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    Fake tyres?

    I purchased these GP5000 from an established retailer on Amazon. I’ve no reason to suspect that the retailer is shady in any way however the text on the tyre wall is sloppy.

    My first set of Continental tyres but the text on my old Vittoria tyres is crisp which is quite surprising, especially considering they were a third of the price.

    I’ve read that fake Shimano products are rife on Amazon but haven’t heard much about fake tyres. Is the text sloppy on all Continental tyres?

    by acoupe

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    21 Comments

    1. stasigoreng on

      Yes Continental tires get faked and amazon is one of the best places to sell knock offs.

      The lettering and German flag look kinda off, but I can’t say for sure if it is fake or not.

    3. aj_lil on

      My GP5k STR have similar crappy lettering and they were purchased from a bike shop. Wouldn’t worry about it.

    7. SuperMariole on

      Manufacturers take counterfeiting very seriously. Get in touch with Continental, they should be able to help you figure out whether it’s genuine or not

    9. Antti5 on

      Very likely it’s genuine.

      Or if it’s a fake, it’s an amazingly good fake. I’m comparing the photograph to some genuine GP5000’s I have in front of me, and these are bought from major German retailers.

      The lettering on Contis just is like that, something about the manufacturing process does not produce a very good result. It can look awful on tan-wall tires like the limited-edition GP5000’s with the light tan sidewalls.

      Not saying that there are not many good reasons to not buy from Amazon. The strongest reason being that you have to ask yourself whether you get a genuine product or not.

    10. Medical-Border-4279 on

      Amazon utilizes “co-mingled” inventory. This means you run the risk of getting g counterfeit product any time you order from Amazon, regardless of the “retailer”

    11. JRyds on

      I posted similar to this around Xmas with my first pair of GP5000s, for the same reason. Was told they most likely are genuine. One thing to focus on is the smell, apparently. If yours smell like good rubber then you’re all set!

    13. Pasta_expert on

      I’ll be honest, I think Conti’s printing quality has gone downhill lately. I bought some Terra speeds directly from Universal Cycles (a very legit online shop) and the lettering on the side looks like garbage compared to the previous set I had from 2024.

      My advice to you would be the same as others though, don’t buy from Amazon. Even if you trust the seller/storefront. Just go to a reputable website or a brick and mortar shop.

    14. ChickenTendies0 on

      I don’t understand why people feed Bezos machine instead of buying directly from bike shop site.

      Yes, it’s retail price, but you get full support in case something goes wrong

    15. purcell on

      They look legit to me, having compared the pictures with the GP 5000’s on my own bike.

    16. Fietsjouwmaker on

      Not trying to be a troll here, but I see so many pictures of people putting new stuff on dirty equipment, is it just me who is annoyed by that? It is such a nice feeling to remove the old, inspect and clean everything, and end up with a good as new wheel with fresh rubber 😇

    17. Mister_Spaccato on

      I recently bough a GP5000 from a reputable german online store, and it came with wobbly letters like yours. I questioned myself whether it’s just a manufacturing flaw or something i should be concerned about.

    18. step1makeart on

      >I purchased these GP5000 from an established retailer on Amazon.

      This DOES NOT MATTER on Amazon. While the credit for the sale goes to the retailer you buy from, you are almost certainly not getting stock sent to Amazon from that retailer for any popular products from brand names. Amazon commingles stock, so the tires you get can come from literally anyone who sends Amazon tires and says they are “model x”. If you think about the fact that Amazon has hundreds of warehouses all over the world, and delivers orders very quickly all over the world, it’s easy to understand that Retailer X does not have their stock spread across the hundreds of warehouses, or even the massively big retailers would only be able to have a couple of tires in each size in each warehouse.

      Instead, Amazon takes all tires of “Model X”, distributes them across their warehouses, and puts all “model x” tires in a single bin in each warehouse (this is effectively what happens, simplified to make it easier to understand). In this way, fake inventory can be given to Amazon, incorporated with real inventory, and as long as the fakes look good enough, you can never know if you are getting real or fake inventory, and Amazon has no fucking clue either (and a vested interest in not diligently checking for fakes because that takes time, money, and human eyes).

      Google Amazon Commingle Inventory for more info. e.g.https://www.redpoints.com/blog/amazon-commingled-inventory-management/

    20. ghettobus on

      I found out the hard way that fake Contis exist on Amazon…140 miles into a 1000 mile race. Don’t buy tires on Amazon, no matter what their “store” says.

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