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.
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
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 ÂŁ426:
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
I pulled the trigger on the EDS TX to put on my 2x gravel bike ( really a CX bike in disguise). I’ve wanted to upgrade to electronic but wanted wireless but between that meant changing over the SRAM from the current Shimano GRX. The cost of swapping everything, including a power meter was too much so the Wheeltop’s ability to calibrate to any existing setup was appealing. I have watched a few videos and am wrapping my head around getting it paired and calibrated and will start the swap out over the next few days, just charging the derailleurs now.
2 Likes
I’ve put 200 miles on my EDS TX setup. I’m running it 11 speed on my road bike. I had several hours in getting the rear derailleur setup, but could do the next one in 15 min. The front went pretty quick.
It shifts at least as well as the Ultegra/105 mechanical setup I had, and just works so far.
1 Like
I worked on it today. The only thing that has tripped me up so far. It actually shifted OK out of the box using the defaults (Shimano 11s) but the firmware update resulted in the rear going no further outwards than 7th gear. It took a post in an owners group to find that, while more obvious in hindsight, the initial calibration in the app allows for a lot of coarse adjustment than I assumed (manual is pretty poor). I had to tap the right adjustment arrow 20-25 times to move the derailleur 7 to 11, where it needs to be to index the final calibration.
Everything else was not much different than any other install. The components paired (hub through the rear derailleur) and mounting like any other. I did decide to keep my GRX calipers so I wouldn’t have to run hoses and full brake bleed. A quick bleed from the top and they feel great so far. The only annoyance is how stiff the hoods are and how difficult they are to roll far enough back to get at the fixing bolt and bleed port. Luckily I watch a video where the guy used zip ties to roll and hold them which worked pretty good.
Just have to get to the fine calibration, but that’s another day.
Hi have it in my road bike and is working flawlessly until now after 3 months. I already did triathlons, grnafondo etc… the only thing that I don’t like is the stupid rubber to protect the charging point that is not easy to be perfected fitted but after some time it is possible. the other thing is the magnet for charging for the rear group is not strong enough and sometime after an touch in the cable, the position of the cable changes and stops charging. Are minor issues and for the price is cool… if someone need a referral code I have it in my IG page “TTR - Triathlon Tech Review on Instagram: "Discount code 3% https://wheeltop.refr.cc/wheeltop-referral-program/u/joaomachado @wheeltopglobal"” . I am trying to talk with team if we have a groupset for triathlon bikes for test it in my speedmax.
1 Like
I raced 5 times on my OX MTB version…worked flawlessly.
1 Like
I got my EDS TX installed and initial calibrations done. It does take some time to understand their concepts, because the manual doesn’t. Once you wrap your head around it and a bit of trial an error, it gets easier. It worked pretty well on my first ride of 18K, shifting was fine except 5-6 need a bit more tuning. I even managed to get it displayed on my Garmin 1040.
I’m not convinced that whoever did the Chinese to English translation of that manual could speak either language.
1 Like