Groupset News

[RDY]

Indeed. I have far greater confidence in Wheel Top than Sensah or L-TWOO. Their 2x10 prototype electronic groupset from 2016 was pretty promising.

Yes, though they've been in stealth mode for a disconcertingly long time ...

[StiffWeenies]

Some interesting developments in the disc brake and hydraulic lever space. Riderever is a component brand owned by Jagwire focused on developing their own disc brakes aimed at the MTB market with some interesting exceptions.

The Riderever Triva is a hydraulic lever meant for time trial bikes that is designed around the SW-R9150 Di2 climbing switch. This implementation is not unlike the TRP Hylex RS hydraulic road lever and HD-T910 hydraulic TT lever both of which have provisions for mounting either a SW-R600 Di2 climbing switch or an eTap Blip.

What does this all mean? Well it means that the proliferation of satellite shifting buttons like the newly released eTap AXS Blips, 12 speed SW-RS801 and 11 to 12 speed carryover SW-R9150 has made hydraulic levers more viable than ever. All any potential manufacturer of electronic groupsets has to do is make a compatible satellite shifting button that can be incorporated into the design of an existing lever from Riderever or TRP. Why throw resources at developing an entirely new hydraulic lever when you can just use a perfectly good existing design?

Riderever also has the very nice looking Attack-S hydraulic and MCX-2 mechanical flat mount callipers as well as the seriously cool Aero-A aero rim brake. I just hope that they eventually make their own hydraulic road lever with satellite shifter integration and also a flat mount version of their 4 piston Attack-XR post mount calliper.

[StiffWeenies]

Here's a new video showing the Wheel Top 1x12 wireless electronic MTB groupset in action. Rumors are pointing to Wheel Top revealing their road groupset this year.

And L-TWOO just dropped the companion app for their upcoming 1x wireless electromechanical MTB shifter. Not that exciting since it's just another Archer D1x/Cell NXS/XShifter-style implementation.

News on Sensah's electronic groupset and hydraulic brakes will come "after the Shanghai bike show" according to the comments section on this video

[00Garza]

Cautiously optimistic about Sensah's hydraulic levers. Expecting first run to have some issues, but Sensah has been good about fixing and replacing their mistakes.

[StiffWeenies]

Coming straight from the horse's mouth!


CONFIRMED:
carbon brifters for SRX Pro
OSPW for SRX Pro, ARX and XRX
hydraulic braking (油刹)
electronic shifting (电变)

[Schumo]

Here's a new video showing the Wheel Top 1x12 wireless electronic MTB groupset in action. Rumors are pointing to Wheel Top revealing their road groupset this year.

Seems to be available now.
https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005004029115107.html

But more than 30% more expensive than a GX AXS.

[StiffWeenies]

Seems to be available now.
https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005004029115107.html

But more than 30% more expensive than a GX AXS.

Woah, Ali price is so much higher than Taobao...

Not yet officially listed for sale in China but the rumored price is apparently 2.3K RMB. There was also a 1.9K RMB figure floating around but I think that's a bit unrealistic.

They're still working on improving the batteries and the official launch is still a month away to coincide with the now postponed/cancelled May bike show. However with the current situation I wouldn't be surprised if Wheel Top and Sensah delay their new product launches.

EDIT: 2.3K RMB MSRP confirmed

[Icyseanfitz]

Seems to be available now.
https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005004029115107.html

But more than 30% more expensive than a GX AXS.

Can't see the point in releasing such an expensive option tbh, as you said axs GX can be got for sub 400euro now, we buy Chinese stuff for the value proposition and this has none

[StiffWeenies]

Here's a new video showing the Wheel Top 1x12 wireless electronic MTB groupset in action. Rumors are pointing to Wheel Top revealing their road groupset this year.

And L-TWOO just dropped the companion app for their upcoming 1x wireless electromechanical MTB shifter. Not that exciting since it's just another Archer D1x/Cell NXS/XShifter-style implementation.

News on Sensah's electronic groupset and hydraulic brakes will come "after the Shanghai bike show" according to the comments section on this video

can't believe I missed this teaser of the Wheel Top road groupset

[cramy]

any update on the road electronic version?

[StiffWeenies]

Wheel Top just dropped this 46 minute long video explaining their MTB groupset and are currently recruiting beta testers for their road groupset.

I'll briefly summarise some of the more interesting points:

Road groupset beta testers are asked to prepare bikes with "11 speeds or more," meaning that the road groupset will support both 11 and 12 speeds like the MTB.

The MTB groupset will support 11 and 12 speed cassettes from SRAM and Shimano via software presets controlled on the companion app.

The MTB groupsets you saw listed for sale earlier this year were actually pre-production units offloaded by beta testers.

Wheel Top's road brifters will work with the MTB rear derailleur for gravel mullet setups.

The MTB rear derailleur uses an 800mAh battery (47.5g) with a slimmer 400mAh optional battery coming in the future. For reference, the SRAM battery is 300mAh and weighs 25g.

They'll release a downhill version of the MTB rear derailleur with a shorter cage (75mm vs 93mm).

There'll be a decked out version of the MTB rear derailleur with black and gold pulleys (unclear if OSPW or not).

The MTB derailleur can shift through all twelve cogs positions (NOT changing gears) in as little as 1.8 seconds. Wheel Top aren't happy with this as they aren't good enough numbers for a road groupset.

Wheel Top's road brifters will be mechanical. Hydraulic is not mentioned.

The road groupset is on target to be released by year end.

In other news, Hillhouse Capital (leading private equity firm) invested in L-TWOO back in February 2021.

Nothing new from Sensah.

[fattyrice]

Wheel Top just dropped this 46 minute long video explaining their MTB groupset and are currently recruiting beta testers for their road groupset.

I'll briefly summarise some of the more interesting points:

Road groupset beta testers are asked to prepare bikes with "11 speeds or more," meaning that the road groupset will support both 11 and 12 speeds like the MTB.

The MTB groupset will support 11 and 12 speed cassettes from SRAM and Shimano via software presets controlled on the companion app.

The MTB groupsets you saw listed for sale earlier this year were actually pre-production units offloaded by beta testers.

Wheel Top's road brifters will work with the MTB rear derailleur for gravel mullet setups.

The MTB rear derailleur uses an 800mAh battery (47.5g) with a slimmer 400mAh optional battery coming in the future. For reference, the SRAM battery is 300mAh and weighs 25g.

They'll release a downhill version of the MTB rear derailleur with a shorter cage (75mm vs 93mm).

There'll be a decked out version of the MTB rear derailleur and with black and gold pulleys (unclear if OSPW or not).

The MTB derailleur can shift through all twelve cogs positions (NOT changing gears) in as little as 1.8 seconds. Wheel Top aren't happy with this as they aren't good enough numbers for a road groupset.

Wheel Top's road brifters will be mechanical. Hydraulic is not mentioned.

The road groupset is on target to be released by year end.

In other news, Hillhouse Capital (leading private equity firm) invested in L-TWOO back in February 2021.

Nothing new from Sensah.

Goodness. StiffWeenies, any chance you have a twitter or microblog? Your news aggregation and updates are just unmatched on the Chinese cycling scene! Many thanks for taking the time.

[1Sigma]

Goodness. StiffWeenies, any chance you have a twitter or microblog? Your news aggregation and updates are just unmatched on the Chinese cycling scene! Many thanks for taking the time.

He could totally start a channel

[RDY]

Sounds pretty positive from the ecosystem perspective with everything being compatible and working together - assuming it does work.

I think a hydraulic road version is inevitable though, and soon, given how much more difficult cable actuated brake (and shifter) routing has become, and the rapidly diminishing availability of rim brake frames.

@StiffWeenies - is there any news on what might be the final retail price? Or how it might be priced on AliExpress? Presumably quite a bit cheaper than those beta units.

[StiffWeenies]

Sounds pretty positive from the ecosystem perspective with everything being compatible and working together - assuming it does work.

I think a hydraulic road version is inevitable though, and soon, given how much more difficult cable actuated brake (and shifter) routing has become, and the rapidly diminishing availability of rim brake frames.

@StiffWeenies - is there any news on what might be the final retail price? Or how it might be priced on AliExpress? Presumably quite a bit cheaper than those beta units.

MTB groupset (shifter, derailleur, charger, 2x batteries) is 2300 RMB. They’ll also bundle it with their own crankset and the SRoad 10-50T cassette.

Estimates for the Road groupset (brifters & derailleurs) are all over the place. Some say 3K-3.5K, others 4K and up

Keep in mind that Ali prices are typically 10-15% more than Taobao, not to mention shipping and duties