Fi:zi'k Cyrano R3 Handlebars from China

tubsolard

Hello,

I've managed to make a bit of a potential cock-up on eBay.

I bought the below bars for my bike thinking I was buying from a UK seller as the ebay user was "cyclingvelouk".

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201504657950? ... EBIDX%3AIT

Turns out these are coming from China which immediately made me consider if they were genuine. The price suggests that they might be, as counterfeit usually go for a decent discount and these seemed like just a good deal.

How can I tell if I've been done here or if I've picked up a good deal? Obviously I'm still waiting to see if I'm hit with a customs charge too.

Looking at other gear from the seller, they could be genuine?!

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/cyclingvelouk? ... 7675.l2563

Final question, I wanted 42cm handlebars as these are the standard(?) width and I don't actually know what size I should be ordering but I've only bloody ordered 40cm (don't ask how). How can I tell if I've ordered the right size, ie what measurements do I need to take?

Thanks for your help.

Scott

raisinberry777

There's a decent chance they're genuine, most fake Chinese bars are carbon and don't cost anywhere near that much, usually closer to £20 or so. It's about the normal price for Fizik R3s.

There's not really any such thing as 'standard'. Do you feel like your arms are stretched out when you're riding? You may not even feel much difference if coming from 42cm bars, 1cm either side isn't a huge change.

sniper68

I always thought "standard" was 44cm?
Personally I'd be a bit worried that these could be fake.There are literally loads of Chinese sellers using what looks like UK addresses on ebay.The only reason I can think of is because they are counterfeit.
I got stung in a similar fashion on ebay with some MTB shifters.Looked like a UK seller but was infact Chinese,price very similar and when they arrived everything even the packaging and instructions looked real.The shifters seized on ride 2!!!
When I bought some genuine and compared there were very subtle differences in Colour and weight but easily missed unless compared!!

Bobbinogs

Yes, I have been caught out buying a few cheap (non-cycling) bits from ebay. The trick the sellers seem to use is to state the part is in the UK (which I always check) but then when I order I get the confirmation with a post delivery date of a month...in other words the part is NOT in the UK but the seller may be (which is obviously the workaround scam that they seem to have caught on to). I have had to adapt to this by double/triple checking every part of the advert/seller to ensure I know what I am getting and can accept that the phone cover I might want for a tenner is OK if it is fake and/or I don't mind waiting a month for it to arrive on a slow boat from China (literally).

By the way, not everything that may be fake is. I find the bona fide sellers to be good with comms and are happy to have a dialogue about provenance and reviews (which are always worth checking in detail as well).

wishitwasallflat

Different brands measure different ways I.e. Centre to centre, or outer edge to outer edge, of the drops. As a guide they should be as wide as your shoulders so measure from your left acromial process to same on right, that's a pretty good measure of how wide your shoulders are.