Yes, this is eRX v3 with the monoblock caliper construction. It's a gorgeous piece of machinery, but I agree there seems to be a problem somewhere with the pistons/o-ring.

Confirmed that hose screw and bleed port screw are firmly in place. I've installed hydraulic brakes before, so I'm fairly familiar with the process. But if they were loose, wouldn't oil be coming from those areas rather than appearing on the brake pads?

Yeah, my plan is to thoroughly clean the caliper with alcohol again, install everything, pull it apart and show the appearance of the oil - all in a continuous video.

What's just odd to me is LTWOO's specific evidentiary requirements, e.g., "the exact position where the oil is leaking", as if oil is simply dripping out in real time.

Appreciate your response!

Hi folks,

I bought the L-TWOO eRX groupset from Panda Podium in December and install went well, except for the rear brake. First off, the brake force wasn't as good as the front brake. Thought it was air in the hoses, but after several bleeds, it didn't help. What did was squeezing the brake lever a few times so the brake pistons emerged about a millimeter before installing the pads and wheel.

So begin the first ride. Not long into it, I hear rear brake squealing. Run my finger over the rotor and it's a bit grimy. Get home, remove the pads and notice the back side nearest the pistons have oil on them, whilst the other side are rather slick.

Thinking there may have been some residual oil from the bleeds, with isopropyl alcohol and sanding I thoroughly clean everything - pistons, pads, and rotors. Next ride, same issues return.

At this point, I'm confident the problem is with the brake caliper itself. Contact L-TWOO twice at [email protected] and receive no response. Try Panda Podium and do get a response, but it's a bit odd. Despite pics and descriptions of the above, they (via L-TWOO apparently) now want VIDEO evidence of

- The exact position where the oil is leaking.
- The presence of the oil leak itself.
- Whether I have noticed a reduction in braking force due to this leak.

I'd already explained that the oil leak is slight and only emerges under riding conditions, i.e., when brake force is applied to pads and rotors. The caliper doesn't leak when the bike is at rest, nor is there oil continuously dripping out. It appears the brake pistons don't have a 100% seal with the caliper housing. So I'm not sure how to provide the requested video evidence.

The performance of the brake caliper is obviously not normal nor is it acceptable, so I'm perplexed by L-TWOO's/Panda Podium's pushback. Neither has offered any troubleshooting tips or solutions.

Anyone with a similar experience with these brakes? Tips how I can resolve it myself?

Do you think L-TWOO's request is reasonable?

Here's a pic of the brake pads after a ride that had little braking activity.

Thanks for your help.

I placed an order for these wheels! They'll be paired with a Yoeleo Altera G21 frame that I ordered from Power Meter City in CA.

Shipping to US was $150 via FedEx, with a $61 "service charge". Not sure what that is exactly. Tariff, maybe? Total cost about $1,270. Definitely an increase from what others had reported from last year.

In a comment to my order on the XMCS site, I asked if the titanium color hub could be swapped to black.

That was the trick, thanks much c.etzo!

On to troublshooting the BB!

Hi folks,

I purchased this RIRO carbon crankset last year and need to remove it to troubleshoot some bottom bracket noise (it's a Kactus BB). But for the life of me, I can't seem to remove the cranks after removing every bolt and ring. It's like the cranks are glued on somehow. An LBS installed the cranks and the mechanic who did it is no longer there. I feel like there's something I'm missing but can't see it. Here's a pic of the left crank that should just slide off, if it's anything close to how Shimano cranks work.

Here's my bike build with the Hygge 2024 EPS frame. Paint is obviously custom and I give them high marks for a quality job. They said they'd send me a new, shorter bearing for the issue with the headset gap I mentioned earlier in this thread.  Besides the frame, the crankset and BB is also Chinese, a Ryet and Kactus, respectively. Tires are 30mm front and 32mm rear (as measured) and easily clear, though rear is probably at max width.

Quote from: lkbfreak on November 27, 2024, 11:09:47 AM
Good. Now put all the spacers on and then the handlebar and compress it as much as possible and tighten first the cover bolt so it compresses everything down (I used 4 Nm). When everything is compressed then torque side bolts of the stem to 5 Nm. That should do. Or maybe the c ring is too thick because mine came in silver, not a black one.

Did you put the bearing ring at the bottom of the fork steerer first cause it makes 2 mm difference.

At least the headset cover is not tilted so it's a good sign. You're on a right way to solve it.
Hope i helped. Good luck!

It's hard to imagine the headset cover going any lower. Seriously, I've tried to get it lower! Plus, Henry's videos show the headset cover nearly flush with the frame before the handlebar cover is placed and tightened down to compress the assembly. Possibly it could happen but here I run into a possible LBS mistake. It seems they cut the steerer tube so that it is exactly flush with the top of the handlebars, whilst most everything I've seen shows the top of the steerer tube about 3mm below. This is with the maximum number of spacers so I can't add any in order to raise the bars. Did they mess up?



Confirmed the bearer ring is at the bottom of the fork steerer.

Hygge showed me a short video of the c-ring/headset cover interface that shows the c-ring in black like mine. However, their headset cover appears to be slightly different. I've reached out again today and will probably get an answer tonight.

Thanks for your help!

Quote from: lkbfreak on November 27, 2024, 12:54:30 AM

You see how the c-ring has a hole just slightly to the right of the blue marker? - it should align with the pin underneath the headset cover.

Cheers

So thank you for this diagram and feedback. I removed the handlebars and spacers so I could see exactly how the bearings, c-ring (i.e., split ring in the diagram), and headset cover (i.e., group cover in the diagram) were fitting. I also compared with Henry Chung's frame build videos to ensure everything had been placed correctly. I also ensured that the headset cover's pin was aligning with the hole in the c-ring.

After spending some time on this, I've concluded that there's something wrong with the interface between the headset cover and the c-ring. The headset cover simply won't descend enough to completely cover the c-ring and remove the gap. Here's an image of how the c-ring is fitting into the top bearing. This seems all correct:



Now when I place the headset cover over the c-ring, this is as far as it goes:



Again, I ensured that the headset pin was aligning with the hole in the c-ring.

I compared my c-ring with Henry's c-ring in the he did a couple months back. The look to be the same, but perhaps different color?

Am I missing anything here?

So my LBS built a bike with my Hygge frame that I'd received earlier this month. They said it went very smoothly. However, now that I've gotten it home, I noticed what seems like a lot of space between the final headset spacer and the frame. Talked to Hygge about it and they they think "it is not flat when screw the bolt", though I'm not sure what that means. Anyone have some thoughts on why this extra space?

This thread has been very helpful in making the decision to order a Model S frame with custom paint job. Thank you!

I've never built a complete bike before though I'm pretty handy and have many bicycle tools at my disposal. Can anyone recommend a resource for walking through a build for these Chinese frames? I'm going to use my current Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset, except for the crankset. Haven't decided on the brand for that, but will definitely go 165mm.

Also, recommendations for a bottom bracket?