Yishun and other imports

TheMullet

Folks - Anyone on here ever bought from Yishun and can offer up a good review. Looks too good to be true and most probably is.

ricky1980

from a personal experience, i would avoid import framesets. small parts not so bad.

my package didn't have everything i ordered and some parts were wrong or missing. to get the supplier to send out missing bits were impossible as they wanted the whole package sent back to china. etc. at the end i had to enlist the help of my credit card company as paypal wasn't helpful. All paypal said is that i should be sending the package back to the seller and then they can deal with it. but the return trip would have costed £150 to send back

and you have zero aftersale protection or warranty.

My import was from the biggest of these guys. So my recommendation is avoid if you can.

TheMullet

Cheers matey. It was for a set of wheels.

cycleclinic

Depends on the seller. I have order rims before and they have very good. I am about to order a frame for my wife I do ot expect problems. I have not used Yishan but I would not fear them they would be out of business by now if all they did was screw people over.

Every company can make mistakes, the more complex the order the bigger the potenial for mistakes so keep it simple and all should be well.

ugo.santalucia

"who's got bread has got no teeth" old Italian proverb
You've got Planet X for cheap carbon wheels, but no, you want to import the stuff from China at the same price but with no warranty...
It's beyond me... :roll:

TheMullet

ugo.santalucia wrote:

"who's got bread has got no teeth" old Italian proverb
You've got Planet X for cheap carbon wheels, but no, you want to import the stuff from China at the same price but with no warranty...
It's beyond me... :roll:

Errr ok...

StillGoing

I've imported Chinese carbon tub wheels before and very good they were too. And cheaper than Planet X. I've since moved to Planet X carbon tubs but only because I wanted a wider rim and Planet X had them in a sale.

Yishun have been around for years and are very prompt to respond to any email queries.

snowley

Please believe and trust Ugo. He is a man with considerable knowledge and the point he makes holds complete sense!

TheMullet

So all in all a mixed bag then. Ugo/Snowley - Have you actually ever purchased from 'these' type of carbon sellers?*

*genuine question and not a dig by the way.

ugo.santalucia

philthy3 wrote:

I've imported Chinese carbon tub wheels before and very good they were too. And cheaper than Planet X. I've since moved to Planet X carbon tubs but only because I wanted a wider rim and Planet X had them in a sale.

Yishun have been around for years and are very prompt to respond to any email queries.

I have no doubt they are legitimate... bu that's not the point... when it comes to sharing files, the world has no barriers, but when it comes to buying goods there are still several barriers in the form of legislation.

1) How much will you pay for import duties? That seems to be an answer nobody can give and the amount is often random, topped up by courier fees... it can add up to quite a lot

2) Warranty: they might offer you a warranty which might even be valid, but the cost of returning the goods can be staggering and make the all warranty virtually worthless, so yes, I would buy a bar of steel that is unlikely to go wrong, but I would not buy a set of carbon wheels which are quite likely to give me some form of problem

3) Quality: you don't really know what you are buying... 90+% of the times the rims have no name or have a meaningless trade name, yet you are trusting them with your life: they could fail, they could explode under pressure, they could overheat and blow up the tyre or they could not brake when you need them to... a lot of things can go wrong without a real safety net and you are not even sure you are buying the same thing as your mate has and thinks they are great, as nobody is guaranteeing they are in fact the same thing. Rims might be sourced from different suppliers, according to price and availability

ugo.santalucia

TheMullet wrote:

So all in all a mixed bag then. Ugo/Snowley - Have you actually ever purchased from 'these' type of carbon sellers?*

*genuine question and not a dig by the way.

NO, but I have inspected a few of these Chinese carbon wheels... some are good, but no idea how good the rims are, some are an utter joke... I saw one that was 3 mm out of dish and the rim built the wrong way round. The rims had more resin that actual fibre

TheMullet

Cripes...

Lottery ticket then!

Cheers for everyones responses.

sloppyschleckonds

ugo.santalucia wrote:

The rims had more resin that actual fibre

I find this very hard to believe.

sloppyschleckonds

TheMullet wrote:

Cripes...

Lottery ticket then!

Cheers for everyones responses.

Its no lottery, I know plenty of people who have these wheels without any issues.

I have 2 sets myself, as well as Enve carbon and Chris King handbuilts.

ugo.santalucia

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

The rims had more resin that actual fibre

I find this very hard to believe.

Carbon composites are not all born equal... they've been around for 40 years, yet the first aircraft mostly made of composite materials is still a work in progress with all sorts of issues, some related to the actual carbon fibre!... that gives you an idea of how reliable manufacturing still is

DKay

I bought a pair of carbon clinchers from Yishun 15months ago and they've been great and I've not molly coddled them either. Communications was good, I paid no import duty, they're pretty light (1550g for a 38mm front and 50mm rear) and they were the best part of 200g lighter and 40% cheaper than Planet-X. They have good quality Pillar spokes and remained completely true after putting 3000miles on them. Braking is poor, but then they are carbon! They also look great, which was my main reason for getting them.

Sure, you take a risk if anything goes wrong, but my experience was nothing but positive and I wouldn't hesistate to buy from them again. Here are my Yishun wheels fitted to my Cayo.

xixang

i bought a pair from Farsports around 2 years ago. Have had zero issues with them unlike some "better" brands that needed rebuilding/truing or spokes replacing. Paid zero duty on receipt and from ordering to delivery was 7 days flat. plenty of comms with company before order and after despatch to confirm tracking number. they've been raced, ridden on rough potholed roads and never needed any attention.

as for going to planet x, well at the time they didn't do campag (do thery now?) and comparing weight of mine to a friends mine are around 400g lighter than PX ones (50mm).

agree with other posts on negativity towards china. If these sellers/manufacturers were based in america or europe would they have the same view?

ugo.santalucia

xixang wrote:

agree with other posts on negativity towards china. If these sellers/manufacturers were based in america or europe would they have the same view?

IN Europe no, because some of the issues would not exist... in America yes, same problems

mallorcajeff

I work in a. Very busy bike shop here in mallorca and at the moment i dont know why, we get all sorts coming in from the uk with so many problems with their bikes that they have flown out here. Huge ammount of them are problems on unbranded cheap chinese wheels (we refuse to work on them) problems with gear hangers and bottle cage bolts snapped off copy frames. I would just avoid.

Also avoid spending 8k on a bike from evans like the poor guy that brought his bike in yesterday two weeks old second ride ever here in mallorca and rolled the tub off the front wheel and wrote the wheel off. I looked at the wheel and there was virtually no glue on the rim. 8k bmc timemachine di2 beautiful machine. Bloke was lucky to be alive the state the bike was in considering it came from evans and was packed i to his case and arrived here, brand new. Whoever put that bike together should not be as they are putting lives at risk

xixang

ugo.santalucia wrote:

xixang wrote:

agree with other posts on negativity towards china. If these sellers/manufacturers were based in america or europe would they have the same view?

IN Europe no, because some of the issues would not exist... in America yes, same problems

fair enough. Yes, you've more comeback from UK and Europe, but people shouldn't just assume made in China means poor quality and made in UK/Euro/USA means good. The point I'm trying to make is you can get good and bad products from anywhere.

StillGoing

I paid £40 import duty on the set I bought which still brought them to under £300. Like others have said, they were lighter than Planet X tubs, weren't out of dish and came with carbon pads. I accept that if there had been a fault returning them may have been problematic, but then there wasn't. They weren't branded other than the hubs and spokes which I actually liked but did come with the relevant documentation for quality control.

Researching a company you intend to deal with is easy these days with the internet as anyone who is pissed at a company will let their steam off on a forum somewhere. I didn't deal with Yishun at the time choosing a rival Chinese company as they were cheaper and can't fault them. Like a lot of things, you get good and bad and buying from UK companies doesn't always result in a pleasurable experience.

ugo.santalucia

philthy3 wrote:

Researching a company you intend to deal with is easy these days with the internet as anyone who is pissed at a company will let their steam off on a forum somewhere.

There are a number of individuals that don't take part in internet forums and when they feel they got scammed they rather keep it quiet as they find the all thing embarrassing. My wife was scammed by a Chinese website and didn't get her money back from the credit card... it's not something she likes to mention to freinds or relatives... it's not uncommon, I guess it's down to what sort of upbringing and education one receives

Moonbiker

You have to watch out for some astroturfing also, by people working for the companies creating forum accounts.

ugo.santalucia

Moonbiker wrote:

You have to watch out for some astroturfing also, by people working for the companies creating forum accounts.

I would use the expression "tripadvisoring"...

t4tomo

xixang wrote:

fair enough. Yes, you've more comeback from UK and Europe, but people shouldn't just assume made in China means poor quality and made in UK/Euro/USA means good. The point I'm trying to make is you can get good and bad products from anywhere.

No-one disputes that, but on something where there is a chance it can go wrong or the price is reasonably high, its better to have bought from somewhere with comeback /warranty. A £5 rear light etc you can just buy again if it goes wrong, a £300 wheel set or a frame is a bit different.

Also something that can seriously injure you if it fails........

ugo.santalucia

I had a quick peek at Aliexpress... WOW... what a jungle of counterfeit... I wasn't aware the couterfeit market was so massive... Campag Bora wheels for 300 quid, Zipp 404 for 250, Dura Ace C 50 250... isn't there any control at all over this stuff?

Crozza

28 pages, fill yer boots

viewtopic.php?f=40042&t=12776517&hilit=beginners+guide+to+chinese

mroli

Ugo - your report on your rebuild of my carbon clinchers has gone off of your blog. I think you should save it - it was a good read!

twist83

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I have no doubt they are legitimate... bu that's not the point... when it comes to sharing files, the world has no barriers, but when it comes to buying goods there are still several barriers in the form of legislation.

1) How much will you pay for import duties? That seems to be an answer nobody can give and the amount is often random, topped up by courier fees... it can add up to quite a lot

To offer some Insight into 1) I work for a large Aerospace firm in Logistics a big part of my job is dealing with Imports/Exports of Helicopter parts amogst other things. While more complicated than Bike wheels the same principle applies to ANY goods of this value froma 3rd Country outside the EU.

Bike Wheels are quoted at 4.7% under the Tariff Clasification (See link below) this will be applied to the overall Invoice value. Now again IF they quote at the correct value with a Commerical Invoice you will be charged at that rate if that Tariff code is applied.

https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff/commodi ... 4#overview

You will then be subject to VAT on the price 1t 20% and some will charge for performing clearance to UK Customs on your behalf unless you wish to hand over to a nominated freight agent. This process does require time and time = £££ so usually the Couriers Random charge is NOT random you are paying for them to clear. To put it into a Perspective we spend Millions a year on freight and probably issue 500 clearances a month. These are charged at around £10 even for this volume.

So bascially if they are declared correctly, with the correct value then add on 24.7% onto the price plus any charges the courier levys for clearance fees and you have your possible true total cost. However a lot of parcels will slip on through, or they mark them down etc etc.

ugo.santalucia

twist83 wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I have no doubt they are legitimate... bu that's not the point... when it comes to sharing files, the world has no barriers, but when it comes to buying goods there are still several barriers in the form of legislation.

1) How much will you pay for import duties? That seems to be an answer nobody can give and the amount is often random, topped up by courier fees... it can add up to quite a lot

To offer some Insight into 1) I work for a large Aerospace firm in Logistics a big part of my job is dealing with Imports/Exports of Helicopter parts amogst other things. While more complicated than Bike wheels the same principle applies to ANY goods of this value froma 3rd Country outside the EU.

Bike Wheels are quoted at 4.7% under the Tariff Clasification (See link below) this will be applied to the overall Invoice value. Now again IF they quote at the correct value with a Commerical Invoice you will be charged at that rate if that Tariff code is applied.

https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff/commodi ... 4#overview

You will then be subject to VAT on the price 1t 20% and some will charge for performing clearance to UK Customs on your behalf unless you wish to hand over to a nominated freight agent. This process does require time and time = £££ so usually the Couriers Random charge is NOT random you are paying for them to clear. To put it into a Perspective we spend Millions a year on freight and probably issue 500 clearances a month. These are charged at around £10 even for this volume.

So bascially if they are declared correctly, with the correct value then add on 24.7% onto the price plus any charges the courier levys for clearance fees and you have your possible true total cost. However a lot of parcels will slip on through, or they mark them down etc etc.

Often the value is given in USD and the charges applied in GBP at the % you mention as if USD = GBP, which become a hell of a lot more

twist83

In which case that is an error by the clearing agent. They would need to do an amendment with customs and you SHOULD get any Duty/VAT due back. Easier said than done but if an entry is not correct it can be amended. We have to do it from to time here.