Have I been had? Fake or Genuine 3T Bars

whosthedaddy

Can anyone tell whether these are genuine or fake
3T Ergosum Ltd Carbon Handlebars
Purchased off ebay in Oct for new bike build this year
Never thought to check, but weighed them up today and they weigh 220grams
3T website states 174grams and they are black & white not black & red
Beginning to think I've been had and if they are fake, I'm not sure whether I can do anything as the auction is outside the 45 day dispute
Paid £95 for them

ricky1980

take it to a shop that has it in stock in that color. maybe the camera, but the red color looks like puke!

also you need to post much higher res pic of this from various angles if you want someone to have half a chance to identify it.

also what size is your bar? the website might be stating the weight of a different sized bar...for instance a 40cm bar

220 is still a very lightweight bar mind u!

lotus49

Have a look here http://www.wiggle.co.uk/3t-ergosum-team ... handlebar/.

They do come in black and red. The quoted weight in the Wiggle listing is 192g for the 42cm variety. How much one can trust manufacturers' quoted weights I don't know.

You are almost certainly too late to complain via eBay. They look fine and you are probably stuck with them anyway so you may as well just enjoy them. That 20g difference shouldn't spoil your fun too much.

Grill

Welcome to the real world, where manufacturer listed weights are incredibly optimistic.

rolf_f

lotus49 wrote:

Have a look here http://www.wiggle.co.uk/3t-ergosum-team ... handlebar/.

They do come in black and red. The quoted weight in the Wiggle listing is 192g for the 42cm variety. How much one can trust manufacturers' quoted weights I don't know.

They don't - the red ones are the Team version. The Ltd is a lighter version (should be 165 g for 42 cm) and that comes in black and grey/silver.



I've been thinking about getting the Ergonovas. The Ebay prices are way, way cheaper than anywhere you'd find them where you were sure that they weren't fake. You'd struggle to pay less than £200 for a Ltd Ergosum so £95 is just too cheap.

whosthedaddy

lotus49 wrote:

Have a look here http://www.wiggle.co.uk/3t-ergosum-team ... handlebar/.

They do come in black and red. The quoted weight in the Wiggle listing is 192g for the 42cm variety. How much one can trust manufacturers' quoted weights I don't know.

You are almost certainly too late to complain via eBay. They look fine and you are probably stuck with them anyway so you may as well just enjoy them. That 20g difference shouldn't spoil your fun too much.

Thanks for the reply, your link points to the "Team" mine are Ltd and I havent found them in Black & Red anywhere
This is the link to the LTD and it states 165g for 42cm. Mine are 44CM
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/3t-ergosum-ltd- ... handlebar/
The seller is still trading on Ebay

whosthedaddy

Rolf F wrote:

lotus49 wrote:

Have a look here http://www.wiggle.co.uk/3t-ergosum-team ... handlebar/.

They do come in black and red. The quoted weight in the Wiggle listing is 192g for the 42cm variety. How much one can trust manufacturers' quoted weights I don't know.

They don't - the red ones are the Team version. The Ltd is a lighter version and that comes in black and grey/silver.



I've been thinking about getting the Ergonovas. The Ebay prices are way, way cheaper than anywhere you'd find them where you were sure that they weren't fake. You'd struggle to pay less than £200 for a Ltd Ergosum so £95 is just too cheap.

Thanks Rolf
You've confirmed my suspicions
As mentioned in last post, the seller is still trading as a business seller on ebay and I've emailed him asking for a refund. The ad never mentioned copy etc and clearly stated a weight of 165g
If he's not forthcoming, I'll report him for selling fake stuff

rolf_f

Would be good if you can report the seller. A close up photo of the text on your bars should give it away - I'd be surprised if you can't spot differences - if nothing else the red stripes on the drops look wobbly compared to those on the Wiggle pages. TBH, I'm surprised that they were too tight to change the colour of the paint for the Ltd version. As far as I can see, the 3T bars are always coloured in the same way - white for the alloy version, red for the Team and silver for the Ltd.

antfly

Here it is, Chinese copy. http://www.bikepartsbuy.com/3t-ergosum- ... _p680.html

diy

Even if the ad did say "copy" its still counterfeit goods.

If you cannot get anywhere with ebay, then you have the option of a small claim action for breach of contract. you need the name and address of the seller, Start with a letter before action, then use https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome to start proceedings. Though personally I wouldn't bother for £100, unless you are certain that the seller would actually be bothered by getting a CCJ.

Bozman

I was after the same bars but the team issue, in the end I bought them from a retailer for £160 because I became suspicious of the sheer amount of new 3t on eBay.
There just seems to be a shed load of the stuff, if you go on Chinese wholesale websites the carbon ergosum bars can be bought for £44 with PnP, buy ten and they're even cheaper so I'm guessing that there's a few folk out there importing and selling on. I was looking at seatposts and there's also a lot of FSA k-force posts coming out of northern Ireland too.

P.S They're not the best bars, you get flex on the drops(but you probably don't on the knock off bars).

whosthedaddy

Thanks for the replies guys
This is what the ad said

3T ErgoSum Ltd Carbon Road Handlebar 44cm
The new ERGOSUM LTD is a variable-thickness carbon-fibre bar that at 165g is among the lightest available. ERGOSUM is shallower than ROTUNDO, and its shape suits smaller hands better.

Comfortable shape
Ultra-lightweight
State-of-the-art composites engineering
Weight: 165g
Width: 44cm (centre-centre)
Clamp: 31.8mm
Material: Carbon-fibre
Drop: 128mm
Reach: 89mm
Routing: External
Certification: CEN

Size - 44cm ( Center to Center )

BRAND NEW

I'm awaiting a response from the seller as he is still trading and if thats not forthcoming will report him for selling counterfeit items

diy

you need to prove its fake - you need to contact 3T.

pippi_langsamer-2

Yer, they're certainly not ltd's and even if they're Team being mis-sold as Ltd, that red looks well dodgey and to concur with the above poster, the detailing "line", is completely on the pish...

I got a bona fido Ltd stem and the finishing/ detailing is immaculate.

Those bars from the picture look like my 3yr old daugher got hold of some bars and coloured them in with a red marker pen

Bozman

Compare them to the 3T ergosum ltd bars on aliexpress.com, they look the same to me.

ricky1980

Grill wrote:

Welcome to the real world, where manufacturer listed weights are incredibly optimistic.

yes there will be variance but the OP is saying the variance is almost 30% so that's not within the tolerance. if this is the case, hell, i will start my own bike frame business and claim all sorts! 9Kg bike can be marketed as 7kg bike and charge for ££££ more

Careca

ricky1980 wrote:

Grill wrote:

Welcome to the real world, where manufacturer listed weights are incredibly optimistic.

yes there will be variance but the OP is saying the variance is almost 30% so that's not within the tolerance. if this is the case, hell, i will start my own bike frame business and claim all sorts! 9Kg bike can be marketed as 7kg bike and charge for ££££ more

Spot on, the difference should not be so large. Sorry to OP but I don't know why people trust eBay. If a deal is too good to be true on eBay, then it is no doubt a chinese fake! Good luck getting your cash back as I I wouldn't fancy trusting a fake pair of bars on my bike.

whosthedaddy

Ebay seller has offered full refund upon return
Said he had bought job lot in Belfast and was unaware that they were counterfeit.............
I'm sending them back via SD, so I have proof of delivery
Just hope he refunds when he gets them back as this has gone past the 45 day window for ebay/paypal disputes

Thanks again all for your replies.

Careca

Good result. Hope they honour their end. Be interesting to see if they keep selling them on eBay though.

ricky1980

I think you should ask for a refund first before sending. As he the seller has already misled you.

neeb

They look close enough to the real thing to have come from the same factory and the weight is about right for the team - probably a bunch of people in the factory where they make the bars earning a little on the side by labelling some team bars as LTDs and selling them on the black market, or else just someone buying up some teams and doing a DIY relabelling as LTDs.. It's just that red stripe (where it says LTD) that's wrong...

Ouija

3T have always been consistent in colouring. Black and white for the PRO stuff, Red/white/black for the TEAM and grey/white/black for the LTD. Even if it's a TEAM mislabelled as a LTD, the colourings wrong for TEAM to as the lettering should be in white. The shape of the bars is also wrong as 3T tend to go for a wide center with a noticeable drop off to 22cm on the oversize version (which i assume yours is supposed to be).

neeb

Ouija wrote:

3T have always been consistent in colouring. Black and white for the PRO stuff, Red/white/black for the TEAM and grey/white/black for the LTD. Even if it's a TEAM mislabelled as a LTD, the colourings wrong for TEAM to as the lettering should be in white. The shape of the bars is also wrong as 3T tend to go for a wide center with a noticeable drop off to 22cm on the oversize version (which i assume yours is supposed to be).

Hmm, well spotted on the shape difference. The shape is actually right for the LTD but not for the team. I guess it is a copy after all.

That said, there have been some special editions of the 3T bars in different colours, e.g. I have some ergonova teams and matching stem in white with red striping, and there are team sky ones that are black with blue stripes.

neeb

Second thoughts, the Sky stuff is Deda... Ignore me, I'm mostly just wrong today...

ben@31

diy wrote:

you need to prove its fake - you need to contact 3T.

+1

I would post them to 3T with a letter saying which company you bought the bars from. If you have been ripped off, at least you'll get some satisfaction that maybe 3T will take action against the con artists.

whosthedaddy

ben@31 wrote:

diy wrote:

you need to prove its fake - you need to contact 3T.

+1

I would post them to 3T with a letter saying which company you bought the bars from. If you have been ripped off, at least you'll get some satisfaction that maybe 3T will take action against the con artists.

They are definitely fake
If I post to 3T, I'll probably never see them again and be £95 out of pocket.
The Ebay seller has stopped selling them now, but is still trading as a business seller
I'm possibly taking a risk in returning them before being refunded, I'm well over the 45 day resolution period and Ebay were not very helpful when I spoke to them today. They suggested I contact the seller, I tried the contact number and that was unavailable, so went though Ebay email. He's replied via Ebay email and offered a full refund upon return

mallorcajeff

this sounds very much like the same seller a friend of mine bought a "ritchey carbon" post from a few weeks ago only for it to snap mid ride clena in half. got a refund after threatening legal action. denied knowing they were fake etc but when you dig a bit deeper had sdmitted he was having them made and badged as ritchey. i dont buy anything carbon off ebay. cant remember the id of the guy but it was something simple like bike spares or bikeparts or something.

napoleond

Send them in to 3T.

whosthedaddy

mallorcajeff wrote:

this sounds very much like the same seller a friend of mine bought a "ritchey carbon" post from a few weeks ago only for it to snap mid ride clena in half. got a refund after threatening legal action. denied knowing they were fake etc but when you dig a bit deeper had sdmitted he was having them made and badged as ritchey. i dont buy anything carbon off ebay. cant remember the id of the guy but it was something simple like bike spares or bikeparts or something.

Was known as caddygolf11, but changed to Bikebits201212

whosthedaddy

NapoleonD wrote:

Send them in to 3T.

I will call 3T and see what they have to say.
Just don't fancy being £95 out of pocket

upperoilcan

Ebay is a minefield..

If it's too good to be true then it usually is...