So I’ve been in contact with one of these guys to see what else I can learn about them (mainly out of curiosity, it comes with having worked as a PI for five years). I’ve told him I’m possibly interested in ordering a batch of unicycles with branding for my new website (not entirely untrue) and have been having a bit of a back and forth with him.
If any of this can be useful to Roger, I’m saving all of it. I’ve done a handful of counterfeit product investigations in my day so it’s all par for the course.
Some highlights:
Me: “This unicycle appears almost identical to a Nimbus Eclipse. Is it made in the same factory / is this an unbranded Eclipse?”
Him: “Nimbus Eclipse is a brand of unicycle,but we can also produce the unicycle with same specification but with your logo,our price should be much cheaper.”
Then he says: “The unicycle is 6061 aluminum… the quality is good enough for semi-professional riding. We have been exporting large amounts of unicycles to Japan,we have lots of experiences on it.”
I also asked him if it’s ISIS or square cranks and he “isn’t sure what that means so he’ll send a picture.” Ok, at this point I’m very curious as to what he’s actually selling, so I ask for pictures of recent products. This morning I got this:
Him: “Please see some photos of really unicycle we produced for Japan market,it is made of steel frame,the style is a little different from the one you are asking. We export large quantities of unicycles to Japan,also please see the JIS certification as attached for your reference,we got this certification from Japan Unicycle Association but it is wrote in Japanese.”
So he sends me the following pictures, as well as a picture of the cranks his tech department tells him they think are ISIS but aren’t sure.
Here’s my “JIS certification” that I’m supposed to understand.
Here’s the unicycles, a 16", a 20", and a 24", totally different from the pirated eclipse pictures, clearly using the same crappy seatpost I’m very familiar with from my Chinese unicycle video review. At least it looks like they’ve stepped up their upholstery game on the seat itself.
And here’s the “ISIS” cranks. Note the strange adjustment bolts near the splines… never seen anything like that before. It’s like a cottered splined crank.
Again, I’m just sort of playing around with these guys right now, but if this is something that could be useful I can dial up the seriousness a bit and try to get whatever info you need (if anybody even cares). If not, I’ll just press him for a free sample. 
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