OEM what does it mean.

5xcr

I keep seeing OEM on sites like crc and need to know what this means as i would like to buy some stuff but I dont want tat.

thanks in advance for your replies guys.

5xcr

i know i should know this but cant put my finger on it

bomberesque

Original Equipment Manufacturer

not *necessarily* tat, often unbranded kit the same as branded stuff but ... well ... unbranded. Sometimes tat tho.

TTF°

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_e ... nufacturer

RichMTB

For the purposes of parts off CRC OEM generally means no box or instructions.

For example an OEM XT rearmech will just come in some bubble wrap instead of the Shimano box. With drivetrain parts OEM is not mormally an issue, I'd probably avoid other OEM stuff as it might be of lower quality

5xcr

RichMTB wrote:

For the purposes of parts off CRC OEM generally means no box or instructions.

For example an OEM XT rearmech will just come in some bubble wrap instead of the Shimano box. With drivetrain parts OEM is not mormally an issue, I'd probably avoid other OEM stuff as it might be of lower quality

this makes a lot of sense to me and definitely will help me choose parts e.t.c.

5xcr

ride_whenever

you sort of want to know what your getting.

finishing kit is often of a lower standard oem, ie plain guage rather than db etc.

forks often loose adjustment like travel adjust

zero303

Never had any issue with OEM kit.

Has some benefits, Fox don't want you having 15QR without paying for the full RLC gubbins. I managed to get a 15QR Vanilla in basic R spec. Great!

IME, OEM has always been well worth the saving...

_Ferret_

OEM roughly stands for "upgradeable"

The kit works but it aint the best. I'm looking into getting new bars stem etc.

dave_hill

OEM equipment is also sometimes manufactured specially and may not usually be available as a retail sale.

For example, Rock Shox made a 409 version of the Pike fork which was used by Specialized on their Pitch models, but it wasn't (isn't?) possible to buy the 409 variant as an official Rock Shox product.

What does happen is that as stock becomes used or obsolete, OEM items will make their way into the public market place and are sold as such, usually without packaging or instructions.

mea00csf

OEM means it's pretty much the exact same product but there may be slight difference. It might be made in a different factory to the official aftermarket products, and might have slightly different detailing. It also won't have much packaging and will often come with no instructions (tho most manufacturers have downloadable instructions on their websites). They're mostly kit that's been made to go on complete bikes before they're sold which is why they usually come with no packaging.

I've had OEM drivetrain and forks and both have been fine and well worth the saving. I've had OEM tyres which i sent back in disgust, they were cheap tat, nothing like the proper aftermarket and nowhere near as good and weren't marketed as OEM. All in all tho, most OEM are worth the saving in my opinion.

Skonk

OEM are parts that are supplied to bike manufactures to use on pre-built bikes, so dont need the packaging that you would find on Retail goods.

There is nothing different about them generally, appart from having no retail packaging.

Some bike manufacturers also supply bikes with customised parts but thats not really what OEM is about.

If you buy new OEM kit from a site like CRC then they will be standard, untouched parts but will come in generic packaging, thats all.

Da Mighty Chicken

Skonk wrote:

.................If you buy new OEM kit from a site like CRC then they will be standard, untouched parts but will come in generic packaging, thats all.

Not when I bought an OEM XTR rear mech from CRC it wasnt, it was a used one that I got, sent it back immediately :evil:

Oh and they didnt even advertise it as OEM either! Wont use CRC again if I can help it.

Joe_Pineapples

OEM is what Merlin sell you when you buy a Shimano SLX crankset, mechs and shifters.

The box arrived, I opened it, and only the rear mech was boxed and with instructions.
Now I know this isn't a massive pain in the ar*e as the instructions are downloadable from various websites, but they could at least tell you that you wouldn't be getting instructions.

Incidentally, the best place to get info on how to fit cranks is the video section of the Hope website.

The Spiderman

In my expereince most of the OEM kit I`ve bought has been exactly the same as aftermaket,save for the packaging.

Only ones that generally aren`t as good are tyres which tend to use lower spec compounds and are normally wire beaded.

GHill

Tyres definitely are somewhere to be careful with OEM, there are some Kenda Nevegals that are pretty bad compared to the "real" ones.

P-Jay

IMHO if there is any difference between OEM stuff and aftermarket it's becaue bike company somewhere has asked for it.

With mass produced stuff, there's simply no point building a separate production line, tooling and redesigning at item to be slightly less good. It would cost too much to make it viable.

It can mean a few things:

It was made for sale on a full built bike only, Spesh have a lot of these. Code 7 brakes, coil pikes, Juicy 3 SL's they're usually a mix and match of different bits from aftermarket bits to save a couple of quid per bike.

It's sold without packaging/instructions for a bit less. This stuff was meant to go to bike factories to go on full builds and to LBS's for shop fitment as nether need/want the waste of hundreds of boxes etc.

Then there's the unbranded or branded as the bike make stuff that's usually a bit sub par and saves a couple of quid per bike. Spesh again are good at this, they have a X9 at the back and fancy Avid brakes which is the trick stuff that you look for in the shop but thier own bars, risers, pedals and front hubs which aren't always great - you don't really ever see this stuff for sale aftermarket.