NOT ALL BIKES ARE BORN EQUAL Counterfeiting affects a

NOT ALL BIKES ARE BORN EQUAL
*
JULIEN PERRRON-PICHE
ROBIC, LLP
LAWYERS, PATENT AND TRADE-MARK AGENTS
Counterfeiting affects a wide range of manufactured products, and more particularly
luxury products. The high performance bicycle industry, a niche industry, has been
increasingly faced with a great increase in counterfeiting. Surprised? Here are
various factors that are causing this emergence of counterfeiting in an industry that
we thought spared until recently.
High performance road bikes are expensive; in fact very expensive. A road bike like
the ones we see on the roads of the Tour de France retails for several thousands of
dollars. Nowadays, buyers who wish to change bikes are often inclined to shop
online, learning about the characteristics of different bike models and their prices. In
this context, several websites are taking advantage of this traffic, offering to sell
bicycles which are supposedly directly sourced from the manufacturers. Actually,
many of these website are selling counterfeit bikes made in clandestine factories,
featuring a price well below the suggested retail price. Although the offer seems
tempting, the price is still substantial, at several hundred dollars, since, as in other
industries where counterfeiting is prevalent, counterfeiters are gaining huge profits on
each product sold.
Another issue is that counterfeit bikes are not so easy to identify. More often than
not, the counterfeit bike presents a similar geometry to the one of the genuine bike.
The differences are measured in millimeters and tenths of degrees and the materials
used are similar, at least in appearance. Finally, the counterfeit bike often presents a
mass close enough to that of the genuine bike as well as aesthetic details like the
paint job and decals are often reproduced accurately. Even for an expert, it is almost
impossible to distinguish a genuine bike from a counterfeit replica upon simple visual
inspection.
Are there any notable differences between a genuine bike and a counterfeit bike?
Many examples of counterfeit bikes have been analyzed on specialized websites or
articles published in magazines. The conclusion is almost always the same: even
though a counterfeit bike is similar to the genuine bike, a counterfeit bike is not made
with the same materials or with the same build quality. For instance, the carbon fiber
materials used in the counterfeit bike typically have an elasticity modulus significantly
lower than that of the carbon fiber materials used in the authentic bike. This choice of
© CIPS, 2015.
*
From ROBIC, LLP, a multidisciplinary firm of Lawyers, and Patent and Trade-mark Agents. Published
in the Fall 2015 (Vol. 19, no. 1) Newsletter of the firm. Publication 068.198E.
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less expensive materials can cause the bike frame to be more flexible, and thus
cause instability at high speeds. Furthermore, the lay-up of the layers of carbon fiber
materials may be poorly executed and may cause localized weaknesses. These
weaknesses can cause cracks within the bike frame.
The aforementioned issues have implications for a buyer who would be tempted to
purchase a counterfeit bike, or who has purchased one unknowingly. First and
foremost, the counterfeit bike can be particularly dangerous due to manufacturing
defects, such as the ones mentioned above. Often, no quality control is performed
after production and, carbon fiber components may delaminate prematurely, and
thereby weaken the structural integrity of the bike frame.
Furthermore, the buyer is likely to have constant mechanical problems with a
counterfeit model. For example, the headset can loosen unexpectedly, the pedal
cranks and the bottom bracket may squeak, the collar of the seat post may break,
etc. These manufacturing defects can also lead to premature wear of other
components of the bike, such as the wheels, tires or the drivetrain.
Finally, the buyer is likely to have no warranty with respect to the overall quality of
the bike, if a failure occurs on the bike. This can also have a significant impact on the
possibility of reselling this bike.
In conclusion, if we may offer some advice, always exercise caution when shopping
online and consult your authorized dealer for the purchase of your next bike. Even if
pictures on a website illustrate a bike that seems to be genuine, it may very well be a
counterfeit replica. Remember that if an opportunity sounds too good to be true, it
probably is!
To
see
images
of
counterfeit
and
authentic
bikes:
<https://thecounterfeitreport.com/product/439/Specialized-Bicycle-Products.html>.
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