Has anyone had any experience with these? Was thinking about upgrading my Shimano XT 12 spd. I have never been able to get used to shimano triggers, ie. short click for 1 cog long click for 3, always find myself clicking too far. All the reviews Ive seen have been great.
I think the price is a bit steep for chinese knock-off gear… 5 star reviews can be (or are) bought.
GX Eagle AXS is just a bit more expensive and will run just as good on a shimano cassette/chain. (if you don’t want/need to change those at the moment)
I second @nvalphen, at that price, I don’t see the point. SRAM AXS stuff is proven. The GX Eagle rear derailleur is on sale on bike24.de at the moment for 270 €. The GX Eagle upgrade kit with shifter costs 426 € or about $460. Apex AXS Eagle should be even cheaper.
1 Like
I didnt know SRAM would run on a shimano cassette. I’d rather not change the cassette and hub body.
I think one of the compelling aspects of it is the ability to convert any 7-13 speed bike to electronic shifting and fully wireless regardless of Shimano vs SRAM, or even Suntour freewheels!
I read some of the groups and it seems to work OK, but it is still going through teething pains in reliability on the FW.
I ended up getting the Wheeltop because I read that some had issues getting the SRAM to shift properly due to the shimano cassette being slightly wider. Had the whole thing installed and shifting perfectly in 45 minutes. The App is a bit confusing but it all worked out.
5 Likes
Ridden this a few times now and had my first race with it. Love it. It shifts so quick. Only issue I had was that in a race situation, I am so used to dropping gears with my index finger, I kept looking for the lever with my index finger…I will get used to it I’m sure. Its so quick you dont even feel the upshift. Hopefully it keeps performing as it does now.
It’s not Chinese knock-off gear. They are a big company that have recently acquired Rotor.
I am running the GeX on my gravel bike. Supports up to 14 speed (which doesn’t even exist yet). Runs flawlessly.
Same on my ‘project’ gravel bike. I’ve been really impressed with how we’ll it’s holding up. It’s an improvement over the 11spd GRX mechanical I had on that bike. I initially had it setup for 11spd. A chain, chainring, and cassette later and it’s now 12 speed.
The lever ergonomics isn’t at the same level as SRAM RED E1 is (I love those things!). The rubber on the hoods is a nightmare (but that’s only a problem during install). I do miss having AUX buttons for head unit control or additional shifters. The gear indexing/setup of each cog is a PITA, again only an issue during install. Other than that… shifts are fast and accurate. Once it’s in gear, it stays there. I’ll keep it on the bike for now.
2 Likes
The main thing they need to sort out is the godawful app. If they can simplify the initial setup through the app, it will remove a lot of frustration. As you say though, once it’s done, it’s done.
I got the whole mini-group for the same price as a single E1 shifter…
2 Likes
Once I got my head around the app (by watching a few YouTube videos), it wasn’t too bad. E-Tube doesn’t set the bar very high on Di2 equipment. 
I see Wheeltop as a bike hackers groupset. If you have the time to mess about and get things all lined up, you’ll end up with a pretty neat bike for relatively little outlay.
1 Like
Isn’t the price close to SRAM AXS stuff, though? bike24.de has a complete Apex 1 dropbar groupset on sale for 899 €, a complete GX AXS groupset costs 799 €. Both include cranks, chain, cassette, shifter(s), rear derailleur and, in case of the dropbar groupset, brakes.
I have seen GX Eagle AXS upgrade kits for 420 €.
So how much money are you saving in the end?
Depends if you are comparing apples and apples. Those prices are the cheapest, discounted prices you could find. That Apex 1 setup is a great deal. I got the Wheeltop groupset for £426:
Apex Groupset (inc crankset and cassette): €899
Wheeltop GeX: €505
So still a considerable saving depending on your circumstances…
I went for an alugear chainring @ €85 and a magene P505 base PM @ €291. 11-50 cassette was €35.
So €16 euros more for the wheeltop setup, but that’s with a power meter spider and considerably better cranks than Apex.
2 Likes
