IP-036 Fully MTB beeing made in Germany

[MTB2223]

My coworker bought the Iplay one and it wasn't great.  First problem is that it was heavier than Taiwanese alloy ones that can be found all over eBay.  Then, it had a strange lump on it where the steerer tube clamp bolts screwed into it.  It looked like the bolts were to long and they had started to break through the other side when tightened.  It was super hard to tighten the stem down to get it to stop rotating in the steerer tube as well. Lastly, both clamping areas were covered in black paint and contributed to the difficulty installing the stem on the fork and the bars in the stem.  All around it was a pretty lousy part for the price.  As I said, the cheap alloy Taiwanese stems are half the cost, come in more sizes and colors with better graphics and a lighter weight. They also look slimmer and lighter as silly as that sounds.

Oh, okay. I bought my stem (it was together with the handlebar and seatpost) from AliExpress for $73. No problem with this.

When I ordered my frame by XmiPlay, I ordered the headset (with extra shims), a spare 142x12 part, a chainsuck/stay protector and also some spacers for the fork/handlebar.

Sorry, forget to mention: order also the correct rear 142x12 axle. I have got mine from Peter (XmiPlay).

[Sitar_Ned]

Sitar_Ned, there is no logic there.

I tried to understand the law, which seems to originate from the european commission finding that China is sponsoring unfairly its steel industry.

Bike are made of steel, right? So let's put the anti dumping taxes on bikes coming from China too. Oh yeah, good idea!
But wait... most bikes are made of Aluminium these days. Ah ok, so let's put them too in the anti dumping bag.
But wait...wait... what is this? A bike frame, made in... carbon... hum... is it painted or lacquered? Yes. Ah ok, put it in the bag too.

I tried to talk to these guys to show them the absurdity of the situation.
It is hopeless.

And best of all, the post office applied the lacquered TARIC code on my raw carbon frame, by mistake.
So I got the anti dumping.
The customs recognised the mistake, but the postman didn't reimburse me yet after 2 months.

Thanks for the reply.

It seems that not only is there no logic there, but there isn't even an effort to pretend there is some logic in the system    So... if you choose the painted frame you have to pay an almost 50% fee? I mean... honestly.. how absolutely ridiculous.