All my Aliexpress MTB purchases reviewed.

At $1200 you'd just go carbon? Less chance of shitty welds breaking at the HAZ line.
I've had 3 Chinese carbon bikes and they're all still running fine with their new owners.
I got a very suspicious M8100 cassette from Ali the other day, no OEM packaging but I'll have to compare it with the old one before I call it a fake
 
komdotkom said:
At $1200 you'd just go carbon? Less chance of shitty welds breaking at the HAZ line.
I've had 3 Chinese carbon bikes and they're all still running fine with their new owners.
I got a very suspicious M8100 cassette from Ali the other day, no OEM packaging but I'll have to compare it with the old one before I call it a fake
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To be fair I bought an M8100 cassette from either BikeBug, Georges or Merlin (can't remember which), and that didn't come with OEM packaging either... just came wrapped in bubblewrap. Was very suss on it. Cassette was indeed genuine & brand new though.
 
George is doing SLX cassettes that were destined for bike builds so zero packaging I'd imagine.
 
I missed out on the EOFY sales for Bosch wiper assemblies, so went ahead and spent the few dollars on the Ali ones linked a bit earlier. Had ot buy some cheap bar tape for the Gr-Ali-vel bike too, and for the daughters bike as even ESI slims are too thick for her hands. All up $15 or so just to get over the free shipping.

Will put the wipers on this weekend after I have a good chance to clean the windscreen, and will log how long they last...
 
fjohn860 said:
Update on the "Sunshine" 11s cassette. Been working well, I have 664km on it now.

It did develop a bit of a clickity/creak in the largest two cogs which I think I have now sorted. There are 3 long screws holding 9 of the 11 cogs together, when changing the cassette over to a different wheel I noticed they were loose.

Tightened them back up with some loctite on the threads. Proper test ride pending, but that seems to have silenced it.

View attachment 390130
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Labcanary said:
Thanks for the heads up with this!
I checked the one I've got on my husband's commuter and one of the the screws had undone entirely and fell out when I took the cassette off the freehub. I've also applied Loctite to the threads now.
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Thread post dig for those still running a sunshine/aliexpress cassette with the 3 screws in the back.

I found the M3 torx screws to be made of cheese (surprising I know), and so purchased the below replacements in M3 x 30mm. They are a couple of mm too long so I just flap disc'd the excess off after tightening them up. These ones you can actually put a couple of light ugga-duggas on without fear of rounding them out.

www.ebay.com.au

10x 30mm M3 Six-Lobe Trx Flt Head Countersunk 304 stainless steel Screw Bolt DIY | eBay

10x 30mm M3 Six-Lobe Trx Flat Head Countersunk 304 stainless steel Screw Bolt DIY
www.ebay.com.au
 
I wanted the buzz but without the $150+ cost from Dt Swiss.

54T star ratchet kit from ZTTO which was about $38 landed.

They have good reviews with fairly long term rides, and being steel may actually be better than the DT Swiss aluminum one.

I just took bike for its first spin and it holds true even when mashing up climbs.

www.aliexpress.com

ZTTO Bicycle Hub 54T Star Ratchet SL Service Kit 54 Teeth For DT 18T Replacement 36T 60T MTB Road Bike Gear 350 240 Part - AliExpress 18

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
www.aliexpress.com www.aliexpress.com
 
teK-- said:
I wanted the buzz but without the $150+ cost from Dt Swiss.

54T star ratchet kit from ZTTO which was about $38 landed.

They have good reviews with fairly long term rides, and being steel may actually be better than the DT Swiss aluminum one.

I just took bike for its first spin and it holds true even when mashing up climbs.

www.aliexpress.com

ZTTO Bicycle Hub 54T Star Ratchet SL Service Kit 54 Teeth For DT 18T Replacement 36T 60T MTB Road Bike Gear 350 240 Part - AliExpress 18

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
www.aliexpress.com www.aliexpress.com
Click to expand...
Interested to hear how it holds up long term. Every copy/non-DT version I've seen has failed pretty quickly, hoping this one might be different!
 
Isildur said:
Interested to hear how it holds up long term. Every copy/non-DT version I've seen has failed pretty quickly, hoping this one might be different!
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Have heard only good long term reviews! Mate had one for 6+ months until he got sick of the noise.

I still carry my original ratchet in bike bag just in case, since they are so easy to swap over trailside anyway.
 
teK-- said:
I wanted the buzz but without the $150+ cost from Dt Swiss.

54T star ratchet kit from ZTTO which was about $38 landed.

They have good reviews with fairly long term rides, and being steel may actually be better than the DT Swiss aluminum one.

I just took bike for its first spin and it holds true even when mashing up climbs.

www.aliexpress.com

ZTTO Bicycle Hub 54T Star Ratchet SL Service Kit 54 Teeth For DT 18T Replacement 36T 60T MTB Road Bike Gear 350 240 Part - AliExpress 18

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
www.aliexpress.com www.aliexpress.com
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Won't last. I tried one of these, skipped and then completely shat itself after 100km, halfway up the climb to Detonate at Derby. Consensus from almost every other person who has tried one is similar.

Oh I see it's a new version. Interesting. Curious to hear your thoughts then I guess.
 
Isaakk said:
Won't last. I tried one of these, skipped and then completely shat itself after 100km, halfway up the climb to Detonate at Derby. Consensus from almost every other person who has tried one is similar.

Oh I see it's a new version. Interesting. Curious to hear your thoughts then I guess.
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I've just passed the 100Km mark including some steep climbs. So far so good. Hopefully I don't jinx myself.
 
Isildur said:
Interested to hear how it holds up long term. Every copy/non-DT version I've seen has failed pretty quickly, hoping this one might be different!
Click to expand...
I've got over 2000km on my ZTTO 54 ratchet on my bike, hasn't missed a beat! I carry my original DT one in my pack just in case but so far, so good. FYI bike is a short travel trail bike, so sees a lot of climbing. And I'm 90kg, so some weight on the pedals
 
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Been going a little crazy with the AliExpress purchases. There is another version called Bucklos that only comes in 170/175mm and these Evosid had 165mm so went with them. Installed the crank with a new Sram bb and Garbaruk chainring. 0 instructions or torque specs included.
This replaced a gx crank, there was a lot of preload to be added on this crank where i felt there wasn’t threads left so i added a 3mm spacer to reduce it. Will update if the crank is still in one piece.
So far the other AliExpress purchases are holding up, the One-up chain guide, Dagga pedals and Title stem.
 
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fjohn860 said:
I just finished fitting these levers up

Just found this amazing item on AliExpress. Check it out!
AU$10.19 | ZRACE M1 X2 / X4 Mountain Bike Hydraulic Brake,Full CNC Lightweight, MTB Oil Pressure Disc Brake Set, Front and Rear MTB Brake
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mqf4v FU

I wanted to try them with my 4 piston Tektro calipers, same same hose nut thread, different olives but no leaks. Definitely feel nicer than the standard Tektro levers. Bled up nicely, good firm lever feel.

Shuttle day tomorrow so we'll see how the Zraktros (Tekaces?) go.
View attachment 408781

View attachment 408782

Put some grip tap on the blades as they are smooth AF.
View attachment 408783
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fjohn860 said:
Well, shuttle day done and I didn't die.

Levers work really well. They are not servo wave bitey with the Tektro calipers, but still plenty bitey enough.

Definitely an improvement on the Tektro levers, less hand fatigue on the steeper tracks that I've always found to be a little hard on the pointers by the bottom.
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Bit of an evolutionary update on these levers. They have been consistent and don't have any wandering bite-point or leaks.

A couple of days ago I changed the Tektro calipers out for a set of sram db8 calipers that I picked up from bikebug for $60 each.

This "Zram" combo definitely has more bite than the "Zraktro" combo. Maybe not quite as powerful as the dominions that I've tried on @Jpez 's bike but not too far off.
 
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I reckon they will eventually do something to either block or make the prices competitive to local areas. I went into Trade Tools on the weekend and they were selling identical things to Ali for twice the price.
 
Yet1 said:
I've got over 2000km on my ZTTO 54 ratchet on my bike, hasn't missed a beat! I carry my original DT one in my pack just in case but so far, so good. FYI bike is a short travel trail bike, so sees a lot of climbing. And I'm 90kg, so some weight on the pedals
Click to expand...

The 60t Fovno on my Spur is over 2000km now. The first one lasted 900km on my Deviate and failed halfway down Blue Tier on a quick pinch, luckily I had the 18t + springs with me, bought a real DT 54 to replace that.

Make sure you carry the springs for the spare as they are thinner due to the fake ratchets being hollow and the originals being solid. The springs for the fake ratchets squeeze the real ratchets together when clamping the wheel and locks the bike up.

I've got a bit fed up with the noise after fitting a new freewheel to another bike and enjoying the forest. Intending to stick the original 18t back in there at some stage and using the DT grease instead of the noisy oil.

I believe it was @fjohn860 only got 10km on his before it spat some teeth 😏
 
davidt93 said:
View attachment 411756View attachment 411755

Been going a little crazy with the AliExpress purchases. There is another version called Bucklos that only comes in 170/175mm and these Evosid had 165mm so went with them. Installed the crank with a new Sram bb and Garbaruk chainring. 0 instructions or torque specs included.
This replaced a gx crank, there was a lot of preload to be added on this crank where i felt there wasn’t threads left so i added a 3mm spacer to reduce it. Will update if the crank is still in one piece.
So far the other AliExpress purchases are holding up, the One-up chain guide, Dagga pedals and Title stem.
Click to expand...
Considering even the real 5dev cranks break, the copies make me really nervous
 
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