Wheeltop EDS GeX

[dolph]

Does anyone have an opinion on the new wheeltop calipers? I installed my gex groupset with magura mt4 calipers because my frame doesn't take flat-mount.

My "old" road bike has shimano rs805 calipers, I don't know if my new unused wheeltop calipers would be an upgrade or downgrade, but they look nice.

[eeney]

I can only compare against the Sram Rival brakes I replaced, the Wheeltop are much much better, I was decending last week using one finger from the brakes on steep bumpy dirt descents.

[dolph]

I can only compare against the Sram Rival brakes I replaced, the Wheeltop are much much better, I was decending last week using one finger from the brakes on steep bumpy dirt descents.

Not in love with SRAM rival either, moving from ratio 1x12 rival to wheeltop gex, no matter how much bleeding I did on a couple of rides my rear brake got the shift paddle stuck on the handlebar, the bike had external routing so bleeding was fine.

Braking power was good descending 800m altitude forest paths without fading, but didn't like the lever travel.

[eeney]

.... no matter how much bleeding I did on a couple of rides my rear brake got the shift paddle stuck on the handlebar, the bike had external routing so bleeding was fine.

Exactly the issue I had, tried bleeding and all tricks to pressurize but still had to pull the lever far too far to get any braking.  I thought the need was for a preload adjustment like the Sram force, but the Gex doesn't need this.

In fact, with the GeX, I cut the hose, held it so as to lose minimum fluid, fit them to the shifters and done.  No bleeding, they worked perfectly with the out of the box pre-bled hoses. And this is the first time I have fit disc brakes and hoses, I was shocked in a good good way. Also great that Wheeltop include a cheap bleed kit in the box.

[dolph]

Luckily my magura calipers also come prebleed, I will be installing them this week.

[trcycling]

Does anyone have an opinion on the new wheeltop calipers? I installed my gex groupset with magura mt4 calipers because my frame doesn't take flat-mount.

My "old" road bike has shimano rs805 calipers, I don't know if my new unused wheeltop calipers would be an upgrade or downgrade, but they look nice.

Same issue. Post mount frame. I left my Shimano RS-785 calipers (well, sadly, I'm an idiot and had already removed them before I realized the problem) in place. They work well with the Wheeltop levers. Even seem to have done it cleanly enough to avoid a bleed.

[trcycling]

Question to those who've been running Wheeltop groupsets for a while (GeX or otherwise):

Is the app battery status indicator reliable? (IOW is it reasonably accurate in representing SoC and tracking consistently)

I went out for 4 hour ride this weekend and it went UP from 83% to 85%. If the battery lasts the 20k shifts that Wheeltop claims (GeX), that's totally explainable by the nature of state of charge approximations and the battery being COLD in the morning and warm when I got home (IOW down a few % of use but up a few more % worth of voltage due to temps).  But it could also be erratic readings. I'd like to be able to trust the general level reported.

[dolph]

Question to those who've been running Wheeltop groupsets for a while (GeX or otherwise):

Is the app battery status indicator reliable? (IOW is it reasonably accurate in representing SoC and tracking consistently)

I went out for 4 hour ride this weekend and it went UP from 83% to 85%. If the battery lasts the 20k shifts that Wheeltop claims (GeX), that's totally explainable by the nature of state of charge approximations and the battery being COLD in the morning and warm when I got home (IOW down a few % of use but up a few more % worth of voltage due to temps).  But it could also be erratic readings. I'd like to be able to trust the general level reported.

No idea, I'm planning to buy an extra charger cable + usbc-usba adapter to add to my recur kit, it adds less weight than a tire lever and you can charge the deraileur with your phone.

[trcycling]

No idea, I'm planning to buy an extra charger cable + usbc-usba adapter to add to my recur kit, it adds less weight than a tire lever and you can charge the deraileur with your phone.

Yeah, I've got a spare cable on it's way. I don't ever like to have electronic gear with proprietary connectors without a backup.    But I don't think I'd want to even try to pull power from my phone (I'm not sure iPhones support it but I'm curious now)  But definitely a battery pack if away for a while. 

[dolph]

Finally got everything installed, lever feel is great with magura calipers, the bits is well modulated but strong. Indexing was easy and pretty painless.

Yeah, I've got a spare cable on it's way. I don't ever like to have electronic gear with proprietary connectors without a backup.    But I don't think I'd want to even try to pull power from my phone (I'm not sure iPhones support it but I'm curious now)  But definitely a battery pack if away for a while.

My phone has a 4600mah battery,wheeltop battery is 800mah, 100-200 mah from a phone battery is a tiny percentage. Powerbank can stay in the hotel or garage.

[gloscherrybomb]

When bleeding the caliper (which was a disaster) the rubber o-ring snapped. It leaks without it. Does anyone know the spec for a replacement?

[dolph]

When bleeding the caliper (which was a disaster) the rubber o-ring snapped. It leaks without it. Does anyone know the spec for a replacement?

You can check the other caliper, but i think it might be easier to get a shimano, magura or campagnolo caliper. You can easily spend the 30€ that a shimano caliper costs in petrol to look for the oring, plus wheeltop pads still work in shimano caliper.

Shimano 105 or magura mt4 are cheap And work well. My braking combo wheeltop-magura mt4 feels much better than my xtr mtb, shimano road And sram rival it replaced. Time will tell how it works in the long térm but for now it s almost perfect.

[trcycling]

You can check the other caliper, but i think it might be easier to get a shimano, magura or campagnolo caliper. You can easily spend the 30€ that a shimano caliper costs in petrol to look for the oring, plus wheeltop pads still work in shimano caliper.

Shimano 105 or magura mt4 are cheap And work well. My braking combo wheeltop-magura mt4 feels much better than my xtr mtb, shimano road And sram rival it replaced. Time will tell how it works in the long térm but for now it s almost perfect.

While I'd hate to see you toss calipers for the loss of an O-ring, I can confirm that normal Shimano calipers mate up and work fine. I had to do it because I have post mount not flat.

[gloscherrybomb]

Thanks but I got an O-ring delivered from eBay for £1.30 so will certainly try that first!

[Dlloyd15]

First proper ride with the new GeX today, 3 hours gravel and road.  It performed flawlessly, all gear changes were quick and seamless, braking was great, basically nothing to say but good things.  I swapped bikes with another rider who has Sram Force, he thought the GeX was just as good, pretty much the same.

My most pleasing feature was the shape of the shifters, much more comfortable than any of my previous Sram or Shimano, perhaps because I have smallish hands, I'm not sure, but I found them really comfortable.

I've done my build slowly, my first time fitting disc brakes and an electronic groupset, so I had a few learnings.  Some key points and info about my build:

• I had to back off the K, lower limit screw in order to initialse my gear 1
• I set up the gears, nicely indexed on the workstand, but during a short test ride I had to fine tune 2 or 3 gears, but this was really easy
• The weight of the groupset was a tad lighter than my Sram Rival groupset
• I'm running a Sram Eagle chain with a Spedao 11-50t 12 speed cassette, working well and very very light for the money
• I did not need to bleed the brakes at all, had to shorten the hoses, insert new barbs, connect and go..... all good out of the box
• The groupset comes with a bleed kit, nice touch
• For shortening the brake hoses I bought a tool from Aliexpress, makes it so easy to cut and insert the barb, great investment
• Total cost with brake hose tool, groupset and cassette ~$530 USD (I already had a chain

Next step is to see how easy it is to swap between wheels, one 12spd, one 11spd

Nice finishing touch to my Gravel bike:

• Waltly Chinese Titanium frame
• Wheeltop GeX groupset
• Lun Grapid 650b wheelset
• Spedao lightweight cassette
• Uno Aliexpress lightweight bars and stem
• 160mm Xcadey power crank
• Oval chainring, Stone from Aliexpress
• Kactus lightweight rotors
• 2nd set of road wheels from Speeder Cycling
• Branded stuff includes Sram chain, Pirelli Tyres, SMP saddle and XTR pedals (half price sale)

Could you post a link to the AliExpress tool you used to cut the brake hoses? Did you also get the replacement barbs from Ali?