The Sketchy World of Fake Bike Gear

Re:The Sketchy World of Fake Bike Gear by p1mrx on Sunday October 04, 2015 @08:20PM (#10329364)

This problem has a straightforward technical solution: manufacturers should put a unique serial number on every product, and encourage customers to validate the number after purchasing. A counterfeit will either have a bogus number that's not in the database, or a cloned number that shows up in two or more places.

I noticed that Spigen uses this approach, after buying a $9 case for my phone.

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Re:The Sketchy World of Fake Bike Gear by rahimnathwani on Sunday October 04, 2015 @09:43PM (#10329574)

Many consumer electronic products have a manufacturer's warranty which requires registration, and the serial number is one of the mandatory pieces of information.

Specialised doesn't do this exactly. Their bike registration form doesn't provide any incentive except that they'll inform you of any important news about your bike: http://www.specialized.com/us/en/support/bike-registration

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Re:The Sketchy World of Fake Bike Gear by Asbostos on Sunday October 04, 2015 @09:09PM (#10329499)

Yes. For such a high priced item, this should be easily economical. Some medicines already do this. It seems kind of obvious.

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Re:The Sketchy World of Fake Bike Gear by rconti on Tuesday October 06, 2015 @10:49AM (#10339231)

They almost certainly do. My Trek carbon fiber bike (~$3000 fully built brand new in 2008) was the lowest-end full-carbon bike they had that was still made in the US. It has a registration # (on the bottom bracket I believe). In fact, every bike I'm aware of does, for registering with the police in case of theft.

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Re:The Sketchy World of Fake Bike Gear by snotrockets on Monday October 05, 2015 @12:30AM (#10329972)

Campagnolo attaches such a code to their wheels: http://www.campagnolo.com/WW/en/Support/certilogo

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