With the price of many accessories leaving bikers dismayed it is understandable why many are willing to take a gamble on lesser quality 'lookalike' products often pushed on popular internet sites. But is the cheaper price a sign of poor quality or are the higher priced originals just taking us all for a ride?
A good example of this is the Touratech Toolbox and we compare it side by side with an unbranded alternative easily found on eBay.
The Touratech version retails on their site just short of £130, with £7.14 postage on top.
Our eBay 'find' is coming in anywhere between £40 and £55 which includes FREE postage all the way from China! Straight away it is easy to see why folk are tempted by the non-brander.
Visually, there seems very little in it. Aside from the missing 'Touratech' branding (which will be hidden from view once your panniers are fitted anyway) it seems like an easy decision and an easy saving of nearly £100 but hold on, let's take a closer look.
We fitted the unbranded version to the bike first and, while fiddly, the quality of the fixings resulted in some rounded allen bolt heads within moments.
But this wasn't our first issue. All of the pre-drilled holes in the body of the unit needed to be re-drilled as the supplied bolts were too wide and wouldn't push through. Ok, with some mild-DIY we can sort this easily, so is it still a worthy saving?
No matter how much I wiggled and jiggled, the rear most fixing didn't sit flush. When all the bolts were tightened I found, with some mild force, I could still wiggle the fixing and move the forward-most end of the box.
That's not a worry surely? Well, naturally it is but at least the contents will be secure enough inside? Nope, aside from having more leaks than the Julian Assange's notebook, another problem is that when I locked the door, which was a poor fit, I simply gripped the sides firmly and pulled the 'locked' door straight off. Oh dear!
So far it is a poor show for the unbranded version. In fact, aside from the price there is nothing about it we can recommend.
Taking a look at the brackets before and after fitting reveal just how poor the unbranded unit is constructed.
Direct comparisons between the Touratech and the unbranded version show how poorly manufactured and thought through the cheaper version is. The manufacturer isn't even capable of making a spherical fixing.
No prizes for guessing which of the images belongs to which product?
The only positive with the cheaper unbranded unit is the £100 saving. The down side however is soggy and insecure contents, poor fit and having to eventually concede that one day you will buy the more expensive but clearly better quality Touratech version.
Both units look similar from all angles with subtle differences which are only obvious to 'those in the know'. So if it is about budget, you can save a ton. If it is about function and quality, I'll follow the advice of my Grandad, "I'm not rich enough to afford cheap things!"
While we don't believe a higher price is always a sign of quality, in the case of the Toolbox, Touratech clearly comes out as the winner. With some modifications though, the cheaper unit can certainly be an alternative, but for us, we will stick with the original.
There are still many items out there which prove excellent value, even when compared to more expensive named brands.
Watch out for further Blogs about the savings you could make!
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