Beware of Counterfeit Components!!

Counterfeit bike components have become big business for criminals looking to cash in on the high demand for components created by production gaps caused during the COVID Pandemic.

All the major component manufactures have seen their product lines targeted increasingly over the last 18 months. Here at Bike Barn we now frequently identify counterfeit components ranging from Levers, Handle Bars and Chains etc, that customers have unwittingly purchased online.

Manufactures are continually advising suppliers and retailers such as Bike Barn with markers to identify counterfeit components, but what is the real cost of counterfeit products?

Counterfeit components are not designed and manufactured to the hight safety and quality standards of Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) components, so component failure can directly affect your Safety as a rider and damage to your bike.

What can you do? Buy your products from reputable & trusted retailers. At Bike Barn we only purchase products from authorised suppliers who are dealing directly with OEM’s, giving us the assurance that we are only retailing genuine OEM products.

A customer recently purchased a chain from a large online site. The chain arrived in familiar packaging, and the product looked as expected. Once the chain was installed onto their bike, they noticed that the gear shifting was poor. The bike was brought into Bike Barn where is was identified that the chain was in fact a counterfeit component. The following pictures show the differences between the OEM chain supplied now to our customer by Bike barn and the chain that was purchased online.