2 is $2.
When fitting did you clean the chainstay thoroughly with alcohol and heat the adhesive when applying?. This make a massive difference to adhesion. Even 3M VHB sticky pads peel if you don't do this.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
22,014
7,252
borcester rhymes
When fitting did you clean the chainstay thoroughly with alcohol and heat the adhesive when applying?. This make a massive difference to adhesion. Even 3M VHB sticky pads peel if you don't do this.
Nah, the frame was brand new though. Certainly could have been done better.
 

Milleratio

Monkey
Oct 24, 2021
125
78
I ran one for ages. Tough as nails. On different frame now. But it was a dh bike and post was short, so was stronger obviously.
It's for the DH bike and I only sit on the saddle when taking uplift with anchorstyle ski lift. The current I-beam SDG Fly is too narrow and there is no other option so the seat post has to be changed with the saddle.

Hopefully it'll do the job.
 
Last edited:

Bike078

Monkey
Jan 11, 2018
599
440
Just took a gamble, $1.26 30t chainring (welcome price! ) and a $9 bash guard.
I have used my Deckas brand narrow-wide 32t chainring for several years now and it has been quite reliable. Just got a 30t Snail branded one that I'm planning to put on my wife's bike.

Been wondering if I can buy another 30t for my bike since I currently run 32 x 42 (10 speed) and I seldom use the smallest cogs. On the other hand I could also get a Deore 11-46 10s cassette to make climbing easier.
 

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,600
6,504
UK
You can't seriously think road cycling is safer than mtb.
Straightjacket time son.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
22,014
7,252
borcester rhymes
Have you taken a look at chinertown.com? I've been following the development of the Santa Choo dual suspension frames for a while now.
Yeah, that's where I found my current frame. I'm not sure I'm ready for an enduro/downhill frame from any of the chinese open molders...there's just too much complexity to be done right. I have a TT and XC frame from hongfu and ICAN and they've both been fine but the TT frame shows some weaknesses in cable routing, the way things bolt together (top cap) etc that make me question how those issues would raise in a 6" travel frame (flex, leverage rate, cable routing). The ICAN is brick simple and it shares a mold with a more legitimate frame so I have faith in the design, but without the help of the chinertown folks I'm not sure I would have gone for it.

Which one?
ICAN S3. I think you have the Fromunda FM936, right? Mine is the same but with a horst link.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
22,014
7,252
borcester rhymes


Like this objectively cool as hell and it's probably not a bad design...but do you trust the idler to be up to the task? Or the bearings around the BB to hold up? Those are the little details that "real" brands get right.

I'm happy to buy this instead of this because it's exactly the same low-risk part but 90% cheaper, but I don't think most of the chinese frames are at the same level as a deviate or forbidden. I will say that most of my experience with chinese carbon has been that it's overbuilt, not under...most of it.
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
22,224
21,837
Canaderp
Like this objectively cool as hell and it's probably not a bad design...but do you trust the idler to be up to the task? Or the bearings around the BB to hold up? Those are the little details that "real" brands get right.

I'm happy to buy this instead of this because it's exactly the same low-risk part but 90% cheaper, but I don't think most of the chinese frames are at the same level as a deviate or forbidden. I will say that most of my experience with chinese carbon has been that it's overbuilt, not under...most of it.
They do?























:busted:
 
Last edited:

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
22,014
7,252
borcester rhymes
IMG_5228.jpeg


Latest haul. About $16. TPU tube for a spare, multi tool to go on the bike, GPS mount for the cross bike, and a road link in case I want to expand my gearing options. Plus two pairs of socks.
 

Leafy

Monkey
Sep 13, 2019
647
412

daisycutter

Turbo Monkey
Apr 8, 2006
1,696
190
New York City

These shorts are great. Like way better than the previously monkey approved Amazon shorts. I hated the plasticy pieces for the Velcro waists band on those, these aliexpress ones don’t have that.
I have been using these for years now. They improved the fly button this year and beyond one of the side pocket zippers failing to stay zipped, have performed great. I am a 36 inch waist and needed to order a extra large. I buy 2 a year and they last about two years of hard use. About as good as the specialized shorts I bought for $70 US a few years ago.
 

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,891
5,260
Australia

These shorts are great. Like way better than the previously monkey approved Amazon shorts. I hated the plasticy pieces for the Velcro waists band on those, these aliexpress ones don’t have that.
Awesome ordered a set to try.

I am a 36 inch waist and needed to order a extra large.
I'm a 34 so risking the Large. Fingers crossed.