@@dylan-5287 So many good used options from reputable brands for that price. Even if you do buy a lemon, there's probably a certified Rockshox or Fox dealer near you that can easily fix it with genuine parts.
You guys should get a big brand to put this fork through their safety test for consumers. This would be good for consumers and the brand to show the difference in safety.
Hopefully this video has done a good job of outlining the safety levels of this fork already. The fact that a critical part was damaged, a structural securing nut was threaded, and 3/4 of the seals were missing should tell you enough about the quality without a big brand running it through their testing facilities.
@@johnnybravo1912 i dont think they are comparing low end with high end , if you bought any named brand fox,rockshox ect of ebay for the same price of £140 you would have a far better/safer fork with the named brand even if its a bit older. On some MTB things i think you can go for a cheaper option as some brands really do take the piss with pricing but when it comes with forks theres no point in taking a change if it breaks you cant get it fixed if you managed to survive it breaking and its never going to last as long and your far better of buying 2nd hand and getting it serviced for similar money
Its funny but it seems those cheap bolany forks are of better quality than whatever those forks are on the video, the bolany forks at least have a brace between the two sides of the shocks to keep the wheel in the same direction as the forks are pointing.
It’s so easy to point out a lemon and laugh that’s it’s a lemon. How about u guys try to find a diamond out of the lumps of coal out there that’s a decent bargain that’s trail worthy for those who aren’t sponsored riders which is affordable pls.
Some more expensive budget forks are still not that good the z1/z2 flex like crazy, Rock shock Judy/35 are so bad I can't believe people would pay more than 100$ for them. It's not easy finding a gem in a pile of overpriced manure.
Looks like you missed the point of the video. They're saying don't buy forks off ali-express.. Your safety isn't worth saving a couple hundred bucks. There are plenty of videos out there on decent budget forks, but not many on this.
@@brandonfields5720 jokes on you, it's exactly this point most of us are against of. Getting ripped off and screwed over in the name of safety and security - doesn't it ring any bells?
Is it just me? I feel like GCN/GMBN either tells you the expensive stuff is really good or the cheap stuff is really bad. I wouldn’t trust these forks either but they seem to promote the perception that cycling needs to be expensive and most average bikes aren’t fit for the trail.
That’s definitely not my intention. I want people to buy safe, quality stuff at the same price. Hence myself and Greg both concluded that secondhand forks would be the best alternative
FOX, Marzocchi, Manitou, Rock Shox similar types extremely high price. So what is the good solution? Zoom, Pasak, Bolany they perform well in tests and are a fraction of the price.
Just got to look at the £91 ones Sam pilgrim bought and absolutely hammered as he usually does and they were absolutely fine to know that their QC is all over the shop
Knocking this badly built fork is funny and all but perhaps a conversation about big brand suspension service intervals. 50-100 hour service interval on car suspension for example would be laughed at but somehow acceptable on a $1000+ fork.
motor cycles are the same 50 -100 hours tho car shocks are extremly basic unless its of an s500 or land rover (ai ride that alyayes leaks normly the air lines ) basicly a spring and a sealed damper (cant be rebuilt damper is a disc with holes it in sliding up and down in a tube full of oil
A $1000+ fork is essentially a high-performance/racing product. MX (or any other kind of performance motorcycle) suspension also has short service intervals. I would imagine that suspension service intervals for high-performance off-road cars (e.g. rally, Baja, etc) would be similar.
I really appreciate him not just mocking people or the very cheap item throughout the entire vid. This is the kind of mentality that will actually get people to stop buying cheap things (That aren't really that affordable, I mean 140 bucks is still pricy). Maybe Mountain Bikers are just less snobby than roadies. Idk.
14:50 that air cartridge is similar to marzocchi pre 2000 tech ! you can drill 2 holes in it ! one at the bottom about 3-4 mm large and one smaller like 2 mm wide half way to top and convert it to open bath !
@@gmbntech this happend to me around 2005 when i had a 66 rc2x, the air cartridge was faulty and the only repair you could do to it was making holes in it and make it open bath, worked well, saw this at that time on pinkbike 😂
I'm using a budget air fork named (Sagmit Evo 3) mine doesn't have a rebound adjuster just a compression / lockout and I experimented mine I remove my lockout damping rod cause the rod won't allow the fork to travel to it's potential travel however the fork is still safe to use on trail and even when jumping.
She doesn’t pay a penny. Sponsors paid even for aliexpress. What is the message here don’t buy cheap forks and buy the expensive ones that we ride on and being paid for
cant say I havent looked on Temu and Aliexpress, not being about to put a decent amount of $ into bikes means Ive bought quality secondhand stuff that needs rebuilding or servicing. Learning to do quality maintenance was the key, so I don"t crap myself every time I come up to a drop.
I have Aliexpress forks, actually looked at this one since it looks kind of cool, but there wasn't enough information for me to really consider it. I do wish I'd gotten the DNM upside down one though in hindsight, since mine is potentially as sketchy as this one inside (although it rides fine so far so probably not as atrocious), whereas the DNM is heavy and primitive in a way that it should require maintenance more often than a more expensive fork from the big brands, and feel less sophisticated, but also primitive in a way that it probably won't break or wear completely out as long as you take care of it. My DNM shock is excellent, and their forks seem to be a cut above the randomly occurring brands, although like I said, not necessarily the cutting edge of technology or as maintenance free as the big boys. You do have to consider though the cost of taking your branded forks to a place like TFTuned as well, wheras the Ali ones cost less than a set of tires. The one I ended up buying, is just OK, but there are photos and explanations online by people who have taken it apart and tuned it up, where they lubricate it better than it comes from the factory, but I didn't see any cases of people finding it completely F-ed up like this when they take it apart. So it looks like that little bit of research served me well, might have even saved a bunch of teeth there, knock on wood. Anyway, that's not what makes me nervous riding. What makes me nervous is that when I broke the main pivot bolt in my not so great Aliexpress frame, I got it repaired at the machine shop nearest the bike shop, which turned out to be right across the street from where the Titan sub took off from to go implode, days before they left. If they'd needed any work done at the last minute, they'd have used that same machine shop, around that same time. My bike could have the same metal in it as the Titan submersible, so that's what really haunts me when I ride. Plus it's all from Aliexpress lol. But that pivot bolt is way more spooky.
Good luck running them!😬 Aliexpress fan however; success with alot of great value tooling, road bike wheels and other randoms; huge market place with every tier of options. @TraceVelo does a great job putting this in context for road bikes...Won't be in any rush to change the Trek, Zebs and DVO though.............. Also in context GMBN is sponsored by big brands, Fox and Rockshox are made in Taiwan. More interesting challenge for GMBN would be to build a decent bike for half the price from Chinese imports, see how it stacks up?!?!?!?!
I buy secondhand because I can’t afford new, but I wait for offers and don’t rush into stuff. I just make do until a deal comes along, still ride though. I did once buy a 27.2 dropper from Ali express and do use it, even though it does have a bit of play in it, not enough to cause an issue. I take it apart and clean it quite regularly though because it gets dirty quickly inside. It’s a coil dropper, so I don’t have too many problems. Still I’d like to find a good second hand branded one at a decent price…
As crappy and fragile this thing might be, it's still more solid than my riding skills. But I do agree that a gold rockshox sticking out of the bushes is a nicer view for the paramedics.
Something interesting to note here is the price - Aliexpress (and similar platforms) operate on a very slim margin - often with orders shipped direct from factory. This means this POS-fork-shaped-object actually cost over £100 to build! Now if you consider the margins for a low end entry level fork like a Suntour XCR or even a Rockshox Recon - they are actually close to being the same build price.....
AliExpress is nothing like Temu, Wish etc. There a proper factory to individual/ store front to individual website. And it's the most legitimate there is. I've had 100s of orders through AliExpress and as long as you known what your looking for and stick to reputable Chinese brands your fine. Can't say the same for wish and Temu. As for "margins" I'm not sure your referencing the correct site. As AliExpress direct from factory stores often have 10-40% off sales. Im willing to be they over paid for the fork.
@unclejohn5012 I hate to break it to you, but the business model and margins (whether cost up or rrp down, a margin is still a margin) are the same across all those sites.
the cheap ebike motors are infact fine unless you putting 7kw into a 1kw rated one it wont fail but most of the cheap ones are 1kw or more and cant be used on the roads in the uk as there us spec 28mph
Tf have been great answering questions when u call, u get to speak to a person who actually knows the product and services them. We're a godsend with my RS super deluxe knock 'hotdog' piston fix. 🙏
I'd be seriously concerned for my safety, that the thing can fail and steer me into traffic or collapse off a jump, with no legal recourse for damage to person or property. This is a good wakeup call towards other products from the same source. I hate to say that, but we're talking about a downright liability. There's no other way to assess this kind of product.
How about getting an engineer and a workshop to fix it / build it properly and explain during that what goes into it? E.g. seals with different applications (dynamic / static etc.), compression, deformation, lubrication, diameter change when stretched etc. All proper nerdy stuff, but people (also sometimes people working the machine industry since years!) totally underestimate what actually goes into all those considerations... (and sometimes in the industry make changes that might work in the tedt setup, but not in the field - which often can be proven by doing the maths / physics needed)
Funny how people can also overestimate engineering of bike components when the reality is more of FAFO than thought-through calculations. Historically, most brands grow out of machine shops rather than design bureaus... If you can work around AI translation or simply know Russian, there is an ex-engineer/bikemechanic/youtuber Lexapskov doing exactly what you want. All English or Spanish content I'm aware of is rather academic and they don't go past graphs and charts.
@@feedbackzaloop don't know what you mean with FAFO - never heard that. When it comes to design, sometimes you end up just using e.g. the same seal grove geometry over and over. Of course you don't re-calculate everything if conditions don't change. I know from first hand experience, that often being done with the design fast rather than correct is what company owners and customers want. So you end up skipping those things more often than not. Here comes experience into play about what you need for what circumstances. But sometimes it bites you and have to correct such things a year after market launch.. It would just be a nice way for GMBN Tech to show what actually would go into such moving parts like forks, hubs etc. And I'm sure they would find a balance between full nerd mode and entertainment. But it would also show nicely why maths and physics in school is good, since the basic principles can be understood with this basic knowledge. I don't expect them to slap around with integrals left, right and center...
@@WaechterDerNacht ...and often you don't recalculate when the conditions do change. Or rather get information from field testing and service feedback. You produce something, let people F* Around and Find Out. Then roll out a x% lighter, y% stiffer yet z% more compliant part. And so on. And well, even school level physics is too abstract. Wear and tear marks tell much more. But I'm afraid unless those connected to injuries it won't bring GMBN views. And in no circumstances it's bringing sponsorships as their products must be seen immaculate.
It might not be possible, these forks lack the center brace between the two shocks. So it's not going to matter unless someone was to weld a brace between the two shocks.
my best friend died just because cheap forks he wanted to save some money.... all he did was a bunny hop and the fork came apart and he headbutted the handler bar and next moment i was attending his funeral.... i am still laughing about it this till this day even at his funeral it just damn funny lol
Rockshox just filled my Lyrik with red grease and called it a day, after I sent it in for a service because the Low Compression knob was stuck after a few weeks from new. It worked much better after paying 200 euro for a full service at the LBS.
£125-130 for a service. That's why I service my shocks myself, Rockshox are so easy to do and if you brought your bike from your lbs surely they should fix it under warranty.
Would prob b good to show the same type of vid with a fox 36 or something so ppl have an idea of what the difference is Or maybe an USD fork so it’s a better comparison?
Comments are kind of funny with so many defending that fork, clearly these people have better medical and life insurance than me. If a Fox or RS was this crappy and I die as a result, my widow would have somebody to sue for negligence, but if I die on this Ali Express fork my family is in for some hard times!
love how the only 20" fork i can find with more than 50mm of travel would probably kill me. guess i'll just learn to weld so i can build one with a rear shock and some angle iron lmao
Service your fork and it will service you. I would ride any brand name entry fork than anything like this. Ya never know though there could be a diamond in the ruff out there.
Blake is a real one. You can tell by his reckless disregard for the workspace that he has a few wrench turning bloody knuckles and hell hath no fury repair stories under his belt 😂 Also though, I feel like I was just the 3rd wheel on a date.
We did a riding focused version on GMBN, but there wasn’t enough time in the video to showcase everything Greg found, so we thought a more in-depth look on GMBN Tech would be interesting.
This is interesting. I particularly liked your point about no knowing who made it. There have been several accusations made against China, of using forced labour in their manufacturing industry and this is always something that deeply concerns me in regards buying direct from China. There is Panda Podium who only ship premium Chinese parts, but their prices do reflect this.
1 X 10 mini 10 Speed group that's Deore level quality, STI Shifters and rear mech, for £45. Quality, durable and as good as Shimano, for FK all. There's no negatives here. You are missing out!
Sam pilgrim sent them hard. They did okay short term. Ya get what ya pay for. A begginer, an older rider, a weak rider, a very light rider, this would work fine.
It's frightening to see a lot of new videos of those Chinese e-bikes in the US. People are actually replacing their forks with these things! I see more and more of them on the US e-bike videos I watch. The trails they're hitting... wow!
Even most higher end emtbs are not really made for going over 25mph Chinese ebikes are serious deathtraps for various reasons the forks are only a piece of the pile ...
What's scarier, is that when it breaks (which it will) they just buy another.. So many people don't understand spending more the first time saves you in the long run. Not just from direct cost, but from potential hospital bills as well.
It's just gonna take one fire started by a cheap Chinese ebike out in the forest in the western US and they'll completely ban ebikes from forest trails.
@@dylan-5287This is 100 percent true, our leaders are so dumb that they won't know the difference. Just like firearms, they have no idea what they are talking about.
There is a place for every product and it seems this ppl job is to promote the purchase of named brands, there is plenty of this aliexpress forks that are holding up for ages now in the case of the bolany ones and i bet there are more. Not everything is as bad as this ppl say from a high horse looking down. Proof of this is that she rode the forks and she "survived the horror of the chinese forks".
The funny thing is i,m old enough to remember the very first mtb suspension forks ie manitou rockshox etc and they were fkn terrible i worked for a big bike company and flatly refused to use the shit suspension i was faster on a good rigid cro mo fork its funny its taken almost a livetime for mtb suspension to be good and the bicycle industry still pretended that moto cross forks are so differant its crazy .
Guys, please stop mocking the Ali! There are some truly amazing components at frankly stunning prices, not to mention all the problem solver parts, you'd never find in a UK bike shop. Seriously, you're missing out with this piss taking attitude...
When hes shaking the fork and its knocking... i was like "hey!! my fox factory 36 & 38 makes that same noise" 3 of my last 4 factory forks have knocked and fox refuse to say anything is wrong.
@@MrSupermugen yes, normal thing for any mass produced product. There must be play between parts not originally made as a pair. Quite different to connecting rods and their big end caps. Bet the forth of all four knocked too, you just didn't clean the lube off well enough😁
This fork cost like my entire bike! And my monthly wage like only twice as it's cost! Damn it's pricey in Great Britain! Well, thankfully on my I don't ride on trails, but roads there can be rougher than some trails anyway... Anyway I've stopped even from thinking to buy something from AliExpress even if write it from smartphone on which I've spent only 2/3 of it's price inside my country. There no chances to return Your money if something goes wrong nowadays. Better to construct something by Yourself than buy there... If You can at least.
There is a video of a guy here on UA-cam that bought some cranks if I remember correctly HE ALMOST DIED , so no thanks I would rather save one more year than have to learn how to walk again
For $150 you can absolutely find a better, more reliable and serviceable fork from a reputable manufacturer. Educate yourself, shop sales, buy used. Plenty of lightly ridden takeoffs out there!
like there are no vids with new branded forks from fox or rock shox being completely dry on arrival how a noob will know how to handle them ? i wouldnt, and you also need a ton of proper tools for it and also, wouldnt buy a no name fork from china
To be honest, this guy lives in a world where he only sees mega expensive forks, that his company no doubt charge a fortune to service... he's not going to say, "yes, these are good enough for 99% of trail riders", he'd lose a lot of business....
Also, think about what you just said for a second: if he only sees mega expensive forks, then the inverse of that means he doesn't see cheap forks. So your own statement contradicts the "lose a lot of business" statement. No one with nice forks is buying this trash, so it would make no difference to him if cheapos buy cheapo components.
I wonder if the typical cycling consumer is more stupid than the average person? I'll never understand why someone would trust their life (think about what would happen if this cheap thing just snapped off?) with cheap junk like this? Are they idiots or do they think that if it can be sold/purchased it must be safe and worth the money? And it's not just Chinese stuff...back in my bike retail daze I'd just shake my head when someone came in with a stem that broke...once they got out of the hospital...and asked for a free replacement...from the same maker! Or the guy with the (remember them?) Spinergy Rev-X wheels that failed...for the 2nd time! Luckily he wasn't hurt but for some reason wanted another set!!! What is wrong with these people?
There's a lot of aliexpress bashing going on. You could take the most expensive fork in the world and find fault with it if you scrutinise it in such detail. You could even make a patronising video about it and giggle childishly all the way through
makes me think how chinese carbon holds up. mixed messages all over and afterall most carbon frames are coming out of Asia. how good or bad are those really? a USD for for 140 bucks cant be good to start with.
One of the problems is the forks will be made to a price i.e. cheap aluminium and steel, low cost labour, poor machine tolerances and fastening techniques and likely across several back street manufacturers. If you are serious about your riding then a quality set of forks from a well known brand is not beyond those buying a medium priced bike and wary about their riding safety . Excellent piece and well worth the effort put into it to highlight poor quality and safety issues.
$140 isn't even that cheap. I'm pretty sure you can get a half-decent SR Suntour for that price.
Exactly !
Shit you could get a basically unused take off 34mm stanchion x fusion 140mm fork for less than that.
£140 they said. You can get a brand new Z2 for about that.
@@dylan-5287 So many good used options from reputable brands for that price. Even if you do buy a lemon, there's probably a certified Rockshox or Fox dealer near you that can easily fix it with genuine parts.
@@CanonFirefly no, still a Suntour. Difference from exchange rate goes to import tax.
You guys should get a big brand to put this fork through their safety test for consumers. This would be good for consumers and the brand to show the difference in safety.
Yeah compare the chinese cheap forx with a simularly value fox or rockshox ~ its just stupid to compare low end with high end..
Hopefully this video has done a good job of outlining the safety levels of this fork already. The fact that a critical part was damaged, a structural securing nut was threaded, and 3/4 of the seals were missing should tell you enough about the quality without a big brand running it through their testing facilities.
@@johnnybravo1912 i dont think they are comparing low end with high end , if you bought any named brand fox,rockshox ect of ebay for the same price of £140 you would have a far better/safer fork with the named brand even if its a bit older. On some MTB things i think you can go for a cheaper option as some brands really do take the piss with pricing but when it comes with forks theres no point in taking a change if it breaks you cant get it fixed if you managed to survive it breaking and its never going to last as long and your far better of buying 2nd hand and getting it serviced for similar money
You should sent it to Seth from Berm Peak :D ! He would definitely test it hahaha !
@@ZanderLexx best man out there 🙌🏻
Its funny but it seems those cheap bolany forks are of better quality than whatever those forks are on the video, the bolany forks at least have a brace between the two sides of the shocks to keep the wheel in the same direction as the forks are pointing.
It’s so easy to point out a lemon and laugh that’s it’s a lemon. How about u guys try to find a diamond out of the lumps of coal out there that’s a decent bargain that’s trail worthy for those who aren’t sponsored riders which is affordable pls.
Yes, I agree. That will really help most of us. 🙌🙌
Some more expensive budget forks are still not that good the z1/z2 flex like crazy, Rock shock Judy/35 are so bad I can't believe people would pay more than 100$ for them.
It's not easy finding a gem in a pile of overpriced manure.
Looks like you missed the point of the video. They're saying don't buy forks off ali-express.. Your safety isn't worth saving a couple hundred bucks. There are plenty of videos out there on decent budget forks, but not many on this.
I’d say that’s a good idea but 90% of Ali/temu is lemons…
@@brandonfields5720 jokes on you, it's exactly this point most of us are against of. Getting ripped off and screwed over in the name of safety and security - doesn't it ring any bells?
Is it just me? I feel like GCN/GMBN either tells you the expensive stuff is really good or the cheap stuff is really bad. I wouldn’t trust these forks either but they seem to promote the perception that cycling needs to be expensive and most average bikes aren’t fit for the trail.
That’s definitely not my intention. I want people to buy safe, quality stuff at the same price. Hence myself and Greg both concluded that secondhand forks would be the best alternative
FOX, Marzocchi, Manitou, Rock Shox similar types extremely high price. So what is the good solution? Zoom, Pasak, Bolany they perform well in tests and are a fraction of the price.
Great vid. Enjoyed it, especially seeing inside tf tuned workshop. Scary quality!
I would love to see a breakdown like this on another fork from ali-express whitch is still budget (and an upside-down style fork!) The DNM USD-8N.
Just got to look at the £91 ones Sam pilgrim bought and absolutely hammered as he usually does and they were absolutely fine to know that their QC is all over the shop
I challenge you to rebuild this into a quality fork.
Alas, they don't have neither skills nor tools for that. It's TF Tuned, not ND Tuned.
I second this! I guarantee they've got parts and seals laying around that would fit
It can’t be done. Most of the threads were threaded after we opened it. Also, none of it could be replaced by parts in their workshop.
@@AnnaOnTheBikeLoctite 641, drill it and run a roll-pin through…. My biggest concern is the CSU interface. They’re fine till they’re not
I should add, I have a pair of 2002 SID World Cups on my commuter that are likely WAY worse than these 😂
Knocking this badly built fork is funny and all but perhaps a conversation about big brand suspension service intervals. 50-100 hour service interval on car suspension for example would be laughed at but somehow acceptable on a $1000+ fork.
motor cycles are the same 50 -100 hours tho car shocks are extremly basic unless its of an s500 or land rover (ai ride that alyayes leaks normly the air lines ) basicly a spring and a sealed damper (cant be rebuilt damper is a disc with holes it in sliding up and down in a tube full of oil
A $1000+ fork is essentially a high-performance/racing product. MX (or any other kind of performance motorcycle) suspension also has short service intervals. I would imagine that suspension service intervals for high-performance off-road cars (e.g. rally, Baja, etc) would be similar.
I really appreciate him not just mocking people or the very cheap item throughout the entire vid. This is the kind of mentality that will actually get people to stop buying cheap things (That aren't really that affordable, I mean 140 bucks is still pricy). Maybe Mountain Bikers are just less snobby than roadies. Idk.
When some rockshox don't cost much more why would u buy forks like this .I bought rockshox recons for just over €200
14:50 that air cartridge is similar to marzocchi pre 2000 tech ! you can drill 2 holes in it ! one at the bottom about 3-4 mm large and one smaller like 2 mm wide half way to top and convert it to open bath !
Wow! What a tip haha. We'd try that if this wasn't in the bin 😂
@@gmbntech this happend to me around 2005 when i had a 66 rc2x, the air cartridge was faulty and the only repair you could do to it was making holes in it and make it open bath, worked well, saw this at that time on pinkbike 😂
I'm using a budget air fork named (Sagmit Evo 3) mine doesn't have a rebound adjuster just a compression / lockout and I experimented mine I remove my lockout damping rod cause the rod won't allow the fork to travel to it's potential travel however the fork is still safe to use on trail and even when jumping.
She doesn’t pay a penny. Sponsors paid even for aliexpress. What is the message here don’t buy cheap forks and buy the expensive ones that we ride on and being paid for
Tim Flooks’ gaff. Went there to get a 5th Element tuned. It was just a barn workshop back in the naughties.
a popular fork like a bucklos would have been much more interesting
cant say I havent looked on Temu and Aliexpress, not being about to put a decent amount of $ into bikes means Ive bought quality secondhand stuff that needs rebuilding or servicing. Learning to do quality maintenance was the key, so I don"t crap myself every time I come up to a drop.
FSO: ‘fork shaped object’
Totally ‘forked’
140 dollar fork 👍 10 grand of dental bills when you face plant 👍
I have Aliexpress forks, actually looked at this one since it looks kind of cool, but there wasn't enough information for me to really consider it. I do wish I'd gotten the DNM upside down one though in hindsight, since mine is potentially as sketchy as this one inside (although it rides fine so far so probably not as atrocious), whereas the DNM is heavy and primitive in a way that it should require maintenance more often than a more expensive fork from the big brands, and feel less sophisticated, but also primitive in a way that it probably won't break or wear completely out as long as you take care of it. My DNM shock is excellent, and their forks seem to be a cut above the randomly occurring brands, although like I said, not necessarily the cutting edge of technology or as maintenance free as the big boys. You do have to consider though the cost of taking your branded forks to a place like TFTuned as well, wheras the Ali ones cost less than a set of tires. The one I ended up buying, is just OK, but there are photos and explanations online by people who have taken it apart and tuned it up, where they lubricate it better than it comes from the factory, but I didn't see any cases of people finding it completely F-ed up like this when they take it apart. So it looks like that little bit of research served me well, might have even saved a bunch of teeth there, knock on wood. Anyway, that's not what makes me nervous riding. What makes me nervous is that when I broke the main pivot bolt in my not so great Aliexpress frame, I got it repaired at the machine shop nearest the bike shop, which turned out to be right across the street from where the Titan sub took off from to go implode, days before they left. If they'd needed any work done at the last minute, they'd have used that same machine shop, around that same time. My bike could have the same metal in it as the Titan submersible, so that's what really haunts me when I ride. Plus it's all from Aliexpress lol. But that pivot bolt is way more spooky.
Good luck running them!😬 Aliexpress fan however; success with alot of great value tooling, road bike wheels and other randoms; huge market place with every tier of options. @TraceVelo does a great job putting this in context for road bikes...Won't be in any rush to change the Trek, Zebs and DVO though.............. Also in context GMBN is sponsored by big brands, Fox and Rockshox are made in Taiwan. More interesting challenge for GMBN would be to build a decent bike for half the price from Chinese imports, see how it stacks up?!?!?!?!
Why my bikes back suspension is making noises everytime i ride it? Do i need to change something?
I buy secondhand because I can’t afford new, but I wait for offers and don’t rush into stuff. I just make do until a deal comes along, still ride though.
I did once buy a 27.2 dropper from Ali express and do use it, even though it does have a bit of play in it, not enough to cause an issue. I take it apart and clean it quite regularly though because it gets dirty quickly inside. It’s a coil dropper, so I don’t have too many problems. Still I’d like to find a good second hand branded one at a decent price…
As crappy and fragile this thing might be, it's still more solid than my riding skills. But I do agree that a gold rockshox sticking out of the bushes is a nicer view for the paramedics.
Good to see the team that service my forks what a difference the last service made quality workmanship unlike they forks 😂
Something interesting to note here is the price - Aliexpress (and similar platforms) operate on a very slim margin - often with orders shipped direct from factory. This means this POS-fork-shaped-object actually cost over £100 to build! Now if you consider the margins for a low end entry level fork like a Suntour XCR or even a Rockshox Recon - they are actually close to being the same build price.....
AliExpress is nothing like Temu, Wish etc. There a proper factory to individual/ store front to individual website. And it's the most legitimate there is. I've had 100s of orders through AliExpress and as long as you known what your looking for and stick to reputable Chinese brands your fine. Can't say the same for wish and Temu.
As for "margins" I'm not sure your referencing the correct site. As AliExpress direct from factory stores often have 10-40% off sales. Im willing to be they over paid for the fork.
@unclejohn5012 I hate to break it to you, but the business model and margins (whether cost up or rrp down, a margin is still a margin) are the same across all those sites.
Remember this when the ebike motors show up everyone please…
the cheap ebike motors are infact fine unless you putting 7kw into a 1kw rated one it wont fail but most of the cheap ones are 1kw or more and cant be used on the roads in the uk as there us spec 28mph
Meanwhile Bafang is a top dog company for ebike motors.
@@unclejohn5012 saw guy with baefang two way radio. It got dunked in water once and died. I dont want junk likely plagiarized technology personally.
@@kevinc7632 Baofeng dont make ebikes. Bafang does though. Most baofeng radios arnt advertised as waterproof anyways.
@@kevinc7632 dude, Baofeng is not Bafang💀 it's like saying you don't want to ride Ford because once got pwnd in Fortnight
We need to know why all the workers are wearing mic'd headphones, is this so they can answer incoming calls and work at the same time????
Haha yes it is!
@@AnnaOnTheBike cheeky but clever business!
Tf have been great answering questions when u call, u get to speak to a person who actually knows the product and services them.
We're a godsend with my RS super deluxe knock 'hotdog' piston fix. 🙏
They can talk to each others too good if they have a big store and different levels
Shocking, but not surprising. There’s a reason they’re cheap.
You’re assuming that’s oil that came out… Water is way cheaper
I'd be seriously concerned for my safety, that the thing can fail and steer me into traffic or collapse off a jump, with no legal recourse for damage to person or property. This is a good wakeup call towards other products from the same source. I hate to say that, but we're talking about a downright liability. There's no other way to assess this kind of product.
How about getting an engineer and a workshop to fix it / build it properly and explain during that what goes into it? E.g. seals with different applications (dynamic / static etc.), compression, deformation, lubrication, diameter change when stretched etc.
All proper nerdy stuff, but people (also sometimes people working the machine industry since years!) totally underestimate what actually goes into all those considerations... (and sometimes in the industry make changes that might work in the tedt setup, but not in the field - which often can be proven by doing the maths / physics needed)
Funny how people can also overestimate engineering of bike components when the reality is more of FAFO than thought-through calculations. Historically, most brands grow out of machine shops rather than design bureaus...
If you can work around AI translation or simply know Russian, there is an ex-engineer/bikemechanic/youtuber Lexapskov doing exactly what you want. All English or Spanish content I'm aware of is rather academic and they don't go past graphs and charts.
@@feedbackzaloop don't know what you mean with FAFO - never heard that.
When it comes to design, sometimes you end up just using e.g. the same seal grove geometry over and over. Of course you don't re-calculate everything if conditions don't change. I know from first hand experience, that often being done with the design fast rather than correct is what company owners and customers want. So you end up skipping those things more often than not. Here comes experience into play about what you need for what circumstances. But sometimes it bites you and have to correct such things a year after market launch..
It would just be a nice way for GMBN Tech to show what actually would go into such moving parts like forks, hubs etc.
And I'm sure they would find a balance between full nerd mode and entertainment.
But it would also show nicely why maths and physics in school is good, since the basic principles can be understood with this basic knowledge.
I don't expect them to slap around with integrals left, right and center...
@@WaechterDerNacht ...and often you don't recalculate when the conditions do change. Or rather get information from field testing and service feedback. You produce something, let people F* Around and Find Out. Then roll out a x% lighter, y% stiffer yet z% more compliant part. And so on.
And well, even school level physics is too abstract. Wear and tear marks tell much more. But I'm afraid unless those connected to injuries it won't bring GMBN views. And in no circumstances it's bringing sponsorships as their products must be seen immaculate.
@@feedbackzaloop ok, now i know what you meant with FAFO...
And yes, quite often that's how it goes.
It might not be possible, these forks lack the center brace between the two shocks. So it's not going to matter unless someone was to weld a brace between the two shocks.
The vice mounted with the fixed jaw behind the edge of the bench offends me more than the forks 😂
my best friend died just because cheap forks he wanted to save some money.... all he did was a bunny hop and the fork came apart and he headbutted the handler bar and next moment i was attending his funeral.... i am still laughing about it this till this day even at his funeral it just damn funny lol
I hate that you rode it before you got it looked at but i am so happy it didnt break on you.
Sam pilgrim did a video the other week with a set of Ali forks ! He sent them hard and they lived !!
Rockshox just filled my Lyrik with red grease and called it a day, after I sent it in for a service because the Low Compression knob was stuck after a few weeks from new. It worked much better after paying 200 euro for a full service at the LBS.
£125-130 for a service. That's why I service my shocks myself, Rockshox are so easy to do and if you brought your bike from your lbs surely they should fix it under warranty.
@@Alan-75 Yeah, only Fox makes terrible to service parts. Like the Float X2.
Would prob b good to show the same type of vid with a fox 36 or something so ppl have an idea of what the difference is
Or maybe an USD fork so it’s a better comparison?
TF Tuned are awesome. They replaced my steerer and serviced my folk and ir was a great service :0
Yep. Landfill.... fill.
Comments are kind of funny with so many defending that fork, clearly these people have better medical and life insurance than me. If a Fox or RS was this crappy and I die as a result, my widow would have somebody to sue for negligence, but if I die on this Ali Express fork my family is in for some hard times!
love how the only 20" fork i can find with more than 50mm of travel would probably kill me. guess i'll just learn to weld so i can build one with a rear shock and some angle iron lmao
Manitou J-unit ones
Service your fork and it will service you. I would ride any brand name entry fork than anything like this. Ya never know though there could be a diamond in the ruff out there.
Blake is a real one. You can tell by his reckless disregard for the workspace that he has a few wrench turning bloody knuckles and hell hath no fury repair stories under his belt 😂
Also though, I feel like I was just the 3rd wheel on a date.
Haven't I seen this before?
Must have run out of ideas so putting the same video out again.
We did a riding focused version on GMBN, but there wasn’t enough time in the video to showcase everything Greg found, so we thought a more in-depth look on GMBN Tech would be interesting.
I didn’t watch as I thought it was a repeat. Thanks for clearing that up Anna, will watch now.
yes on literally every other MB channel
Is this a re up load?
This is interesting. I particularly liked your point about no knowing who made it. There have been several accusations made against China, of using forced labour in their manufacturing industry and this is always something that deeply concerns me in regards buying direct from China. There is Panda Podium who only ship premium Chinese parts, but their prices do reflect this.
Are the suspensions from aliexpress for professional cycling?
I understand that they are only for recreational cycling.
Thanx !!! I ALMOST ordert a fork from Temu.. huh 😬
Hang on a minute, I've seen this already....?
You saw a short collection of clips in a GMBN video, but I thought our Tech viewers would like to see a more in-depth look
I would never buy unbranded suspension. Its better buying a well known brand.
why ou cant wheelie it only holds the frount wheel on the bike lol what could go wrong
1 X 10 mini 10 Speed group that's Deore level quality, STI Shifters and rear mech, for £45. Quality, durable and as good as Shimano, for FK all. There's no negatives here. You are missing out!
Nice to see the technicians who worked on my dvo emeralds ripping some cheap forks to bits lol cheers #TFTuned
Wait what ? MTB Forks from AliExpress ?
A rigid mtb it is then !
Sad reality today is that you need deep pockets togo outside and have fun, even if you pick up an bargain fork.. it'll need an extortionate service 😅
This was comedy and I loved it.
148? I'm looking at the $80 ones! Admittedly I'm not going to kill them with jumps I just wanted to soak up a pothole.
Cheap for you, expensive for us,but the quality's bad.
Is very good! You ride NOW and do more delivery.. No waste time.
Sam pilgrim sent them hard. They did okay short term.
Ya get what ya pay for.
A begginer, an older rider, a weak rider, a very light rider, this would work fine.
I'm surprised they aren't just empty tubes.
if it fails where are you going.....
i think the answer to that is hospital!!
It's frightening to see a lot of new videos of those Chinese e-bikes in the US. People are actually replacing their forks with these things! I see more and more of them on the US e-bike videos I watch. The trails they're hitting... wow!
Even most higher end emtbs are not really made for going over 25mph
Chinese ebikes are serious deathtraps for various reasons the forks are only a piece of the pile ...
What's scarier, is that when it breaks (which it will) they just buy another.. So many people don't understand spending more the first time saves you in the long run. Not just from direct cost, but from potential hospital bills as well.
It's just gonna take one fire started by a cheap Chinese ebike out in the forest in the western US and they'll completely ban ebikes from forest trails.
@@dylan-5287This is 100 percent true, our leaders are so dumb that they won't know the difference. Just like firearms, they have no idea what they are talking about.
@@rickywoods3101 haha I feel you on firearms. "No one should be able to own an assault ebike, that's military technology!"
Just go to a good bike shop and ask what they would stand by.
Also, let's face it, 90% of the components you're using on your mega expensive bike are, guess what? Made in China...
Ali Express has many brands some good and some bad. One thing i didn't here is which brand it was.
Give em to Sam Pilgrim, 😂 he’ll test em
It’s not a set of forks… it’s a suspension fork!!! Not forks!!!! It’s so annoying to hear professionals refer to a suspension fork as forks…
There is a place for every product and it seems this ppl job is to promote the purchase of named brands, there is plenty of this aliexpress forks that are holding up for ages now in the case of the bolany ones and i bet there are more. Not everything is as bad as this ppl say from a high horse looking down. Proof of this is that she rode the forks and she "survived the horror of the chinese forks".
That product has “chinese rubbish” written all over it.
This chap is excellent - he needs to be your suspension guru.
What hat is he wearing? Rather like the look of it.
The hat is a Melin. Nice units 👍
What ever you see from Temu/Ali.......apply extreme caution😂
The funny thing is i,m old enough to remember the very first mtb suspension forks ie manitou rockshox etc and they were fkn terrible i worked for a big bike company and flatly refused to use the shit suspension i was faster on a good rigid cro mo fork its funny its taken almost a livetime for mtb suspension to be good and the bicycle industry still pretended that moto cross forks are so differant its crazy .
All Ali express stuff is terrible. I only ever stick to the products gmbn/gcn say are great.
I took me a minute :D :D :D
Guys, please stop mocking the Ali! There are some truly amazing components at frankly stunning prices, not to mention all the problem solver parts, you'd never find in a UK bike shop. Seriously, you're missing out with this piss taking attitude...
Ok, so not _that_ dissimilar quality on the inside to RS or F
When hes shaking the fork and its knocking... i was like "hey!! my fox factory 36 & 38 makes that same noise"
3 of my last 4 factory forks have knocked and fox refuse to say anything is wrong.
@@MrSupermugen yes, normal thing for any mass produced product. There must be play between parts not originally made as a pair. Quite different to connecting rods and their big end caps.
Bet the forth of all four knocked too, you just didn't clean the lube off well enough😁
@@feedbackzaloop I had the bushings replaced, the fork is smoother and no knock - been over 12 months and they are awesome now
@@MrSupermugen ah, they should have been resized/calibrated for a perfect match. BTW, did you get OEM or aftermarket?
This fork cost like my entire bike! And my monthly wage like only twice as it's cost! Damn it's pricey in Great Britain!
Well, thankfully on my I don't ride on trails, but roads there can be rougher than some trails anyway...
Anyway I've stopped even from thinking to buy something from AliExpress even if write it from smartphone on which I've spent only 2/3 of it's price inside my country. There no chances to return Your money if something goes wrong nowadays. Better to construct something by Yourself than buy there... If You can at least.
so ... at what point did you suspect there might be an issue with this fork? 😛
Well not Everyone has the pocket to buy branded quality forks so this makes sense
Thing is, there are both cheaper and better built forks. And brand forks made as bad.
Just buy a suntour air fork. Still cheap but at least they're an established brand. Totally understand the need for cheaper options but this ain't it.
There is a video of a guy here on UA-cam that bought some cranks if I remember correctly
HE ALMOST DIED , so no thanks I would rather save one more year than have to learn how to walk again
For $150 you can absolutely find a better, more reliable and serviceable fork from a reputable manufacturer. Educate yourself, shop sales, buy used. Plenty of lightly ridden takeoffs out there!
What Nathan said. There are a number of RockShox and Marzocchi forks for sale on eBay for under £150 right now, and these will be serviceable 👌
You also don't even know how to read the torque specs off of a Fox website.
These used been hammered by her riding, and who fitted them incorrectly? ,please at least test a new pair
SAVE UP for a quality and branded suspension fork and this will SAVE your life 💯
like there are no vids with new branded forks from fox or rock shox being completely dry on arrival
how a noob will know how to handle them ? i wouldnt, and you also need a ton of proper tools for it
and also, wouldnt buy a no name fork from china
To be honest, this guy lives in a world where he only sees mega expensive forks, that his company no doubt charge a fortune to service... he's not going to say, "yes, these are good enough for 99% of trail riders", he'd lose a lot of business....
Because they're not good enough for 99% of trail riders. They're good enough for 99% of Walmart bikes.
Also, think about what you just said for a second: if he only sees mega expensive forks, then the inverse of that means he doesn't see cheap forks. So your own statement contradicts the "lose a lot of business" statement. No one with nice forks is buying this trash, so it would make no difference to him if cheapos buy cheapo components.
I wonder if the typical cycling consumer is more stupid than the average person? I'll never understand why someone would trust their life (think about what would happen if this cheap thing just snapped off?) with cheap junk like this? Are they idiots or do they think that if it can be sold/purchased it must be safe and worth the money? And it's not just Chinese stuff...back in my bike retail daze I'd just shake my head when someone came in with a stem that broke...once they got out of the hospital...and asked for a free replacement...from the same maker! Or the guy with the (remember them?) Spinergy Rev-X wheels that failed...for the 2nd time! Luckily he wasn't hurt but for some reason wanted another set!!! What is wrong with these people?
That cheap stuff from those countries the funding goes to nefarious activitie, evil acts,
Run out of ideas? Havent you already released this video?
We did a riding video on GMBN with a small section with Greg, but we thought a more in-depth look with Greg would be interesting to our Tech viewers.
There's a lot of aliexpress bashing going on. You could take the most expensive fork in the world and find fault with it if you scrutinise it in such detail. You could even make a patronising video about it and giggle childishly all the way through
That kind of faults? Like missing seals-are you sure it will similar to this fork?
makes me think how chinese carbon holds up. mixed messages all over and afterall most carbon frames are coming out of Asia. how good or bad are those really?
a USD for for 140 bucks cant be good to start with.
Mozo R500
Not safe !!!!
Motorcycle forks!
You people are a joke too promoting overpriced mtb parts that 99 percent of people DON'T NEED
One of the problems is the forks will be made to a price i.e. cheap aluminium and steel, low cost labour, poor machine tolerances and fastening techniques and likely across several back street manufacturers. If you are serious about your riding then a quality set of forks from a well known brand is not beyond those buying a medium priced bike and wary about their riding safety . Excellent piece and well worth the effort put into it to highlight poor quality and safety issues.
Who is honestly buying these?
These people job is to push to buyers 2000 $ suspensión forks so is not a wonder why this video is a joke
what do u expect from a china cheap knock off