Hello ev'rybody, just joined here moments ago.
I got interested in the A-Bike from an article a while back, then went searching for a way to carry a bike on the plane and found the A-Bike again. There you are, that's my start.
I wonder if the brake band on the back tire is a good way to spot a fake, if they're faking the A-Bike logo on the top crossbar. I notice that in the post about the Hong Kong arrest (
HK customs have arrested 12 people selling A-bike imitations) the first picture shows what must be a genuine next to a fake and the fake has a light brown brake band and a kind of sloppy looking brake cable sticking out.
I spotted two sellers on eBay, one who was straightforward enough to tell the shopper outright that this is not the genuine A-Bike and is from China. "This bicycle is not the Sinclair version of the A-bicycle and is manufactured in China." I can respect that kind of honesty.
The other seller claimed that it was 'directly from the factory', and if that didn't make the sale he followed with 'shipped from a US warehouse', all to make it clear that there was no thought of China anywhere.
I Googled and Googled yesterday, and turned up a re-seller that offers to sell a wide variety of products in bulk for amazing prices. I thought myself lucky, and considered buying a carton of two bikes, and asking a friend to go in on it with me. However, before I found the A-Bike Central forum, and even before I found the eBay sellers, I started getting worried. The things would ship from China. I looked around further, and found this forum. You have helped to answer all my questions. (On the downside, I'm likely to be an infrequent user of the bike so I can't justify full price yet, so I'll do without for now.)
My belief is, it is probably this bulk re-seller site that certain eBay sellers are using as their source for what may be a huge amount of shoddy goods.
I'm glad I learned about the "genuine"-ly risky construction of these counterfeits, and wondered what could be done to the unscrupulous eBay seller. And I wonder if the bulk re-seller I found is in violation of some kind of import or trade laws too.
Sorry 'bout the rambling post - thanks for a great forum!
-Rich in TX
six hours behind, but catching up!