I have gone down the AliExpress rabbit hole and so far it has been positive. I’ve purchased XT shifters for half of US retail price and they are legit. I had a Chinese branded crankset with a defective bottom bracket that failed after 3 rides. No hassle free return shipping. Full refund. Another $4 item was missing a part. Refunded. No need to return the item. Love it.

For a little more, you could have Shimano Cues, avoid all the problems. Plus have normal access to replacement parts

I've used the zitto dropper levers on my bikes and wife's bike foe a few year now. They work great and have a nice bit thumb pad. I'm not paying 60 odd quid for a simple dropper lever, no matter how "feature packed" it is!

As a veteran AliExpress buyer of bike components, here's your best bet full MTB drivetrain: Shimano m5100 shifter and mech: ~$45 Shimano CUES 11 speed chain: ~14 Shimano M5100 wide range cassette: ~40 ZRACE Blade (or any similar) 1x Crankset: ~36 If you want to save money on this set up you can go with a sunshine or equivalent 11s cassette but that won't save too much. If you want 12 speed you can go for m6100 which costs the same for shifter and mech but you will pay more for a decent m6100 cassette and chain. If you absolutely need to save money but want a wide range 1x setup go with an L-Twoo 10 speed shifter and mech and generic cassette.

Neil hated every second of this endeavour 😄 but he went through it in a solemn way.😁

Your not bending that cog back! It's got a huge crack!! 13:10 😂

I got the shimano cues cassette shifter and derailer. I’m very happy with it. I paid about 80 pounds vs 180 in the shop. Ali express experience has been very positive so far

I have bought loads of AliExpress stuff but the golden rule is only spend what you can afford to lose.

IVe purchased the AliExpress Shimano XT cassette and XT shifter along with KMC 12 speed chain for half the price at the shop over a year ago and they're great. Im a guide in Moab, USA and I put these through hard use. No way I'll ever buy at full retail ever again.

You can buy a Box One/Two Prime 9 groupset for $118 right now.

Love seeing Neil on a HT

If you have problems with chainline being too far (as you complain about lower gears) and chainring is still too close to the frame, it's solely on the frame. Can't beat basic geometry. Also shame on Canyon for not listing if they have 68 or 73 mm bottom bracket shell - that would make purchasing and spacer fitting more predictable.

Sensah and Ltwoo are making some great stuff, thanks to SRAM walking out on both of them. Along with Microshift it's given Shimano good reason to launch Cues and ESSA.... they need to claw back that end of the market before they lose it entirely. I have experience with MicroNew road shifters, they're a poor copy of a Microshift road shifter. I don't love them but they're available in 3x7/8/9/10 etc which is great for a poor man's gravel bike using drop bars an older mountain bike.

i've been using ZTTO consumables for the last few years ... no problems .... current 11sp 11-46 cassette ... $A51 ...has been on the bike for 6 months.... lots of climbing, quick gear shifts etc ... and it's the best ever ... heavy ?? true ... on an e-mtb ...

If you are shopping Ali shifters and derailleurs stick with LTwoo, my two sets have been in use for years with no issues and perform well. Outside of the big two I stick with KMC chains and SunRace cassettes, as the issues you had are real with low end cassettes.

I bought a Shimano Cues 11 sp groupset for $100, it's awesome! Came w/ shifter, cassette, chain. clutch derailleur. No shift cable though.

Mate, all these brands are so common in Asia that if you're on a tight budget, these are the brands to look for. Reliable, easy to return and reasonably priced. Heck, I even built my gravel bike with mostly ZTTO and Sunshine parts, the cassette and wheelset are still fine after 3 years. One thing I didn't skimped out on is the drivetrain and brakes, I have adventX with mt200 brakes.

I got a full Shimano SLX groupset from ali for 200, when it came it was all good OEM shimano stuff, you can get good gear cheap on there, dont need to buy the dodgy stuff

Definitely needed a chain guide with this to protect the frame.

Was this video filmed and edited after the split from Warner-Discovery? I can't tell for certain, but it's got a bit of a different feel to it. I've had a similar feeling about other recent videos... Maybe Neil was just having a good day or something, but it seems like a much more earnest video, and I'm here for it. Either way, this was a fun watch.

I have yet to buy anything on AliExpress, and while some folks in these comments say they've gotten some great stuff from them, I've seen enough negatives that I just don't want to take the risk. Thanks Neil!

I‘m pretty sure the chainline can be fixed by mounting the chain ring to the outer side of the spider.

I got a snail chainring from aliexpress and it's been amazing so far, I've done 30 mile rides on it and I commute to work and it's fitted on an ebike. Barely any of the anodized layer has come off and it still looks amazing. Recommend 💯

Check the Trace Velo reviews - he has looked at other makes and found some good ones. Also, wouldn't putting a spacer behind the cluster help the chainline

M9 trigger 9speed,you can make dual downshift (push pull) by cutting little plastic on housing behind the downshift lever (small 2mm peace)... and u have xtr dual way type dowshift ;) .tested and working. oh c'mon you can see on lever molding its meant to be dual

Interesting but would have been fair & probably more interesting to compare the new LTWOO with a clutch like VS let's say Deore or Microshift.

Run 10 speed 11-40 cassettes on my e cargo bike for a while now (10,000 miles ish) not had any issues. Put cassette, chain and chainring from aliexpress on my town just to keep the cost down.

I have a couple ixf crank sets. They work great, hundreds of miles in. Your chainring is mounted wrong on the cranks, which throws the chainline off.

I got my Shimano Brake calipers and rotors from aliexpress. If I purchased them locally it would be more than twice the price.

I bought up quite a few 12 spd brand x cassettes when chain folded after using one the year prior. There brilliant, other than being a bit heavy no issues at all . I bought 4 at £17 each 😆

Looks like the front sprocket is mounted on the wrong side?

Please, try to return the broken cassette for replacement or refund and let us know how it went. Thanks a lot.

there are some trick 9-50 cassettes by ZTTO, would be interesting to see one of those

you might be able to adjust the clutch so that it actually does something

I bought a 12x 9-50 cassette for my GX eagle drivetrain a few years back from AliExpress. It was a bit farther away from the wheel than the original SRAM cassette, and in the 12th gear there was less than 1mm distance between the chain and the dropouts, it looked like it would rub, but it didn't. I also had to use a spacer when mounting the derailleur, because the adjustments of the derailleur and shifter didn't go far enough to compensate for this offset. But once I did all the adjustments, it actually worked better than the original SRAM cassette or the e*13 one that I use now. But maybe it's down to the chain (I use an X01 chain for durability since it lasts 3x longer, I used a GX chain with the AliExpress cassette because I never thought it would last very long). After 1.5k km the chain was worn out to the recommended limit and the cassette had visible wear in the most frequently used gears, which is when I swapped both. But for those 1.5k km there were no issues at all.

To be fair, the design of the shifter with window is rather conventional. Nothing wrong with that. The culprit is the shimano brake lever clamp that changes every generation (corresponding to their matching 10 11 12 speed groupset) together with the endless and confusing iterations of the i-spec-N+n

I've bought from Aliexpress lots of times and have had good experiences. Just done 400 miles on an ltwoo group with no probs. I think at this price for a whole group set, there will be compromises. However, shifting under load is going to cause any group to fail and was a little unfair. Fitting this groupset to a boost frame is going to involve some chain line fettling.

I’ve been using ixf cranks and zitto dropper lever and zoom brakes with o problems after many years of use .

Haven't had any issue with components from MicroNew, Sensah, Ltwoo or the Likes … Have used several MicroNew (MicroShift "knockoff") on drop bars. Yes, they're not the nicest, but do their job just fine. Have run several full groups of Sensah on MTBs/Urban bikes with flat bars as well as drop bars. They've worked perfectly and have been lasting equally as long as Shimano. One thing I found was that the shifters for flatbars are not the greatest (feel a bit flimsy and unprecise) so I did swap them oftentimes to a fitting Shimano or Sunrace shifter which had a much better feel to them. But yeah, in general if you're on a budget, I wouldn't know why not to choose the chinese brands. And it's just a drivetrain, it's not that my life would be relying on it … different story with brakes obviously ;).

There are too many quality budget drivetrain options for this to be worth the extra savings IMO

I've never bought anything from Aliexpress. But IMO If you want something decent go for Shimano Deore M6100 or M5100 Rd, same RD apart from the logo. It's cheap and if you destroy it it's not a big deal, if you want light weight invest in the cassette like Garbaruk, if you want cheap go for Deore CS M5100, I've it on a bike, it has very smooth shifting, massive improvement over the previous gen. Garbaruk is pricier but about half the weight, but cheaper and lighter than XTR. But initially it's not as smooth, but once it wears in about the same.

I enjoyed the video. Thanks for sharing

Been riding ZTTO chains for a year or so now, they're decent for the price! But they definitely do wear out faster than you'd expect, and I suspect the factory grease is pretty bad; I tried running an 11-speed chain on the factory grease only (felt a waste to try and degrease and re-grease when it shouldn't need it immediately), and I actually wore it past 0.5 on a wear guide after about 300 miles only. I was hard on it and it was factory lube, but that's still really fast. Likewise wore out a cheaper MTB cassette kinda quick, but it was advertised as a lightweight one, so not a big surprise the aluminum didn't hold up as well as the steel one I replaced it with later. Had better luck on some 9-speed chains and being more careful with the lube, they do still wear faster but it's not nearly as bad as that one. So chains might be worth spending more on just because they take so much abuse, in the long run it'll be more worth it. (I just really like the look of the gold chains, and anything under 10 speeds either isn't available from a bigger brand or is prohibitively expensive, whereas AliExpress options have 7-8-9s chains in gold and rainbow for around the same prices.) Bought plenty of other ZTTO components though with good results, and a couple similar brands. When possible on AliExpress, try to find brand names that show up more often, since at least then you know it's a company that's willing to put a name behind their products even if they're cheap. If you have the option to order a Choice item (AliExpress's version of Amazon Prime basically), you get decent shipping speeds and the refunds/returns are pretty easy too, just not a long period for those refunds so don't expect it to replace having a warranty. AliExpress will step in for some customer conflicts as well but there's a bit less security if you didn't order a Choice item, so YMMV. Also yeah, speaking as a service tech at a bike shop, a lot of the mechanics will at least understand the desire to save some cash and might occasionally have personal experience with cheaper components like this, but liability concerns and the inability for them as a shop to easily order replacement parts will be a barrier. A smaller shop might be more willing to do a service with parts you provide, bigger ones likely aren't _allowed_ to do so but might at least be able to give you some advice on how to safely do your own service; just be understanding when you ask, most of them aren't trying to be assholes to you but they've also seen a lot of crappy bikes pass through their shop mangled because someone cheaped out :P

I use a ton of ztto tools but some components are not made to higher standards, I took a brand new 12s ztto chain to clean in toluene when I was at the second rinse I noticed sparkle in the bottom of the pan... A bit like these forks; in theory they are okay but im practice you'd be better off rebuilding it from new. Gotta be sharp if you buy QC handicapped products 😂

Would be interested in knowing the long term performance of such kit. A low price with some performance is all fun for a day or two, but I would want it to last for equally as long as more expensive gear. Does this sound unfair? perhaps, but we people have too much shit around that already breaks down after a short while to then be thrown in a bin and replaced with new crappy stuff (--> crappy does not mean cheap). And if something is bad for our planet, keep throwing stuff in the bin.

You can get the deore 12 speed drivetrain for like 140 euros and it will be a better choice

I can't say I notice any reduction in performance going with those ZTTO 11-51T 10S cassettes. When Shimano only do an 11-46 and you don't want to be paying the extra for a sunrace, it makes sense. It's very rarely sunny or dry in the FOD so any wear and tear on your components is more wallet friendly when you go with the cheaper options. Admittedly, I've got a goldix 155mm crank ready to put on my wife's Mega just to see if she gets better ground clearance on techy XC. Build quality seems just as good as the Shimano SLX. Although, if Shimano's metallurgical and materials selection /supply chain QA is anything to go by, it's not saying much. I'd keep with a deore 10S clutch mech and shifter, however.

1:13 - NO, the price you see BEFORE clicking on the product is NOT the price of it but usually the price for a screw or something else that may be needed for said product.

I’ve used chinese groupsets. They work but don’t last, all the gears mangled together eventually (cogs too close to each other meaning chain couldn’t sit on certain gears) Chinese front chainrings are decent tho

Best bang for the bucks is deore M5100.

I also have some good experiences with AliExpress parts. I did a 1x conversion on my touring bike. I used the original SHIMANO ALTUS M370 derailleur, SHIMANO ST-EF51-8 shifters in combination with a 11-42 cassette from VG Sports, a derailleur extender hook and a Meroca crankset. It required some adjusting of the derailleur screws and mounting the chainring on the outside of the crank in order to make the chainline work. All parts look and feel like quality products. Shifting is fairly good. I don't know if I'd recommend this for mountain biking... for road or touring use I think it will be fine - however for MTB use I'm worried the dirt and mud will quickly wear down the components.

I had only positive experiences buying parts from Ali express. And i had no issues with the local store\service installing them.

For me 130£ is too much. I bought 80£ 10 speed ltwoo groupset for my "when I'm going to mom's house once in a while" bike and... 11-51 is too much, I wish I bought a shifter without indication screen but other than that it's working good enough for those 3-5 hours every two three months.

I bought bottom brackets and a cassette in the past. They work great. I wouldn't get a chain, mech or shifters other than the major brands.

For alignment and clearance purposes, you could've used a 30 tooth chainring.

GMBN, excellent content! I noticed that when you backpedaled to get a look at what was going on with that lockup, the spring for the rear derailer was being pulled, as it rebounded, so did the chain. Not the best thing to get lockups or scratch up a new frame. I wonder if the process with new chains, some break in, jockey wheel lube, or derailer spring tension could prevent that.

7:50 this is a result of a lack of clutch coupled to a ~700gram cassette. Essentially - the cassette is so heavy that its inertia overcomes any tension on the chain, which loosens it on the power side. And no, this derailleur has no clutch, just an adjustable A-pivot spring. This is fine for a town bike or a commuter, but is totally useless on a mountain bike.

Lots of experience buying from Aliexpress. I've bought a few zitto components with mixed results. I strickly buy Shimano drivetrain parts now and couldn't be happier (cues, deore, and XT). The only difference between the Aliexpress and local Shimano components is the lack of the Shimano packaging.

I love it when y’all do reviews of these generic low budget products.

I've bought disc rotors and got a full set of 4pot XT brakes for $280 Aus all genuine Shimano saved lots of money! 👍

Bought a lot of Aliexpress stuff over the years. Some of it is great and has lasted me for six years still going strong - other stuff broke within weeks. Then again the branded stuff I bought in Europe was no different or better. And neither was the service. Buyer beware but if you’re careful and do your homework then you’ll be fine wherever you buy. It’s your choice in the end.

As a bicycle mechanic, I am of the opinion that this review has not really been carried out properly. due to the parts not being properly assembled. I believe that you should have had this done by a mechanic for better results. But you should know what you are buying to see if it is too good to be true. I have this stuff on older mountain bikes and it works fine

So you clean and re-lube an expensive chain but not a cheap one before use and are surprised it causes a problem. As many have said the Ali express items are often okay for most people but you cannot expect to pay peanuts and get the performance of the top brands or expect the kit to survive harsh treatment. Shifters come with or without indicators, something to think about when planning the purchase. Most dream of having a £1,000 plus group set but the reality is often at a much lower price point.

I can't believe we've gotten to the point where people are making knockoff MicroShift

pick your parts, a cassette, or a chain ring i will buy cheep! parts that move, shifter or mech i will spend some money on. this balance works for me.

I have a 10 speed cassette i bought off maybe 5 years off amazon and still going . My shinano cassette wore out in a year . So this noname chinese part seem to out perform shinano . It has a bit more range . It was all steel making it a bit heavier but in theory more durable

Ordered mt200 brakes from Ali, ~30 quid, saved about 50 ali vs 'big bicycle shops'

I had a Ztto dropper lever...Worked sound,Only upgraded cuz I got a new bike ,but would highly recommend one..!!

Price comparison would of been nice to add in as I bet you could buy this twice and still have change over scram or shimano.

You put the 32t plate wrong. 😊 The plate goes outside.

its quitesad to see aliexpress being put down as quality is where it should be at for the price, I own a XX SL groupset fully kitted on my bike and I snapped the masterlink by trying to shift underload( a link cost 16$!) so I wouldnt say the most expensive things are some god tier parts where as aliexpress are just garbage. ive had vintage,old and expensive parts throughout my life and most of the time after a day you forget what you have on because for the most part all drivetrains nowadays work really good. I have a micronew 8 speed shifter on my vintage Cannondale with the xt derailliuer and while the shifter feels far away honestly it does the job and works with a 26 years old derrauiler so I couldnt be happier. when i started. I rode old old parts that where falling apart from the trashcan and since they worked thats what matters. dont get smothered by these companies telling you that you need the expensive things to ride your bike because most brands do the job just fine.

Some of the Ali Express stuff is OK. Some stuff is really poor. I think you bought really poor stuff this time round. I'll stick with Shimano and SRAM for drivechain, but stuff like the ZTTO dropper levers, some or the brakes (that get sold as Clarks CNC over here) and some other stuff is really good.

At last a reasonable, objective, cheap product review from GMBN. Still, I suspect there's not many riders going to cheap-out on drivetrains after a huge outlay on a high-end bike. I have a 2022 Rocky Mountain Altitude with a 12 speed XTR Microspline rear hub that craps itself every 500km or so in a creaking, grinding mess. Go figure.

I have ZTTO cassette with the GX eagle and it is ok for 1y.

I cant imagine trusting my life to components from ali express.

Even the new KMC 11 and 12 speed quik links don't have a direction marking anymore!?

I'm using a Bucklos B702 (32 factory) fork for 2 years now, punishing it on the pump track and dirt trails and it's holding amazing! I've recently gotten a 35mm clamp Ztto stem and flat ztto pedals and they are also great. It's been 2 years since I bought my Sram Sx crankset and Polso rear BMX disc brake hub, also from aliexpress. Honestly, I am from a country where parts are limited and very fucking hard to come by and aliexpress really came into clutch. We have to pay 1100 EUR for a marzocchi bomber, 55 eur for a single wired maxxis dth because of scarcity and high taxes.

2:01 not enough space for the chainring because it was mounted incorrectly, on the inside, it was suposed to be on the outside of the crankset

My grandmother tought me: I'm not wealthy enough to be able to buy cheap crap.

Hanger extension usually addresses the shift issue (Shouldnt need it, but you know..) But that chain is rubbish ,I had one and it had so much side to side play that I kept experiencing drops galore.

I've been rocking ztto wheels on my hardtail and it's my dirty little secret. Best wheels for the price so far

I cant wait for them to try the aliexpress III Pro IV brake set and the shark fin look a like rotors. Best budget brake on the market right now😊

thanks for the video - what material are those gears made of? What range does the cassette have? Could be that i just missed the information in the video.

that's why I tell people that ask, buy the best that you can afford. they could get bit by the bike bug and ride the rest of their lives, but with a cheap bike, one ride and they could be done

I fitted sensah 11 speed crx to a hack bike, worked pretty well. Be good to see a few more of these reviews, some Ali express parts are not bad.

I've bought 12 speed XT and SLX cassettes microspline and will do it again

Go for ltwoo or sensah if your going Chinese :) I have an ltwoo mech on my cx bike and it's working great was only £9 delivered in a week, had one on my old commuter and it shifted great too

Would happily try the drive train stuff, but not going anywhere near an 80p stem, too difficult to find a dentist here in the UK 😅

I've bought from AliExpress and whenever I've had a problem they have offered a discount or refund you just need to send pictures or video showing the fault.

Same as any cheapo aliexpress purchase, if its all you can afford, its fine, it works and will do what you need. But... if you can afford/justify better, then get better, because its better.

I've ridden the ocean p9 Enduro frame for a few years now n although not strictly ali express I believe there is sellers on there for them n it's been class not really had a single issue with it

Would love to see the Shimano Cues complete drivetrain test for 18 months including 2 British winters on a bike used often by 1 GMBN host even traveling with that bike and set-up 😊

I love aliexpress never had an issues for my Rc parts even got genuine shimano deore 3x9 shifters and came with treated like anodized cables blue tinge to em

he used to xtr quality then go buy the cheapest groupset, cmon there a some good chinese brands like sensah, ltwoo with quality equal to deore xt, close to xtr weight and really cheap, just replace my ultegra cassette with a "riro hawk" 32t only weight 162gr wasnt cheap but its lighter vs dura ace

9 spd cassettes(Z-Race,Wuzei) seem fine but the chains were definenetly not very good qaulity(OG Evkin,SUMC) as opposed to made in Taiwan brands such as KMC or YBN.I just got a pair of second hand SLX meganine shifters of classifieds which seem to be in good condition to run 3x9 with 11-34 cassette and old Sram chainset on new 29er alu hardtail.

Bought a compact tire pump and a a shock pump from aliexpress 2 year ago for about 20usd / pump. both leaked and you could not fill a tire with it. complained to the seller, they agreed on just sending new pumps and I didn't have to return anything. Well the new pumps I got had same issue and I just didnt bother to complain again and get again crap mailed to me. its hit/miss. mudguards, handlebars and grips have been fine in my experience

I had Shimano brakes that were leaking, so did warranty, got new brakes they were all leaking all 4 sets, Shimano didn't respond to the retailer they claimed, I did not want to deal with it as I wanted to get rid of them so gave them away, sent it to a dude I sold parts to, his friend ordered parts from Aliexpress and fixed them.

I've bought Deore 5100 shifter, RD, casette and chain for less.

Hard to believe he ran the chain with the factory “lube” which isn’t really meant to be a lubricant

I live in SEA where you see cheapo stuff like sold in a lot of places all the time (espeically ZTTO and Risk, very popular), even in my LBS which is the official distributor for Yeti and Enigma bikes uses them for brake hoses (but thats about it). For the 10s maybe 100s of millions of people who use a bike as a commuter the cheap chinese stuff is great since it allows people to maintain their bike for such a cheap price (Im sure you know income here isnt anywhere close to the first world). Now personally, I wouldn't be caught dead putting them on my MTB if they super critical parts, otherwise i.e. brake hosing, presta valves and at most (if I have to) brake pads/adapters .