Counterfeit Skate Gear Thread

[rocklobster]

Hi pals, wanted to get your opinions on a counterfeit gear thread / sub-section within Shoes & Gear.

We are still dealing with gear shortages in 2021 following 2020's lockdowns. Counterfeiters have become more active on online platforms with products of dubious quality. While it was mostly Bones bearings in the past, this has extended to Spitfire wheels, Baker / Girl / Chocolate / Toy Machine / Foundation decks and Independent / Venture trucks. There have also been reported instances of brick and mortar shops selling counterfeits as genuine; you can read the comments on Ben Degros' video on. While the Western Hemisphere has mostly seen only fake Bones bearings, the Eastern Hemisphere has seen a large influx of counterfeits and it's my belief that it's a matter of time before it spreads globally.

At the same time, some members have expressed displeasure at discussing counterfeits on Shoes & Gear. I understand; let's keep the gear talk on the genuine stuff, spend our money with core shops / brands and not adding to the counterfeiters pockets in any way. This is not an endorsement of counterfeits, it's about educating members on what and who to avoid. It's about keeping skateboarding for skateboarders.

Hence, the poll to see how to best implement a thread that is informative and respectful to everyone's online space. Also, comment what you would like to see covered, or rules that posters should follow to keep the

The possible objective of the thread / sub-forum will be as follows:
1) How to spot fake skate gear
2) Fake gear tests - not as an endorsement of counterfeits
3) Links to other skaters who have posted videos / social media on counterfeits
4) Personal experiences with counterfeits
5) (open to suggestion)

Thing we would want to avoid:
1) Directly naming & shaming sellers, unless they are blatant counterfeiters like those on eBay, Aliexpress or Amazon
2) (open to suggestions here)

Thanks everyone!

[Mbrimson88]

I would propose to put up pics and links to clarify what fake product looks like, which in turn makes it easier to identify fakes and help people stay away from it.

[Giza Butler]

Sounds good to me, it's also a loyal service to the skate industry. And to us, the consumers.

[arrbee]

There was YouTube video from bones that had Vern and dudes from skate one in it a few years ago talking about fake Swiss.

[TwisT]

Counterfeit skate product is a part of skate history. There were counterfeit boards in the 80s boom. With fake hosoi and Tony boards.

The early 2000s had counterfeit bam boards, but more so just a lot of rip off of popular styles

Information from threads like the woodshop directory get regurgitated on other parts of the internet. So collecting information about identifying fakes in one place will probably also spread and be beneficial.

[moonordie]

Guys, if you want your eyes to bleed check "mad rats brazil"

[Mbrimson88]

Guys, if you want your eyes to bleed check "mad rats brazil"

At least they don't specifically say they are selling Wans, which is what we called wanna be Vans, compared to some other places which have their entire online store filled with fake product.

[cosmicgypsies]

when i was 14 i asked for some janoskis as a birthday gift and my ma promptly went online to find the cheapest janoskis and ended up buying a fake pair from china with "srefan janoski" on the tongue.

skated alright

[imposter]

This reminded me of that I have a lot of fake Arsenal jerseys

[DarkPools]

Ben Degros just uploaded a video yesterday about this:


There's skating in it, also sp scrub around to get what you want out of it.

He doesn't go in to all of the tell-tale signs for spotting fakes but shares some photos for comparison and reinforces the position to buy from actual skate shops/retailers certified to sell the product.

Alongside sharing what gear is counterfeit, we should also use this thread as a data receptacle for the various sites/types of sellers on them that may be counterfeit pushers, whether they know they're selling fakes or not. I know that contradicts one of OP's points to avoid, but IDing them helps us avoid them and we can tell others to avoid them as well.

Some legit people get duped when they see highly sought after gear for a good price, but don't verify source or WHY it's that cheap sometimes. They're running businesses or broke so making money/keeping it is a priority during a pandemic. I'm probably stating the obvious here, but still, it's important.


One of my personal habits on Amazon (when I used it, I no longer have it) was only buying an occasional pair of skate shoes (if I couldn't find my size anywhere else/sales when in a pinch) or some clothes, never actual skateboard products. Skate shops always deserve that money first and can be verified as the real thing. Amazon sellers could have fakes and/or undercut the actual shops with real/fake gear competitively/conveniently priced. Side story... I was in a Boarders skate shop over a year ago and was gripping a deck I bought and some college student was getting back into skating after years of never touching a board and wanted a hybrid to cruise and kind of skate on while in campus. It hurt to see this dude go back and forth with the employee about "oh I can get these wheels or bearings cheaper on Amazon" It bugged the fuck out of me. The employee and I both tried to respectfully inform him that the shop has the gear right now and it's legit but if you go on Amazon, you don't know if the quality is there plus you have to wait to finish setting it up once it arrives daysss from now. He was free to shop elsewhere to set his board up but the disrespect to tell that to the employee was fucked up, in my opinion.

Sorry for rambling on haha! Hope my post was somewhat useful to any who read it!

Thanks for setting this thread up, I think it has good potential!

[twic3]

The worst board I ever skated was made in china, it was a girl board.

[funeral_tuxedo]

I think it would be helpful for us consumers to have listings of businesses that burned us and/or telltale product disparities. Good idea, @rocklobster

[Gary Bucket]

I voted for stickied topic. If Amazon etc can’t/won’t protect consumers it’s up to us to help each other at least until the supply line starts coming into back into line.

I live in a major city and my local shop is only doing online. So there’s definitely large swaths of people doing online ordering to find stuff their shop is out of and counterfeiters prey on them which is unfair. We should all be ordering from locals anyway but with this squeeze on, nobody should get taken advantage of just for wanting to get out and skate

[Vinz]

This reminded me of that I have a lot of fake Arsenal jerseys

I have 2 of them, they are pretty good! coyg

[IUTSM]

I'm not sure why anyone would oppose this being a regular/stickied thread. when I do buy shit from some online vendor, which is pretty rare, I wanna be better informed about what might be bogus. thanks rock lobster

[rocklobster]

Thanks for the input everyone, I'll leave this thread open for a bit more to gather any additional feedback. Thereafter I will create stickied thread stating the post guidelines.

[moonordie]

Brining this topic back since apparently down here in Chile there are a lot of fake indys and spitfires. I mean, a "forged" Indy with only hollow kingping ( solid axle) and white bushings must be fake af

[Mbrimson88]

Brining this topic back since apparently down here in Chile there are a lot of fake indys and spitfires. I mean, a "forged" Indy with only hollow kingping ( solid axle) and white bushings must be fake af

Usually all in 139s too, unless someone realised that trucks actually come in different sizes.

Some people on ebay have been trying to sell Indy trucks, Spitfire wheels and Bones bearings.  Most usually get shut down fairly quickly but a few are still up, even after reporting them for fake product.

[Grip Jobs]

I wouldn’t recommend using the internet for anything

[rocklobster]

Expand Quote

Brining this topic back since apparently down here in Chile there are a lot of fake indys and spitfires. I mean, a "forged" Indy with only hollow kingping ( solid axle) and white bushings must be fake af

[close]

Usually all in 139s too, unless someone realised that trucks actually come in different sizes.

Some people on ebay have been trying to sell Indy trucks, Spitfire wheels and Bones bearings.  Most usually get shut down fairly quickly but a few are still up, even after reporting them for fake product.

Don't start talking about counterfeit skate goods without tagging me @Mbrimson88!

I'll add some new stuff I've seen on the web, mostly from Alibaba:

Decks
Element - team decks and old pro graphics (Chad Timtim, Darrell Staton, Levi Brown), all missing the PS Stix and BBS top engravings
Zero - come with the "Made in China" engraving with old graphics
Baker - logo and pro boards, 8.0 decks with steep concaves even those its the OG shape
Crailtap - "blank" Pop Secret decks, comes in 8 / 8.25, 93 Til deck series, missing top markings but with cardboard inserts, stickers and GXXX shape stickers
DGK - mid 2020's graphics, top marking with width / length / wheelbase but not in the BBS style, popular during 2020's drought but still some floating about
Santa Cruz - Screaming Hand and Floral Decay graphics, dimensions do not tally with those listed on the website

Wheels
Spitfire - Conical Full Red / Blue in 52mm, Radial Slims (Speed Kills / Venomous) 54mm, Classics Green Swirl 52mm, ancient pro model graphics from the late 2010s, the quality of counterfeits have definitely gotten closer to the real stuff in terms of urethane color, early batches were milky white and now to a sickly yellow

Bearings
Bones - Reds, Super Reds, Swiss, hardest to detect visually

Griptape
Mob - very thin compared to regular Mob, missing @mobgrip, #mobgrip and "Made in Taiwan" on the backing sheet, makes sense since China doesn't recognize Taiwan's independence (maybe)

Trucks
Independent - usually in 139 size and hollow kingpin, Independent only does hollow kingpin + axle in forged / cast, white / red bushings instead of the usual orange but this depends on models
Venture - 5.2 P-Rod Titanium, sticker at the bottom of the baseplate has reversed production dates, production dates are DD/MM/YYYY instead of MM/DD/YYYY
Thunder - 5.0 Lights, 1 size only

Hardware
Independent - Thrasher logo on the bag, probably the easiest to counterfeit and the hardest to detect

Fake skate stuff is definitely still floating around on ebay, Aliexpress and local shopping platforms. Even going to a physical shop can be sketchy, I've heard of some shops mixing their genuine stuff with fakes for stuff like Bones bearings and Spitfire wheels.

[Mbrimson88]

Don't start talking about counterfeit skate goods without tagging me @Mbrimson88!

Ha yeah of course!

To add to your list:

I have also seen from the same sellers that I know have fake stuff so stands to reason these are fake too:

Bones red ceramics and Bones swiss ceramics - it would be funny to get those and see they have shiny metal balls inside them.


Another seller with lots of generic product on ebay AU that also has Spitfire radial slim wheels (in conical shape) and Indy Joslin trucks that have Forged Hollow tags but clearly the baseplates are standards (as per other pics I had of the bottom of the baseplates not shown), with hollow kingpin and axles, as per pics below:

[TwisT]

Uncle I don’t know your slap name, but I thought these were great post

[moonordie]

The blue Reynolds are a fake classic.

Also this ones never "existed" right?

I'm not even wasting time on that plastic wrap on those "swiss"

[Mbrimson88]

Also this ones never "existed" right?

The wrap is supposed to be a beer can and was around the "Brewed to Burn" wheels from 2015 and there are some pretty good images if you google Spitfire Brewed to Burn.

Here is the most recent listing (has to be very old or fake) from a shop I have not seen before under that search - exactly what you were talking about:

http://www.codiceskateshop.com/ruedas-skate-spitfire-brewed-to-burn-26905


Check out this listing of the whole carton of genuine wheels:

https://www.noteshop.co.uk/products/spitfire-brewed-to-burn-12-pack


See this post from me for more info on the genuine Brewed to Burn wheels:

[Ghost Face]

Not sure if anyone's mentioned but wheels that are made in USA are obviously not shipped to the east and then offered back to the west at really good prices.

[Ghost Face]

Here's all these goods mentioned above on this FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/theothersidestudios/photos/ms.c.eJxFy8ENwEAIA8GOotiY4~_i~;sTyswHe0yxZSgA6QRT38gXUZjYFoqd~_8C15ywQsH6KUXvJwFLzEAF~;UBJp4enA~-~-.bps.a.2553824871554022/2941541146115724/

[rocklobster]

Here's all these goods mentioned above on this FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/theothersidestudios/photos/ms.c.eJxFy8ENwEAIA8GOotiY4~_i~;sTyswHe0yxZSgA6QRT38gXUZjYFoqd~_8C15ywQsH6KUXvJwFLzEAF~;UBJp4enA~-~-.bps.a.2553824871554022/2941541146115724/

I would guess 80% of the stuff on there isn't genuine, aside from the locally branded decks. I've seen people ride the fake Baker boards and they perform decently if this was your first board and none the wiser about board quality. Experienced riders who skate more than flatground have reported delaminations and plys splitting apart after skating small gaps.

[Ghost Face]

I've heard of and seen one of the Girl Pop decks having the top layer peel clean off.

and the F4's with the snake logo come in a pack with all heads printed on them. AFAIK it's suppose to be 1 head and 3 bodies?

[JANUS]

This thread is fascinating. Keep up the good work!

[Mbrimson88]

I've heard of and seen one of the Girl Pop decks having the top layer peel clean off.

and the F4's with the snake logo come in a pack with all heads printed on them. AFAIK it's suppose to be 1 head and 3 bodies?

That is definitely a good sign of fake wheels (and that ebay seller had pics of all heads before changing to packaged pics).

Yep, one head only per set from the Spitfire site: