Topeak Ratchet Rocket Essential $49.99 + $14.99 Delivery @ Tradeinn

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Had this nifty little bicycle ratchet kit sitting in my Amazon wishlist for the longest time. Recently it dropped from $87.46 to $77.13 and I almost pulled the trigger, but a quick search revealed that you can get it even cheaper from this obscure website based in Spain.

The website seems to be legit according to Reddit, but shipping may take longer than expected. If you want it fast you can always fork out a little extra and get it through Amazon.

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Comments

  • +4

    While a legit company, lots and lots of orders never show up and their customer service is non-existent.

    https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/tradeinn.com

    They're basically the Kogan of Spain. Avoid.

    • +1

      It's interesting to see a deal negged based on Trustpilot reviews. For context, Amazon has a Trustpilot score of 1.7 from nearly 40,000 reviews

      • -1

        It's negged due to issue with retailer which is a valid reason here and helps people reconsider if they want to take the risk. The reviews link was an example of repeated issues with the retailer.

        • +1

          I understand the voting guidelines. My point was that if we're using Trustpilot scores as a reason to neg deals, then by the same logic, would it be acceptable to neg every Amazon deal too? Amazon has a considerably lower score with more reviews.

          • -2

            @youfnc:

            My point was that if we're using Trustpilot scores as a reason to neg deals…

            We're not. It's reinforcing the anecdotal point. Not the primary reason.

            • +1

              @Hybroid: Fair enough. I’m not disputing your right to neg and understand that the link was meant as anecdotal, though I feel my point about consistency may have been overlooked.

    • Do you have experience dealing with them?

      • Yes, I ordered from Bikeinn back in the UK and the item never arrived.

  • +1

    FWIW my two orders from tradeinn arrived just fine.

    Relying on complaint websites like trustpilot and productreview is an unreliable way of judging a company as you will only hear from people with complaints. The larger a company is there more complaints there definitely will be simply because there are far more interactions with the company - even if the percentage of complaints is the same as a small company.

    If Trustpilot was trustworthy, nobody should ever buy anything from Apple as they apparently have terrible service.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVo8lhZP_cs

    They are a fairly established store. If your concern is if they're legit, they most certainly are. Can you as a customer fall between the cracks and get frustrating customer service? Absolutely, just like you can with the aforementioned Kogan, Amazon, Ebay, or anywhere else. Shipping in my experience has ranged anywhere from acceptable (3 weeks) to about 10 weeks. Order here for a great price and if you're not in a rush.

  • +1

    I stopped using these guys when they packaged an item so laughably poorly it was bound to be damaged in transit, and was. Yeah I know, one item, but given their very slow turnaround times and there's plenty of other shops I'm not going thru that again. To be fair the one other Item I had bought previously arrived fine, but it was the kind of thing (tires) that could stand up to poor packing.

    Note that they also remove poor reviews, but a lotta places do that…

    • I stopped using these guys when they packaged an item so laughably poorly it was bound to be damaged in transit, and was.

      That reminds me of how Amazon ships this 16TB hard drive - one layer of bubble wrap, in a thin box, in a paper envolope. I probably won't order bare drives from Amazon again. Even the kings of logistics screws up packaging for fragile items. They're fine for everything else though.

  • Interesting, either I’ve been lucky but I’ve never had a problem with bikeinn/tradeinn. I also buy from bike24 but I also buy locally as well (assuming we have stock…). Sometimes stuff overseas (even after shipping costs) is worthwhile.

  • Is Topeak even a good brand?

    • +1

      Yes. They're known for making good quality bike accessories.They've been around for over 30 years.

    • +1

      I would go unior or park before topeak, but also just getting a quality tool brand can be better overall. You slap ‘bike’ in front of something and suddenly the price jumps up.

  • I've got this kit. Topeak make quality stuff. However, I'm not confident pulling this out for trailside adjustments or repairs. I ride a mountain bike in forest trails and I worry I could easily lose these small fiddly parts. The more common all-in-one allen kits, shaped kind of like a swiss army knife are much less likely to cause any issues. For those kinds of repairs, the ratchet is really more of a pain than a feature anyway.

    • I used to have a unior multi tool but I honestly find any multi tool is just too fiddly. All my stuff goes in a bag, but I hear you, dropping bits is a reasonable concern.

      I’ve switched back to individual tools, a small, slim ratchet wrench, a tiny ratchet screw driver head and the bits work for both (carry a bunch of hex bits and some Philips drivers).

      That said if I do a big, multi day ride then I will service the bike before hand. That way the biggest thing to go wrong is flat tyres, which are never too bad to deal with.

      Worst I’ve had was a hex bolt holding my rear rack failed, was able to steal a hex bolt from the stem, and then came up with a more permanent fix at the next town (involving tape of course, and paddle pop sticks).

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