LTWOO ER9 & ERX - Electronic groepsets

[PineappleExpress234]

I'm really excited for the TT brake and shifters LTWOO had on display at the Shanghai bike show. Maybe I'll be able to build an electric shifting tri bike under 8k aud

[rockerplates.de]

Well, especially as a triathlet i would stay away from ltwoo on my racebike..not many races i participate and loads of training...thrown away if you have a faulty whatever....
i mean, this is so typical chinese...they ignore the problems, give you a hard time when something is defective , do not change it fast and after loosing trust in the brand due to lacking reliability, they try to enter triathlon.....?

[Serge_K]

Yeah given the failure rate on the er9/erx, i'd wait a good 2 years after they RELEASE the triathlon version to put it on a race day bike. race bikes have to work on race day, enough things can go wrong without worrying about whether your group will decide to shift that day.
Eventually though, if they do get their act together, it will indeed be great. Should also open the doors to the "order a full custom bike from china straight to your door" market. Everything is in Xiamen, once their groups work, should be very doable to get someone to build you a bike, or at least most of it, the way Trek bikes arrive in shops, for eg (plenty of videos of Trek unboxing on YT).

[Avalius]

The reason why I've sold my EGR group. Travelling for those gravel races can't have an issue at race day. Road bike same but if it happens so be it, a race every week ..

[amacal1]

...if they do get their act together, it will indeed be great. Should also open the doors to the "order a full custom bike from china straight to your door" market. Everything is in Xiamen, once their groups work, should be very doable to get someone to build you a bike, or at least most of it, the way Trek bikes arrive in shops, for eg (plenty of videos of Trek unboxing on YT).

Don't forget the market pressure on SRAM and Shimano to price their stuff more reasonably or at least offer lower-end electronic parts. Ocme economies of scale kick in, there's no reason why electronic parts should command such a premium price compared to mechanical groupsets. There's SO many small precise parts that need to fit and function perfectly in order for a 10-11-12 speed groupset to shift reliably, and do so over hundreds and thousands of miles of use. I can't wrap my head around why that is the cheaper option, other than it's tried and true, they have supply networks all in place, the design and engineering for manufacturing is all in place already, etc. etc. and momentum carries it all forward.

[toxin]

Purely because ppl are willing to pay more for electronic

[ricedaddy]

There might be some R&D costs that went into electronic group sets they are still trying to pay off, even if manufacturing should be cheaper than mechanical

[Serge_K]

There might be some R&D costs that went into electronic group sets they are still trying to pay off, even if manufacturing should be cheaper than mechanical

That's wishful thinking unfortunately. These companies have been patent trolling for years, it's been the new rule of the game for many years. A friend used to be an intellectual property lawyer in London, representing the likes of Amazon. It is impossible to imagine how cunning these companies are at preventing competition. Amazon for example has patented so much shit related to conveyor belts that it's almost impossible to achieve their efficiency without tripping patents. Is it fair? Absolutely not.
SRAM and Shimano do essentially the same thing.
At these price levels, it's pure price gouging. Especially when you consider the price difference between OEM pricing and retail pricing, especially on Shimano.