LTWOO ER9 & ERX - Electronic groepsets

[rasch]

the mailman rang a few minutes ago. Had to weigh everthing before i rememered to tell about the tax and so.
Price as declared was 83€ and i payed 19% VAT (15,77€) and a 6€ handling fee from DHL. So in total 21,72€ on top of the original price.

Thanks!
Yes in Portugal would be much different as they'd want the real invoice.. In Belgium I dunno... still waiting. Anyway I got a full groupset 105 hydraulic for 190euro delivered which I think wasn't bad. Going mechanical for now eheh

[Serge_K]

I got a full groupset 105 hydraulic for 190euro delivered which I think wasn't bad. Going mechanical for now eheh

Second hand I guess?

[jonathanf2]

Yesterday I took the ER9 groupset on it's first ride doing a quick 40km and 600m of climbing. I took it up and down one of the worst road climbs in our city with lots of pot holes, dirt and loose rocks. My aim was to see if I could drop the chain while constantly shifting the ER9 using the whole gear range. The ride included flats, climbing and fast downhill descents. The ER9 worked amazingly well! Shifting was smooth, my cables stayed in-place, I never dropped the chain especially on the fast bumpy downhill and I was totally satisfied with the performance.

There were only a few issues I had when riding. I seemed to accidentally hit the left shift button inadvertently switching to the small chainring while descending in the drops. Also I didn't like that both left FD buttons functioned the same. I'd prefer to have one button dedicated to the small chainring and the other to the big chainring. Without auto trim, it's hard to hear if the chain is rubbing on the FD or not especially when listening to music. The LTwoo grips are a bit too narrow for my taste, I tend to prefer beefier grips. The LTwoo hydro brake calipers work fine, but they're definitely heavy, I might swap them out later on for some lightweight calipers.

Also I think 12 speed is worth switching over to if you plan on buying this groupset. I'm not sure if the smoothness of my ride was attributed to electronic shifting, the wider range cassette, a freshly waxed chain or all of the above? Either way I liked I was able to keep a similar cog range as my 11 speed 11-32t and get the added benefit of the 34t in the low gear.

In regards to gearing I think 50-34t is as big as you can go with an 11-34t cassette with the ER9 without compromising shift performance. It can shift 52-36t + 11-34t, but without a clutch or some sort of cage stiffness adjustment, it feels a bit sloppy. Regarding battery life with lots of shifting due to up and down terrain, I was at 84% from full charge after the ride. I think it'll be a good idea to buy an additional charging cable as backup and maybe bring a power bank if planning a century or more. Also I'm not sure how long the CR2032 batteries will last in the shifters? I think I'll have to pack a few batteries in my saddle bag and dedicated screwdriver moving forward.

Overall my first impressions of the ER9 is very positive. With tax and shipping the whole thing cost me $350 USD for the groupset and it seems the early production kinks have been ironed out (crossing fingers). Also the money saved going with the ER9 can be applied cutting weight elsewhere like a lightweight cassette (which I opted for) or lightweight brake calipers. I still think it's a good idea to have a firm grasp of tuning a mechanical groupset. I don't think I'd jump straight into electronic without knowing how to tune a mechanical bike.

[rasch]

Second hand I guess?

Yes yes forgot to mention that ahha. Still I think it was a nice deal as it includes all (ex disc rotors and crank)

Now just seeking wheels and frame to match it... So far divided between lcr017, ltk 268 or vb066.
Currently have a speedster 30 and I think it would be nice maybe to have sth racket though I'm not going young

[zerstorer]

There were only a few issues I had when riding. I seemed to accidentally hit the left shift button inadvertently switching to the small chainring while descending in the drops. Also I didn't like that both left FD buttons functioned the same. I'd prefer to have one button dedicated to the small chainring and the other to the big chainring. Without auto trim, it's hard to hear if the chain is rubbing on the FD or not especially when listening to music. The LTwoo grips are a bit too narrow for my taste, I tend to prefer beefier grips. The LTwoo hydro brake calipers work fine, but they're definitely heavy, I might swap them out later on for some lightweight calipers.

I think you have "one touch shift" enabled, that's why both shifter paddles work the same for the FD. The default config is one paddle for big, one for small.

Also agree that the hoods feel a little too small/thin for my hands. Prefer sensah ones which feel meatier.

[jonathanf2]

I think you have "one touch shift" enabled, that's why both shifter paddles work the same for the FD. The default config is one paddle for big, one for small.

Also agree that the hoods feel a little too small/thin for my hands. Prefer sensah ones which feel meatier.

I indeed had one touch shift activated! I turned that feature off. Also today I did some more fine tuning to the FD. Since I activated gear protection, I'm able to optimize my FD high and low gearing a bit more without worrying too much about big/big and small/small since those gears will be closed off. Also one little issue. I found when removing the wheel, the lower jockey wheel with chain rubs up the lower portion of the rear derailleur. Something to keep in mind.

[Sebastian]

Keep in mind that the gear protection feature will not entirely block the big/big or small/small combo. If you are on either end of the cassette and click the FD shifter buttons it will still make the shift despite gear protection. So you should at least have it set up so your chain won’t get too slack or is not too short, otherwise you might damage your RD.

[jonathanf2]

Keep in mind that the gear protection feature will not entirely block the big/big or small/small combo. If you are on either end of the cassette and click the FD shifter buttons it will still make the shift despite gear protection. So you should at least have it set up so your chain won’t get too slack or is not too short, otherwise you might damage your RD.

I found on the ER9 fine tuning the FD high/low limits somewhere between the "ideal" setting and how I would adjust it with gear protection OFF to be a good compromise. My low and high gear will run smoother using gear protection, but I'm still within tolerances if I accidentally go big/big or small/small. Also I found chain length remained the same with either a 50-34/11-34t or a 52-36/11-32t setup. Since this bike is mainly used as a climber, I opted for the lower gear 1st option.

[raisinberry777]

Review of the new ERX from Local Alien / CLIFF on YouTube:



The new FD cage is a different shape from before. He's reporting less chain drops from front shifting compared to previous ERX.

[Serge_K]

I've installed my 5th er9 on a pinarello grevil clone I'm testing. Did a 4h gravel ride today, very varied terrain including technical stuff where you lose traction, have to choose your line, silly steep bits, all imaginable surfaces, blablabla. I put a 50/34 11/36 (all Chinese) with a 2 euro cage extender. I was shifting constantly and used all the gears. Didn't miss a shift. 34/36 really lets you climb up a tree, the limiting factor is my absence of skill and tendency to lift the front end. I ended up folded in two on top of the bars to keep traction.
Really pleased with the stuff.

[Benbenben]

I can't seem to find the er9 when I search it on the app. Any buttons I need to click to make it enter search mode? I tried searching that info many places.

[Serge_K]

The new FD cage is a different shape from before. He's reporting less chain drops from front shifting compared to previous ERX.

I've had my fair share of chain drops on one of the bikes i installed. It comes down to calibration / setting it up properly, after which, it doesnt drop. But all the better if they somehow improved that (I suspect he just installed / setup the new one better though).

I can't seem to find the er9 when I search it on the app. Any buttons I need to click to make it enter search mode? I tried searching that info many places.

Do you mean you're trying to pair the group with your phone using the app? as long as the group is on (which means as long as you can shift up / down with the shifters), your app on the phone should find it. If the group is sleeping, you wont find it. Make sure it's fully charged, make sure your bluetooth is on, your phone is charged, both FD & RD are connected to the battery, all the usual / obvious Sometimes my phone is in a bad mood and it takes 2-3 tries before connecting to a group, but i have 5 active groups on my app. It always ends up working.

[kbernstein]

I can't tell from the aliexpress pictures, are the derailleur cages swappable or glued like sensah? I would be curious if an OSPW could potentially increase the clearance a little bit for a gravel bike. Mine has 31-40 lowest and I'm still grinding up some climbs

[Benbenben]

Fixed now. It was the location permission from the phone that was preventing it to see the er9. Weird, but fixed. Thanks!

[BoomerE36]

Perhaps the wrong thread but I see there are people with tons of experience with the L-twoo unit and looks like an updated version is much improved. Any sense of how it compares so far to the new Wheetop EDX TX electronic groupset?