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Re: LTWOO ER9 & ERX - Electronic groepsets
I'm still leaning more and more towards ER9 instead of 105 for my next build, even at equal pricepoint Same here. I was so hoping that er9 would be as good as it seemed. These issues make me hesitate a bit but I still I'm gonna give it a go. Let alone the fact that I can reuse my 11sp components for now. I don’t need to upgrade to 12sp like with Shimano. I don’t need to use proprietary flat top chains like with Sram. I can fine trim the LTWOO RD to work perfectly with whatever cassette. All this makes it very tempting. September 12, 2023, 01:13:53 PM |
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Re: LTWOO ER9 & ERX - Electronic groepsets
YouTube or traditional cycling media, anything but a long term review can only ever show part of the full picture and should be treated as such. But I agree that especially YouTubers tend to get prematurely overexcited when receiving a product for review. And the need to put out as much content as possible certainly doesn’t help I imagine.
September 13, 2023, 12:36:40 AM |
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Re: LTWOO ER9 & ERX - Electronic groepsets
True. But one of the key selling points of LTWOO er9 for me is the flexibility it offers. I wouldn't have to upgrade my drivetrain components. I keep my lightweight 11sp cassette. I keep my chain. I keep my powermeter crankset and I only upgrade to electronic shifting. In my country, the cheapest offer for LTWOO er9 is 460 EUR. Nothing else can match that. 105 Di2 at that kind of discount is tempting, but I'd have to upgrade to 12speed and downgrade some of my drivetrain components. There's also super cheap offers for Sram Force etap upgrade kits. But again, I'm stuck with 12 speed, I need a different freehub body, different cassette, different chain, different chainrings. So all in all these options are always significantly more expensive. If you build a bike from scratch and have no other components lying around, I agree that LTWOO is a lot less tempting, however. September 14, 2023, 03:30:19 AM |
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Re: LTWOO ER9 & ERX - Electronic groepsets
You can run a Shimano 12s (HG body) with SRAM AXS (I use that combo on the trainer). The issue is that you loss the 10t smallest cog (XDR is mandatory). Not a problem in the trainer, but could be an issue on road, with 46T or 48T big chainring. There is no HG 12sp cassette that is officially compatible with Sram road flattop chains, as far as I', aware. It's gonna work and it's gonna shift fine, I guess. But in theory the rollers and the ramping of the teeth don't fit together 100% resulting in accelerated wear. Most people seem to consider it a non issue, however. September 15, 2023, 03:52:51 AM |
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Re: Elitewheels Edge wheelset
I had a set of these in my workshop for a while. I built a V-BR099 with these for a friend. See the dedicated thread for photos. I measured them to have a consistent inner width of 21.3-21.5. Outer width maxes out at roughly 30mm slightly below the rim edge IIRC. I just did a ride with my friend yesterday where he rode these wheels. Nothing bad to say really. They’re stupendously light for a wheelset that deep and that cheap. I measured the spoke tension to be perfect throughout. They were absolutely true. I did specifically recommend them to him bc of the great value for money. The freehub is the loudest I ever heard. It can be quietened with a bit of grease or oil I guess. So they’re great is all I can say. He’s only done around 200km with these. So no long term experience obviously. And: They’re painted in matte black. Wouldn’t be my cup of tea, personally. I like my wheels to have the carbon visible. September 18, 2023, 12:39:02 PM |
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Re: Elitewheels Edge wheelset
Same here. I forgot to mention that. Tax free shipping comes on top and you need to take that into account. Rim tape was not enough for two wheels. I’m running two wheelsets with Pillar 1420s now and another two with Sapim CX-Rays. I’ve also built custom wheels with CX-Rays, Pillar 1420s and CN Mac424 spokes, which are a CX-Ray copy as well. It might be true that Sapim uses higher grade steel. But honestly, geometrically these spokes are virtually identical and all these wheels are running fine without issues after many years. When given the choice, I’d happily choose 1420s over CX-Rays to save some money. Cheap aluminium nipples can be more of a problem IMO. I only use Sapim Polyax nipples for aluminium. With the cheap ones, the anodising wears off when tightening them down and they corrode and seize easily over time, especially when a wheelset sees a lot of dirt and water or salty winter roads. If you do wash your bike regularly with non aggressive cleaner, it shouldn’t be an issue, though. September 18, 2023, 03:11:53 PM |
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Re: LTWOO RX hydro sets
I've recently built a V-BR099 with LTWOO RX12. I was most impressed by the shifters and brakes. The quality is really impressive for the money. The brakes work fine. Everything is super straightforward. Bleeding was easy (once you realize that you need to back off the little reach adjust grub screw in the lever completely in order for the master cylinder to go into the zero position and not block the oil flow). I like that the FD has its own cable stop and cable tension adjustment mechanism. That makes a lot of sense particularly for fully internally routed frames. You can just run the housing all the way to the FD and adjust the cable tension there. No need for stupid cable stop designs in the frame. I was least impressed by the RD. The whole thing looks just a bit cheap. The derailleur cage is made of carbon on the outside (which honestly seems to be more for looks than for stiffness) while the inside is made of some sort of polymer (which arrived slightly bent and I had to bend it back into shape - the seller promised to send a spare derailleur cage). The cable routing is just borderline stupid. Like other people have said already, the cable has to make a super tight turn from the barrel adjuster to where it is clamped down on the RD parallelogram. Therefore, it severely rubs agains the RD housing. I used some liner between barrel adjuster and the clamping screw to alleviate the problem. But still, it's just a very bad design. It shifts fine. Not stellar but fine. I wasn't able to get it noise free in the stand. Paired with a ZTTO 11-34 12sp cassette, there was always a clicky gear on either end of the cassette. Curiously though, on the road when shifting under load it is not an issue. So that's fine, I guess. Lastly, the brifters are obviously Campagnolo copies internally. I'm running the original 12sp Campagnolo Record on my rim brake Velobuild VB-R218 which uses the same kind of mechanism (Campagnolo Ultra Shift). I can say that the LTWOO thumb paddle requires significantly more force and is harder to shift accurately and not overshift compared to Campag. Time will tell if with further use the action gets easier. Campag are more or less producing this tech ever since their first ergopower 8sp shifters came out so I guess they had 30+ years to perfect it. For the money, I think it's a great groupset but IMO especially the RD can be improved. If the cable pull ratio is identical, I'd probably put a 12sp 105 derailleur on there and be done with it. September 19, 2023, 01:19:52 AM |
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Re: TanTan TT-X38 Build
Well, I'm not gonna lie. The recent videos by Trace Velo and China Cycling had me worried. I was very close to canceling my order but decided to try LTWOO er9 anyway. Honestly, I'm doing it mainly because I want to use the rest of the parts that I already have. I already built a bike with RX12 so I know the brakes and I can say that they're totally fine. I don't like the weird adapters and the bulky look of the LTWOO calipers. I just happen to have Campagnolo calipers and I'm confident they'll work with these brifters since the braking unit in there is a Campagnolo copy anyway. About the wheels: They're not expensive. Quite the contrary, actually. Hence, I'm very curious how these turn out. These are the rims: https://serenadebikes.net/allroad-700c-carbon-bicycle-rims-disc-brake-55mm-depth-31mm-wide-p4512786.html These are the hubs - DT Swiss 240 copies: https://serenadebikes.net/sr032-serenadebikes-hub-front-and-rear-24-holes-straightpull-disc-center-lock-road-thru-axle-p4499979.html Total cost including tax free shipping was 515 USD. Which is pretty competitive pricing in my book. The rims are also available in a hookless version. But I chose a hooked clincher rim for versatility. Ordering process was pretty straightforward. Communication via Whatsapp. They answer during Chinese business hours so basically within 24h. The do have the occasional discount like free shipping and they got a very wide range of wheels. There's an interesting sub 1.200g gravel wheelset which is dirt cheap, for instance. That might be the next upgrade for my gravel rig. I'll keep you guys updated. September 19, 2023, 01:51:03 PM |
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Re: LTWOO ER9 & ERX - Electronic groepsets
The "Official LTWOO Store" on Aliexpress is not actually operated by LTWOO. This at least is what Joe from China Cycling said in the comments under his latest video on the whole LTWOO erx/er9 saga. So that might explain your experience with them somewhat. Just saying. I'm not sure, but maybe it would actually be quicker and easier to file a warranty claim on the official LTWOO website? There is a section for that but that requires you to upload an invoice and enter a serial number. Not all units seem to actually have a serial number - the early ones in particular don't. September 21, 2023, 01:06:41 PM |
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Re: dcrf26 frame - Scott Foil?
Can someone please tell me the length of the seatpost? Is a minimum insertion length printed on it or otherwise mentioned? Seatpost length is 350mm. Minimum insertion is usually 1/3 of that. September 26, 2023, 12:14:41 PM |
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