[David9694]

I was 10s chain shopping last week which put me in mind of the current state of affairs on knock-off bike parts, such as chains. I wondered if anyone had any update on current trends? I’m seeing a fair few pictures of broken chains over on Facebook. 

Example: https://www.kmcchain.eu/service/fake-chains

I’ve needed to replace 7s thumb shifters on a couple of recent Repair Cafe jobs. Riders force the gears when there’s faults elsewhere in the system. To keep costs down, I typically shop for Shimano ST-EF500s on EBay. They never arrive in retail packaging and I saw a suggestion that these too were knock-offs – indeed, the last set had a minor finishing problem that got me thinking, but I have no idea. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145989875716?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/166728077787?

As owners of certain Shimano cranks will know even if you’ve got the genuine article you’re still not immune from serious failure. 
 

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[David9694]

And to circle back briefly to

And to circle back briefly to chains, Decathlon have done their utmost to hide their KMC light under a bushel in this example, at least for real world customers. 

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/10-speed-bike-chain/_/R-p-311685

Reader, I went for SRAM this time. 

[Author]

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