How Bad Is A Counterfeit Shimano Chain? I Tested One Out!
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- čas přidán 20. 05. 2023
- In this video, I wanted to follow up on my original counterfeit Shimano chain video by installing one one my personal bike and riding around on it for a while (somewhere around 150-170 miles) and determine how bad or good it really is...
I purchased two fake Shimano DA chains from Amazon. The chain broke in a sprint causing me to crash and injure my shoulder. After telling Amazon and trying to return and get a refund they denied that the chains were counterfeit and would not refund me my money. I will never purchase any Shimano parts from Amazon again.
"VIA" ("Vehicle Inspection Association") is stamped on all Shimano parts. It is an official approval stamp used to certify parts of Japanese vehicles - including bicycles. Didn't know that. Thank you for posting
I never would have even imagined counterfeit bicycle chains. It makes me wonder what other parts are out there that could be counterfeit.
My first encounter with a fake Shimano chain in my shop was mind blowing. It happened two years ago when a customer brought in a new out of the box Canyon bike for me to assemble with all Di2 Ultegra. When I installed the chain, it just did not want to shift correctly. Little did I know it came with a fake Shimano chain. After fiddling with the weird shifting issues, I knew something was wrong with the chain. That's when I realized the packaging was just not up to Shimano's standards as the clear crisp plastic package that held the chain was dull and soft. I also noticed the embossing on the links was deep and over stamped, where real Shimano chains is light stamping. So not having a Shimano chain in stock, I installed a new SRAM 1170, and suddenly everything worked and shifted Perfectly...! To learn that day that now there are fake Shimano chains, REALLY PISSED ME OFF! So from that day on, I only install SRAM chains, because for some reason, there are no fake SRAM chains, that I know of... And why that is, I have no idea... So from now on if a customer or you as an end user, play it safe and order SRAM chains because I know for a fact that no one yet has produced fake SRAM chains. This all has happened because Shimano stopped selling to bicycle distributors about 8 years ago, thus opening themselves to a lot fake Hanky Pankey.
I just replaced the drivetrain on a buddy’s bike. He unknowingly supplied a counterfeit chain from Amazon. The chain would bind up with the new dura ace guide wheels and was unusable. Fortunately I had a real chain and it worked perfect. Thanks for the video.
Ebay UK is rammed full of Chinese sellers hawking fake Shimano, Sram & KMC chains. Seller feedback tells you all you need to know. I've bought a few chains and I've never bought one online. A chsin is too vital a component to take risks with & they are cheap enough to buy from a local bike shop - the price difference is not worth it.
I bought a SLX chain from Amazon that stretched to .5 wear in less than a week of riding.
Amazon has turned into scammers paradise
Thanks, but THE biggest and most obvious difference is that HG chains have inner plates that extend past the roller face, which is why HG chains are not compatible with some narrow wide chainrings and wheels. That would have been easy to show by looking through the chain instead of the sides, or by placing the loose roller on the inner link and showing the difference.
Just bought two of these chains, on eBay in the past six months, paid 32.38 for them, they are fake! In the trash they go. Thanks for the video. Won’t waste my time or money again on one of these chains, thanks for the video! 😊
I watched another video of yours before watching this one and I commented on it. Thanks for showing us your testing here after doing 150+ miles on the chain. My fake chain looked like crud after a couple of weeks of riding. I am not sure if it destroyed the outer ring on my crank sprocket after using my fake one for 2,300 miles but, my crank does have 9,300 miles on it and it's probably time to replace it anyway. The new real Shimano chain slips on the out ring. I was sad because I thought, great, I got to replace my chain and $55 105 R7000 Cassette at the same time when I just bought the cassette locally 2,300 miles ago. They were telling me that it was much better than the Microshift that I had on before but, at least I got three chain changes off of the Microshift casstte before I replaced with a Shimano R7000 one. My whole gearset is now R7000 105. The microshift cassette came with the new bike and it was the only thing they cut a corner on.
Dude, you're a life saver! I bought a KMC chain off of Ebay a while back and never thought about measuring the links on a new chain. My chain only had 300 miles on it and was stretched to 1mm. Replaced with a new XT this morning and everything is back to normal. Huge thanks!
Thanks as that's something us part time amateurs would of never known. Once I ordered two billeted steel car steering components that were supposed to be the same part, but they came from two different suppliers and one was obviously cheap pot metal. I wasn't aware they were doing the same with bike components until I caught your video. Thank you again for spreading the awareness.
I bought two chains on Amazon a few months ago, one was genuine, one was counterfeit; both came from the same seller in the same order, so I’m not sure resellers even know what they’re getting.
Thank you Joey, very useful information to know !
Shimano is large enough to afford to pay attorneys to go after these spurious products. Fake Rolex watches are one thing, but a fake chain could result in great harm or even death if it fails. The average consumer will not know that they have purchased a fake chain. I mean, who would even think that a thieving company would sell counterfeit chains? There must be big money in it. What a shame.
I had no idea this was a thing, I’m glad I came across this video
Had one of these come through my stand this winter. The snap link wouldn't pass the top pulley in the derailleur. Too narrow.
Just ordered a pair of shimano 12 speed master links to carry in case of a breakage on the trails. Any tips on spotting a fake one of those.
I do another of repairs for local riders. One guy, an absolute mountain bought 3 chains from ebay. I put one on without a quick-link and he snapped it. I replaced it with another he'd bought. Same again, snapped.