Counterfeit Carbon Shit

As a woman, what is the absolute last thing you want to hear after you've made love to Willie Nelson?

"I'm not Willie Nelson."  

Just some old, scruffy guy in a bandana.  Knowwhatimean?
We've all done it.

Which naturally brings me to the topic of the week: Counterfeit Carbon Shit.

Full Speed Ahead.  Straight into the ground, though, and faster isn't necessarily better in that direction.

Linkage on the subject in the mainstream:

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/dangers-of-fake-bike-parts-highlighted-by-bbc-documentary-203011

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/20/sports/cycling/as-tour-de-france-embraces-carbon-fiber-bicycle-makers-struggle-with-counterfeits.html?_r=0

To be clear about this, when you order cheap shit on Amazon, it is still cheap shit when it arrives at your door mere hours later.  Outside of the insanely fast delivery time of this fake bike part, there's no miracle that is happening while it's in that magic brown box.

The price point sounded, is, and will continue to be too good to be true.  But this very bizarre supply chain is only what we ask for - that's the nature of it.  It's all demand-driven - from the shipment right up to the production.  If we keep asking for this product, it's what we'll continue to get.  And we'll get it fast: delivery times have gotten downright insane.  This is robot-packaged, drone-delivered plastic shit handcrafted in China by tortured, yellow hands.  The convenience of the experience is only outdone by the catastrophic failure of it all.

One interesting nuance of this phenomenon is that the used hardtail you buy on Ebay that happens to have FSA components might actually be built up with this shit too.  And the seller who watched the bike gather dust in his garage while he contemplated how rad it was to be a mountain biker, well, he probably has no idea.  Point being that a visit to the ER on your next downhill isn't limited to just people who are mail-ordering components.

Meet my friend, Willie Nelson.
Face, meet wheel.
You guys are going to get along great.

Up, up, up.