AliExpress

[Spareparts]

No matter where you are in the world, if you had a static design made in plastic or a cast metal that you were planning on producing in quantity for sale to the general public consumer, you would be foolish to not approach a supplying production company in China to undertake manufacture. They have the ability to manufacture and produce high quality products at relatively very low cost compared to elsewhere in the world. So it has nothing to do with theft. Aliexpress simply gives consumers direct access to the manufacturer in the first place bypassing the huge markup of branded products (silkscreened 'Touratech' or similar in China!). Lots of people like to bash the Chinese, but fact is they have manufacturing capabilities and knowledge that is technologically far ahead of most firms in the UK, and certainly on par with the best in Germany and beyond. Just look at the latest EV technology - it's a battle between the South Koreans and China, Germany is dependent, and England is.... relatively speaking, still burning coal. And if anyone thinks the British have a higher moral compass, you clearly haven't been watching or reading world politics the past couple of decades... (or arguably even hundreds or 1000's of years if you think Chinese civilisation is behind the British)

 

[fredaroony]

No matter where you are in the world, if you had a static design made in plastic or a cast metal that you were planning on producing in quantity for sale to the general public consumer, you would be foolish to not approach a supplying production company in China to undertake manufacture. They have the ability to manufacture and produce high quality products at relatively very low cost compared to elsewhere in the world. So it has nothing to do with theft. Aliexpress simply gives consumers direct access to the manufacturer in the first place bypassing the huge markup of branded products (silkscreened 'Touratech' or similar in China!). Lots of people like to bash the Chinese, but fact is they have manufacturing capabilities and knowledge that is technologically far ahead of most firms in the UK, and certainly on par with the best in Germany and beyond. Just look at the latest EV technology - it's a battle between the South Koreans and China, Germany is dependent, and England is.... relatively speaking, still burning coal. And if anyone thinks the British have a higher moral compass, you clearly haven't been watching or reading world politics the past couple of decades... (or arguably even hundreds or 1000's of years if you think Chinese civilisation is behind the British)

You're assuming an Aliexpress copy is the same quality as the genuine article

 

[Robbi]

It isn't far off.

How much would OEM BMW spot lights be including wiring loom, switch, relay and fittings / brackets to fit BMW fixing points be.? ( delivered )

 

[Nin]

It isn't far off.

How much would OEM BMW spot lights be including wiring loom, switch, relay and fittings / brackets to fit BMW fixing points be.? ( delivered )

About £55

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Robbi]

Are they original BMW items.?

 

[Spareparts]

You're assuming an Aliexpress copy is the same quality as the genuine article

You make the mistake in assuming they are not and assuming that branded product is the highest quality product manufacturers can produce. Often they are not. When working with manufacturers in China, you agree the quality of manufacture upfront and the associated cost. Companies selling goods via AliExpress can sell the same pattern goods at the same, lower, or even higher in quality compared to the silkscreen branded product. You will have to choose which companies to source from.

For comparison in another motorbiking industry... Goretex. Klim, Rukka, Halvarssons, Dainese, Rev-It, many others... the list goes on of Goretex products. Some of these brands have higher quality products than others. And yet they are all manufactured in Goretex factories in... yes, you guessed correctly, in China. They are manufactured to an agreed quality level with the brand and are priced accordingly.

 

[fredaroony]

You make the mistake in assuming they are not and assuming that branded product is the highest quality product manufacturers can produce. Often they are not. When working with manufacturers in China, you agree the quality of manufacture upfront and the associated cost. Companies selling goods via AliExpress can sell the same pattern goods at the same, lower, or even higher in quality compared to the silkscreen branded product. You will have to choose which companies to source from.

For comparison in another motorbiking industry... Goretex. Klim, Rukka, Halvarssons, Dainese, Rev-It, many others... the list goes on of Goretex products. Some of these brands have higher quality products than others. And yet they are all manufactured in Goretex factories in... yes, you guessed correctly, in China. They are manufactured to an agreed quality level with the brand and are priced accordingly.

I guess you missed the part where I said copy. Massive difference between a manufacturer using Chinese factories than a blatant ripoff copy of a product

 

[BobT]

Are they original BMW items.?

Probably, but they will have come out of a different door at the same factory.

 

[BobT]

My argument for buy British, is unless it say's made in Britain clearly on it, how do you know where stuff is coming from? There's plenty of 'Designed in Britain' but then they don't always acknowledge where it was made..

And how is your German bike going? What about your foreign made car, TV, phone, microwave, washing machine and most of the other things that you own.

 

[Winjar]

give money to china is like take drugs, slowly die

 

[tspivey]

You're assuming an Aliexpress copy is the same quality as the genuine article

I’m not assuming it, I know it, because I’ve bought both so I’m in a position to judge.
Copies, is an assumption, who’s to say who designed them in the first place, some of the big names market them but who’s to say they didn’t source them from Chinese design houses.

 

[Nin]

Are they original BMW items.?

Soz, my mistake. OE are £474 inc fitting.

 

[fredaroony]

I’m not assuming it, I know it, because I’ve bought both so I’m in a position to judge.
Copies, is an assumption, who’s to say who designed them in the first place, some of the big names market them but who’s to say they didn’t source them from Chinese design houses.

lol...that's the only response worthy of your post.

 

[Robbi]

About £55

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I got the same lights but without the horizontal bracket for £38 delivered to my door. Admittedly I had to fit them myself but it's a big difference to £474

 

[Spareparts]

I guess you missed the part where I said copy. Massive difference between a manufacturer using Chinese factories than a blatant ripoff copy of a product

You completely miss the point that Aliexpress items are not necessarily copies when bring made by the same manufacturer in the same factory of a branded product. It is often just the silkscreening or a logo laser etch process that is omitted before sale. Same product, not a ‘ripoff’.

 

[Robbi]

You completely miss the point that Aliexpress items are not necessarily copies when bring made by the same manufacturer in the same factory of a branded product. It is often just the silkscreening or a logo laser etch process that is omitted before sale. Same product, not a ‘ripoff’.

In fact it could be argued that the branded item is the "rip-off"

 

[Bahram]

It boils down to snobbery, surely if it costs six times as much and says Touratech on it it must be better?

I bought a few items for my GSA from cheaper sources, one in particular was a Lone Rider copy of their orange fold down headlight guard. I can't recall exactly how much it was but I suspect it was about the £50 mark. Manufactured in China, shipped to the UK, arrived un-damaged, fit exactly as it should, worked exactly as it should. I need say no more.

People will no doubt comment that we should support UK businesses, well I say to those UK businesses, don't try and rip me off and I'll gladly purchase items from you.

I did the same, bought a cheaper one. The paint is flaking and rust all over and it’s only been on the bike a few months.

 

[fredaroony]

You completely miss the point that Aliexpress items are not necessarily copies when bring made by the same manufacturer in the same factory of a branded product. It is often just the silkscreening or a logo laser etch process that is omitted before sale. Same product, not a ‘ripoff’.

Well of course there are some products that are not copies but I am talking about the ones that are. i.e. copies of Machine Art Moto head covers. Aliexpress is littered with copies of genuine products with a lesser, or unknown, quality. The OP is clearly talking about copies of genuine products.

 

[Mr Bean]

You completely miss the point that Aliexpress items are not necessarily copies when bring made by the same manufacturer in the same factory of a branded product.

How do you know they are made in the same factory, on the same tooling - have you (or anyone on here) seen this happening?

I know that at least one of the factories we import (in our own brand) from make the same items for large multi-nationals, who make much more than we do on the sale of such items. The difference is that we are not ripping off another product and what we sell has to apply to various BS, EN, ISO standards, so there's no risk of a crucial fitting coming adrift or the item rubbing on the swingarm - as with knock-off Mudslings.

 

[Ijustwanttoseethephotos]

People are happy to buy from Motorworks, are all their pattern parts 100% manufactured in the UK?