Why if it doesn’t harm their business and benefits the sport?
Of course it harms their business but even if not it is a pretty lame excuse to just copy other people’s exact copy where they invested in so much.
Jeroen
I don’t think it does. And ‘lameness’ seems pretty lame, when there are plenty of people and forces within the sport that genuinely want to make it as exclusive as possible.
I know it’s not how the world works, but I’m kind of divided here. Not 50/50 divided, but still…
Assuming Wayne’s version of the story is the 100% accurate one: he/they spent significant amount of money to develop the business, then developed the products, marketed it, distributed it, paid customs and taxes etc. Now they’re selling it for a margin, that’s the nature of the business.
What shocks me is the difference in price (and therefore the size of the margin): 200 USD vs 1’000 USD. We wouldn’t know it if Winow hadn’t copied the product and started offering it for 1/5 of the price. The overpricing cannot be called unethical, although a bit controversial to me.
Of course, the behaviour of the guy above is beyond any norms.
The problem is people under estimate or just don’t know how much money is invested to come to a certain shape, design, fit , etc. Every iteration / change needs to de tested, adjusted again to come to the final product.
Winow had none of these costs, they just copied what another company made and had already spend all the money in those costs.
So you cannot compare their pricing to FastTT’s.
But if I saw it right there is also much less carbon used looking at the weight. So the question is also how strong are they. Did they really get tested or just the Chinese test?
I hope the Winow doesn’t make any wido……
Jeroen
I guess what it comes down to the salaries of the technical engineers and the wider team for X years while the R&D of the products has to be factored in to the margin also.
I know in these chinese rip-offs they basically just buy/steal the carbon mold and really all they factor in is materials + margin.
Bit narrow minded and obnoxious of you to think everything that comes from China is poor quality, poorly tested and is made of cheese. Especially given that the vast majority of carbon frames everyone rides come out of the same few factories in China.
I did not say that, that everything that comes from China is poor quality, not even close. You have actually no idea of how much knowledge I have about that :-).
What I more meant to say is when a company, like Winow in this case, is using somebody else’s design, which means they are willing to do everything to make something as cheap as possible because they just steal somebody’s hard work instead of creating their own, I wonder how much they were willing to spend in thorough strength testing.
FastTT bar’s are about 15-20% heavier and knowing a little about the man behind the company that is not done without a reason
Jeroen
Maybe I just misinterpreted.
If you have a lot of knowledge when it comes to these things, whatI have wondered when it comes to cases like this (and again, not condoning it) and other similar ones is, are these Western brands using manufacturers in China to produce their parts (either as part of an exclusive agreement or other but I guess if not exclusive theres on case) and then the Chinese manufacturer is just selling the same thing off as their own. Or are they getting a hold of one of these products (or merely CAD dwgs) and then replicating them with minor differences and selling at a huge discount?
actually… I was just in 4 factories last week discussing some projects and NONE of them do any real aerobar testing. The EN test is a joke. 15kg drop from the end of the poles. No fatigue tests are being done. I had to explain many times with my suppliers how I expect my product testing before I will even accept a riding sample and am now having them build me a jig like EFBE Germany does(the outside testing I pay for after my suppliers do it correctly.) So. I can tell you, from the people I met with, they had NO interest in investing in such fatigue testing and the major players are all doing serious fatigue testing. Check wattshop. FastTT, and other established aerobar brands are using EFBE to ensure safety. Profile has their own in house standards that meets the needs of all their OEM which is even more stringent I have been told by David Bowden. so… from my actual in factory experience. I can attest most of these Chinese brands are NOT testing to a western brands safety standards.
I worked with a bike manufacturer that did all their production in China. I got to see the whole process from picking a factory, to post sales support.
There are some great factories in China. World class. The best. No doubt about it.
There are also factories that are shady as hell.
When you are a big brand who’s reputation is on the line, you pick your factory, you set quality standards and you may even employ someone “local” to oversee that the quality standards are being adhered to.
Now, if your “moral barometer” is set so low, that you would rip off someone else’s design, there is a better than average possibility you use the same barometer for “quality/safety” standards.
For sure I agree there are top notch factories. I went to a pretty large and established one for my new basebar anda aero 22.2 extensions. For one of my products a smaller one but who does really good in house testing and qc check, but I will still double check their work. I have also met with some factories who make for some big brands. Aerobar in house testing isn’t a thing outside basebar testing which is same as a drop bar EN test. But how the hardware interfaces with a bar and fatigues there, The extensions fatigue, etc. There is little being done there unless “the brand” requires it. and as you mention, those brands copying already have no “moral Barometer” surely aren’t invested in outside testing quality assurances.
As far as that “local” goes. We are still small and growing and are based in Taiwan. so a few hours and we are there doing in house checking ourself.
Composites also don’t really fatigue though, especially on something like an aerobar extension which is effectively a clamped tube. Reading a later post, i might have misunderstood; looks like you’re talking about a bolted connection to the basebar, so i guess it could be appropriate there. As a bigger rider, I’d definitely think more than 15kg ultimate static testing would be appropriate
The good factories in China are not selling anything through the back door, they are professional outfits. If we look at frames - the top factories you simply can’t book production with as they are tied up with the big brands.
The cheap imitations you see are mostly copied from pictures, they won’t be buying product and benchmarking strength/safety.
Another poster commented that Winow pricing shows how much margin is being made. From my perspective - a quality bar costs more to make than what Winow are charging.
When you take product development seriously - everything gets tested. Working on a new BTA mount at the moment - it will undergo more stringent testing than the EN standard for aerobars (just to be sure that it’s safe with the 2L limit).
As Culprit mentioned - good stuff gets tested at the factory, then independently. In PDs case, that’s at the Taiwan office, testing combinations of parts to a standard that few can pass.
FWIW, Winow bars are quite a bit heavier - 62.5% heavier.
520g (260g +/-10g per bar) v FastTT 320g (144g left, 158g right)
I’ve bought 5 bikes over a ten year span direct from China, and can tell you that they’re every bit as quality as the old Specialized, Cervelo, and Trek bikes I used to own. Many of them com directly from the same factory. Bike companies have some of the biggest margins claiming “research and development” lol. Hilarious that a manufacturer would come on here salty and crying that someone stole his design . It’s all over bro.
I don’t see the chart
Also it doesn’t seem to be able to order bars
Are they out of stock?
This is the is sizing guide link - https://fasttt.bike/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Bar-sizing-guide_2.0_1302.pdf. Sorry we updated it. All aero bars are in stock and waiting for you:) Triathlon Bars That Help You To Go Faster | Get Free Speed
Have no idea about the bikes, but I have other products to compare. Genie version vs its copy from Ali. These are definitely different quality!! The problem is that it’s a different quality in the key aspects of the products.
P.S. Just wondering, how do you know the factory your bikes come from? My Specializeds “Handmade in Taiwan”… That is all what I can know regarding the manufacturing factory.