Whats up with ripspeed...

[The Beard]

It might be a dictatorship but they make nice food! I remember "back in the day" when Jap motorbikes started coming over, the first thing you did was ditch the Yokohamas or Bridgestones for something better but now look at them! Yes, I'd rather buy British but since MG/Rover got sold up the river there's nothing for me to buy that I can afford. And no, I don't want a Chinese MG kit assembled at Longbridge, it just doesn't cut it. Talk about rubbing our noses in it.

That's one of the reasons the Japanese bought Dunlop. Japanese tyres weren't designed for northern European road and weather so they bought the competition. Having said that, I've got Bridgestones on my FJ1200 and they're damn good rubber, but it's taken a while and proves the Chinese could easily make similarly large strides.

The main difference in my mind is that China is many times the size of Japan and the impact it could have on the rest of the world is out of all proportion to previous "empires". There is also the country's political philosophy to consider. Another difference is that, thermonuclear detonations apart, Japan was a democracy and already an accomplished industrial nation and although they did imitate other nations' technical advances they were also innovators in their own right.

 

[Bushboy]

Hmm, maybe I should have researched this before I bought a set of alloys the other day. Though £310 for the alloys with 4 tyres seemed too good to be true!

I wouldn't worry so much about the wheels.

Ripspeed wheels are mostly (if not solely) made by the same people who make Team Dynamics wheels, Rimstock.

They're pretty highly regarded and been in the business for god knows how many years so I doubt there is anything "Asda Price" about ripspeed wheels.

The tyres, on the other hand, will likely be low quality, budget brands

Ripspeed is just a brand. As far as I'm aware, they have no manufacturing plant or make any of their own products. They get other manufacturers to make their stuff and slap a Ripspeed logo on it.

Generally, it's cheap and cheerful, as Dave suggests. Asda Price and Tesco Value etc. But there's generally nothing wrong with it.

 

[dave]

there was a pie factory on tv they made pies for lots of different retailers, but what went into the pies was not always the same

 

[Bushboy]

There will be some differences but most of the core components in things like the head units will be the same.

As already stated though. It's a budget brand. You would be silly to buy it thinking you are getting a premium product. Everything they sell will likely do the job though, just look really cheap and tacky whilst doing it

 

[gadge]

there was a pie factory on tv they made pies for lots of different retailers, but what went into the pies was not always the same

Are you saying that if I buy a RIPSPEED wheel it will have horse kidneys in it??

 

[dave]

Are you saying that if I buy a RIPSPEED wheel it will have horse kidneys in it??

that's how it adds horse power

 

[The Beard]

It might be a dictatorship but they make nice food!

Most owners of Chinese restaurants in this country hail from Hong Kong as has been mentioned by dave which is the reason they tend to speak Cantonese rather than Mandarin which is the "official" Chinese language. Chinese food sold in takeaways and restaurants here is as authentic as that served in Indian Restaurants. In t'north most of these are actually Pakistani or Bangladeshi owned and the food bears very little resemblance to what you can buy in Mumbai or New Delhi or even the foothills of the Himalayas.

There will be some differences but most of the core components in things like the head units will be the same.

When I were a lad, I worked for Tandy for a while. For those who don't remember them, they were a chain of shops selling electronic components, hi-fi and were the first retailers of any size to sell personal computers. Most of their products were "own-brand", hi-fi going under the brand name of Realistic, and computers were sold as Radio Shack. They also sold their own brand batteries, cassette tapes and radio controlled cars.

They actually made none of their own hi-fi. Turntables were made by Panasonic and Hitachi, loudspeakers by Goodmans in the UK and they had a brilliant open reel tape deck made by TEAC who were best known for making recording studio equipment. I never found out who made the amplifiers but if you looked inside you'd find components made by the likes of Sanyo.

I think the Japanese audio/visual industry used to have a factory that made capacitors, another that made resistors and others that would make MOS-FETs and the like. Actually makes quite a lot of sense if you think about it.

 

[gadge]

My first ever "scalextric" was from Tandy (thier own brand) and I remember "realistic" very well and TEAC as I think that's who made the tape recorder we used for our BBC election

On the whole we all wish we can buy quality british products just like our parents did "back in the day" but the truth is those days are gone it's cheaper to make stuff in china so we have to except it. I'm still not convinced on the quality of some of thier stuff so if I can I try to at least keep it European as I can.

To go right back to the beginning and answer the OP's question - I'm sure a RIPSPEED head unit will be fine to use day to day. I don't expect it to last more that 5 years but if it does then that's excellent. Personally I'ld stick to name brands even if they are built in China as thier quality control is probably tighter and they don't cost much more.