Interesting Aliexpress finds! - good deals, interesting stuff, new products etc!

[Daviddavieboy]

You can start a prohibition side hustle taking AliEx orders and bringing items across the border to ship packages at the nearest US post office! 

 I am only 45 min from the border but I would probably end up in prison in El Salvador with photoshopped tattoos on me LOL

[00Garza]

You can start a prohibition side hustle taking AliEx orders and bringing items across the border to ship packages at the nearest US post office! 

I'm near the southern border and thought about having future bike stuff shipped directly to a shop and assembled there, then brought over. But apparently Mexico under pressure from US is also implementing some steep tariffs on Chinese products.

[SillyMochi]

There's an old German joke that roughly translates like this:

A man rides up to the border on his bicycle with a bag on the rack.
Customs Officer: "Do you have anything to declare?"
Man: "No."
Customs Officer: "And what do you have in the bag?"
Man: "Just sand."
During the inspection, it turns out: Indeed, just sand.
For a whole week, the man comes every day with his bicycle and the bag on his rack. On the eighth day, the customs officer becomes suspicious.
Customs Officer: "Now tell me what's REALLY in the bag?"
Man: "Believe me: Just sand."
Customs Officer: "We'll see."
This time, the sand is sieved – result: just sand.
The man continues to come to the border every day. Two weeks later, the border officer finally has enough and sends the bag and its contents to the lab – result: just sand.

The whole thing wears the poor customs officer down so much that he quits his job.
After a few months, the former customs officer returns to the border to visit his old colleagues, and lo and behold: the "sand transporter" is back!
The former customs officer takes the man aside: "Well, I'll give you a written statement that I won't tell anyone, but you're smuggling something. For heaven's sake, please tell me what!"
The man: "Very simple: bicycles!"

Never thought it might be more than just a stupid joke ...

Sorry for off-topic. Will continue to post good deals once the next sale starts (hopefully in a few days).

[kwantani]

So buy chinese bike from Mexico, ride it back to the US? that's brilliant LOL....

Oh and with a bag of sands!!!

[Drumstick]

Global AliExpress Promo Codes working in May 2025 :

$2 off $15: IFPBYX0 (13.33%)
$2 off $20: IFPYWWI (10.00%)
$3 off $29: IFP0A2U (10.34%)
$4 off $39: IFPJN9G (10.26%)
$4 off $40: IFPXZMU (10.00%)
$5 off $49: IFPKRCU (10.20%)
$8 off $69: IFPPQYC (11.59%)
$9 off $80: IFPGRKI (11.25%)
$10 off $89: IFPNENU (11.24%)
$15 off $130: IFPTG3P (11.54%)
$20 off $159: IFPNNIB (12.58%)
$25 off $220: IFPZQBM (11.36%)
$30 off $239: IFPQPP5 (12.55%)
$40 off $299: IFPZPZJ (13.38%)
$50 off $399: IFPNFDT (12.53%)
$50 off $450: IFP0IJE (11.11%)
$60 off $499: IFPYHT3 (12.02%)
$70 off $499: IFPDMHV (14.03%)
$70 off $599: IFP5ATA (11.69%)

Bonus USA :

$25 off $149: IFPEE6F (16.78%)
$45 off $259: IFPPZGJ (17.34%)
$60 off $349: IFPWSPM (17.19%)
$70 off $459: IFPRNCB (15.25%)
$120 off $599: IFPQ8A5 (20.03%)

[kbernstein]

Is anyone happy with SPD pedals off aliexpress?
I bought the zeray ones and they keep creaking/have awful QC. They might be crazy light but I can't stand them anymore and I don't think I can service them without tools
Are the racework or mzyrh() any good?

[amacal1]

Is anyone happy with SPD pedals off aliexpress?
I bought the zeray ones and they keep creaking/have awful QC. They might be crazy light but I can't stand them anymore and I don't think I can service them without tools
Are the racework or mzyrh() any good?

I have some Racework SPD pedals. I liked them so much I bought a second pair. I ran both pair for a while, but switched over to road-specific cleats on my road bike and left the regular SPD for my gravel bike. Still running them. Don't put in huge miles on my gravel bike, but I've probably clocked 600-800 miles on those pedals so far and still like them.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805745201113.html

FYI, I had some polymer Rockbros (I've seen the same ones by multiple brands) pedals that are flat on one side and SPD on the other. They were not great. After a while they were inconsistent to release and likely contributed to me falling over once or twice.

[snack]

How do these compare to Shimano RS 500 pedals?

[fhold]

I have the zray and they are ok but i will ultimately switch to a known brand. In my experience click-pedals are not worth to buy from ali. The difference to a know brand is ihmo quite stark. The polymere dual pedal is aweful - release is not consistent.

[Ludo]

Cade media had a video out last week on branded pedals, worth watching.

I am having serious withdrawal syndrome with these tariff and no longer buying stuff every week lol

[SillyMochi]

Have to disagree on the cade media video. It's very one sided leaning towards the expensive (channel sponsor) models. Garmin wasn't mentioned at all (channel sponsor) because it would go in the bin. Favero wasn't mentioned either (no channel sponsor) probably because it would need to be a high recommendation. Cheap Shimano pedals went into the bin in favor for their higher priced ones. Even though, especially with Shimano, the price difference on pedals is mostly weight and name (ultegra and dura ace recognition), but not reliability or functionality. The cheaper ones work just the same way.

For my road bike I currently use a raceworks spd sl. Has about 6k on it now and no issues at all. I think I should probably maintain the axles at this point (same with any other pedals) but I was just too lazy. Clicks in and out just fine.

For my gravel, I currently use a Shimano SPD. I also have the raceworks SPD version at home as well which is waiting to be put on a upcoming gravel build. I have no reason to think they would be any worse than the SPD SL version.

So highly recommend them especially on a sale. Paid about 20 USD for them. Even if I eventually crash them, they are cheap to replace.

[Ludo]

The points he made on the cheap shimano seems pretty valid to me unless he is talking shit. I have no experience with these but if I was looking at buying right now I would still consider his comments. I don’t think it was meant to be exhaustive testing, like everything on YouTube, take it with a grain of salt

[Crash217]

Picked up a pair of the MYZRH pedals about 3 years/6500 miles ago.  Had to pull them apart a few times to clean and grease the bushing.  The o-ring seal never would stay in place.  They finally got so sloppy on the inner race that I pitched them. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806802986942.html 

I grabbed some LX LERMX MTB Mountain SPD pedals https://a.co/d/b0Y2rav around the same time.  They have suffered the same fate, although not as bad since my MTB only has around 1000 miles on it.  I will likely replace them over the summer because they have developed some slop.

Got a pair of these pedals about 3-4 months ago and they have been very solid so far.  They seem like a good knock-off of low end shimano spd pedals.
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807123711241.html

For reference purposes, My road bike has some 15 year old Shimano Ultegra pedals with at least 10,000 miles on them with nothing more than an occasional rinse and wipe down.

[RDY]

What are the least bad BB options available on AliExpress?  There are ZERO BB386 available locally, and AliX is currently the only option to get it quickly.

SENICX cranks have been slated by a number of people, but maybe the steel bearing BBs are better?

I had a ZTTO BB about 4 years ago ... it lasted 100km.  They're also refusing to replace a €130 cassette that I just bought, where the sleeve in the middle is about 5mm too short and the whole thing rattles - they claim this needs hot glue and isn't faulty??

[kbernstein]

How do these compare to Shimano RS 500 pedals?

Well, they don't. We're discussing SPD pedals, the metal double faced ones marketed for mountain biking with the 2 bolt metal cleat. RS500s are just road pedals

I am starting to blame that dogshit QC zeray left pedal for my foot pain. I don't see any play but the creaking can't be good and I started getting problems around the time I swapped to them from shimano M520s. The weight and stack height is too good to ignore. Even XTR pedals at 9 times the price aren't as light
I would also assume all the shimano pedals on ali are fake?
ZTTO and bucklos both have SPD pedals  which all look unique and not rebrands to me. Tempted to gamble either, unless someone has something bad to say?