WheelTop EDS TX Full Wireless Groupset (Chinese SRAM)

[Taicho_Cyclist]

Now it seems WheelTop is upping their game with reviews through Trace Velo and GC Performance. People will tend to listen to these influencers on Youtube.
I tried my best to bring up the product at the start of my journey. Guess its over to these big hitters now

[Tijoe]

I was an early adopter of Micro Shift when they first showed their products at Interbike.    How many years has it taken Microshift to become mainstream in the USA?  15 years?

I see a similar path for WheelTop.  Unless WheelTop is able to get the backing of one of the 5 largest bicycle companies, they will have a long slow growth curve ahead of them.  Despite "Influencers" reviewing the EDS TX,  there will be a long road for them to travel before they make any sales impact on the big boys.  We, who are part of Chinertown are on the fringe of component testing and consumption.   Last time I checked, perhaps 5+% max (very generous estimate) of bicyclists spec and assembly their own bicycles.  Seeing "Twitter"  brand of bicycles using WheelTop kits is probably the best approach they can take. 

I have been running my EDS OX system on one bike for over a year now and love it!  I put EDS OX on 2 more bikes and to date they all work fantastic!

I can't wait for my EDS TX disc order to arrive.  I am sure it will be every bid as good, or better, than the EDS OX. 

Here in the USA, new Chinese bicycle products have to fight the same old battle.
-  Yuck, It is made in China
-  Made in china will be poor quality and fail quickly unless quality is controlled by one of the main bicycle companies.
-  How and where do I get it serviced?
-  Is there a warranty?   Wait, it costs more to send it back to China than it cost new even if the warranty is good.
-  On and on go the excuses not to purchase independent Chinese products.

[BoomerE36]

I was an early adopter of Micro Shift when they first showed their products at Interbike.    How many years has it taken Microshift to become mainstream in the USA?  15 years?

I see a similar path for WheelTop.  Unless WheelTop is able to get the backing of one of the 5 largest bicycle companies, they will have a long slow growth curve ahead of them.  Despite "Influencers" reviewing the EDS TX,  there will be a long road for them to travel before they make any sales impact on the big boys.  We, who are part of Chinertown are on the fringe of component testing and consumption.   Last time I checked, perhaps 5+% max (very generous estimate) of bicyclists spec and assembly their own bicycles.  Seeing "Twitter"  brand of bicycles using WheelTop kits is probably the best approach they can take. 

I have been running my EDS OX system on one bike for over a year now and love it!  I put EDS OX on 2 more bikes and to date they all work fantastic!

I can't wait for my EDS TX disc order to arrive.  I am sure it will be every bid as good, or better, than the EDS OX. 

Here in the USA, new Chinese bicycle products have to fight the same old battle.
-  Yuck, It is made in China
-  Made in china will be poor quality and fail quickly unless quality is controlled by one of the main bicycle companies.
-  How and where do I get it serviced?
-  Is there a warranty?   Wait, it costs more to send it back to China than it cost new even if the warranty is good.
-  On and on go the excuses not to purchase independent Chinese products.

The last 3 questions are legitimate, how do you overcome them?

[Takiyaki]

I think they are OK with being fringe as long as they can make some money. Seems like Chinertown type brands don't need OEM volume to stay in business.

[TidyDinosaur]

The last 3 questions are legitimate, how do you overcome them?

You DIY and presume there is no warranty like on most Aliexpress stuff...

[Serge_K]

This reminds me of the book factfulness by Hans Rosling.
China used to make garbage using child labor. But that was decades ago. Most people (and I mean the vast majority of people) pretty much still assume it's true to this day. Except it isn't. China has long moved forward. In fact their industrial policy has been extremely successful. They also ran out of children, mostly, the population is now ageing AND in absolute decline, which is pushing costs up a lot.

Just looking at bikes, they've been OEM manufacturers for pretty much everything for eons, and they started to innovate, with carbon spokes for example. If you want custom built super wide rims with carbon spokes, you can get them from at least 5 chinese factories, but not from Zipp, and Campagnolo has become a running joke more than anything. The software on LTWOO groupsets is better than Shimano Sram (ability to change the number of gears, gear protection). I've helped develop a new gravel frame, it took them weeks to produce a mold and a prototype for me to ride. And this year you can buy a frame from lightcarbon that weighs 910g, which is the same weight as a Look 795 blade RS 2024... In fact Look's fork is heavier by 35g...

So if it took 15y for a Chinese brand to go from A to B doesnt mean it will take them another 15y to go from B to C. Things tend to accelerate.

It's tragic in a way, because in the west we barely make stuff anymore, everybody's become a life coach or a therapist (there's also a nice book on "bullshit jobs"), everybody's become super expensive with zero real skills. Applied to Cycling, it's the farce of "paying for R&D" which really means inflated staff doing god knows what, and paying for pro cycling teams.

[kbernstein]

Couldn't have said it better

[Takiyaki]

I don't think the question is around the quality of Chinese bike parts; anyone who knows anything about how and where high end bikes are made already knows this.

The hurdle is in the purchasing process. Most people don't want to go on an Aliexpress wild goose chase w/no warranty coverage. Even more streamlined direct to consumer stuff like Winspace and Yoeleo is still kind of fringe. So if the Chinese want to really have a presence in the mainstream Western bike market they need brick and mortar stores with no nonsense warranty coverage. That would really accelerate the price war with the major brands though, especially if the Chinese stuff is in the same stores.

But again I feel like Chinese brands are OK with their current direct to consumer model. They pass on the risk to brands they sell to as OEMs as well as to us consumers. Look at all the pain and agony the Western brands are going through right now.

[Serge_K]

I dont buy my bikes on aliexpress and i've had several warranty issues / goodwill instances when my counterparts did the right thing. I've had 2 or 3 warranty / crash claims with Farsports, i've had velobuild send me their updated C rings free of charge, i've received wheels that were centerlock after ordering 6 bolt and received adaptors free of charge. I've had a derailleur replaced free of charge & received a bunch of freebies.

Long story short, there's more to dealing with chinese counterparts than aliexpress & assuming no warranty coverage. I'm the highest tier on aliexpress and usually (not always) they are helpful. I had a bad experience with Alibaba, they clearly gave no F about me, that was disappointing, but i'm not going to cry about it, after all they were sticking to their T&Cs.
In fact 2 weeks ago i ordered via aliexpress a replacement crank arm for cheap. I shouldn't have paid for it, but this seller is a dick and i'll do my best not to work with them again. Either way it should save my ass for cheap enough.

I guess my point is: build relationships with sellers you learn to trust. It's so much easier than it used to be to have clear discussions with them. Either they speak decent english now, or they use translation software that actually works. It used to be an uphill battle to make yourself understood. Now i feel i can ask very detailed questions and i usually get spot on answers.

Last: the vast majority of people still assume that if it's unbranded and chinese, it's poor quality. I have friends who to this day will not use an unbranded chinese bike out of fear of death. Sadly (?), some of them are actually highly educated people with engineering degrees placing them in the 0.01% of the population. Others are just Luddites. Which ties back to Factfulness, in fact.
Most of this forum exists to navigate issues around oval holes, unfaced brake mount surfaces, out of tolerance interfaces, and structural integrity of parts. Together, usually referred to as QC. Aka, quality... Aka, who to order from to minimize the chances of ordering a dud.

[Avalius]

I once had an Xcadey PM die on me shortly after arrival. I spoke to the seller on aliexpress, made prove with videos and pictures. He sent me a new one without costs.
Another time I've had a set of replica wheels being held at customs, one of the biggest sellers on aliexpress send me another pair.
Not all those sellers are bad but indeed build relations with people and be gentle with them.

[jonathanf2]

In my large US city, I go on a few group rides and barely anyone builds their own bikes. I don't even think road cycling is growing in the US. Who wants to see a bunch of dentists doing a crit race around a business park? Also young people can't afford any of the mainstream bikes and/or associated gear. They have other things to worry about like cost of living! I was covering a fairly large road bike event a month ago and the majority of riders were in the older demographic with disposable income. Those people have better things to do instead of learning bike maintenance and will just pay an LBS to do the work.

I think LTwoo and Wheeltop will see more growth marketing in Asia. Road cycling appears to be growing there and it's probably why Shimano has been expanding factories especially in SE Asia.

https://www.agenzianova.com/en/news/Shimano-opens-a-factory-in-Singapore-to-increase-sales-in-South-East-Asia

The only potential growth I see in the US market is gravel. I could see LTwoo EGR doing well and they'd be smart to equip a few riders at events like UNBOUND gravel. If Wheeltop did a gravel groupset I think they could compete well against SRAM AXS XPLR.

[Takiyaki]

I dont buy my bikes on aliexpress and i've had several warranty issues / goodwill instances when my counterparts did the right thing. I've had 2 or 3 warranty / crash claims with Farsports, i've had velobuild send me their updated C rings free of charge, i've received wheels that were centerlock after ordering 6 bolt and received adaptors free of charge. I've had a derailleur replaced free of charge & received a bunch of freebies.

Long story short, there's more to dealing with chinese counterparts than aliexpress & assuming no warranty coverage. I'm the highest tier on aliexpress and usually (not always) they are helpful. I had a bad experience with Alibaba, they clearly gave no F about me, that was disappointing, but i'm not going to cry about it, after all they were sticking to their T&Cs.
In fact 2 weeks ago i ordered via aliexpress a replacement crank arm for cheap. I shouldn't have paid for it, but this seller is a dick and i'll do my best not to work with them again. Either way it should save my ass for cheap enough.

I guess my point is: build relationships with sellers you learn to trust. It's so much easier than it used to be to have clear discussions with them. Either they speak decent english now, or they use translation software that actually works. It used to be an uphill battle to make yourself understood. Now i feel i can ask very detailed questions and i usually get spot on answers.

Last: the vast majority of people still assume that if it's unbranded and chinese, it's poor quality. I have friends who to this day will not use an unbranded chinese bike out of fear of death. Sadly (?), some of them are actually highly educated people with engineering degrees placing them in the 0.01% of the population. Others are just Luddites. Which ties back to Factfulness, in fact.
Most of this forum exists to navigate issues around oval holes, unfaced brake mount surfaces, out of tolerance interfaces, and structural integrity of parts. Together, usually referred to as QC. Aka, quality... Aka, who to order from to minimize the chances of ordering a dud.

You're still kind of missing my point. Most people don't want to do all this research and build relationships with online vendors and all that. They just want to see and touch a bike, buy it and ride it. So if you want people to get more familiar and comfortable with Chinese brands, Chinese brands have to sell the same way as the big boys.

Personally I am not bothered if someone who knows nothing about Chinese brands thinks they are low quality death traps. It's not my job to educate strangers. I build bikes for myself, not to impress and educate random people.

[cycologist]

I asked wheeltop about this (early March 2024) and they said that due to distribution and patent issues the EDS TX group is currently only available in Europe.  There's a list of places they ship to, but not the United States or Canada at the moment.

I'm trying to retrofit an electronic system onto a rim-brake frame with Shimano cassette so if I could get it this groupset would be a perfect solution for me.

I bought a set (rim brake) from...elsewhere, since Wheeltop doesn't sell to where I am.  I have two edx ox sets (older, removable batteries) that have seen some abuse off road and that recommended eds tx to me.  I don't worry too much about being able to return parts -- in over 30 years of cycling, the stuff I've had fail has been less "I need to return it to get it warrantied and back on the bike" and more "this has failed in a way that reveals it sucks and I don't want it anymore".  But to me that's the downside: no way is anyone servicing this stuff, and I had to order from a place that seemed legit but who knows.  And, you have to work through figuring it out for yourself.    I used this video:



Have used various MTB grouops, Shimano (Ultegra and DA, including Di2, Campy (couple generations of mechanical Chorus), and Sram (lately Force wireless, mech groups before that).  Using those as a reference, this group feels solid and well made.  The shifting is snappy, spot on.  It's probably not quite as fast as Di2 but rear is faster than Force.  Front shifting puts SRAM to shame and is much easier than SRAM to set up besides (I'm running Ultegra cassette, chain, cranks).  Setup is easy (basically the video above, plus limit screws).  The hoods are well shaped and offer some comfortable hand positions.  Battery sat around for a week, fiddled around for a long time installing/tuning/test riding, then went for a 3.5 hour ride and it reports 95% remaining in front and 80% remaining in rear.  I swapped the buttons for rear shifting because it felt more correct to have the big paddle shift to a harder gear (SRAM righthand functionality I'm used to) and this was easily done on the road with the app.  Buttons are a little stiffer than SRAM or Shimano but worked well enough in long-finger gloves.

So far so good.  I'm hoping this gets me a few more years on a frame/fork/wheels that are fine, just a little out of date.

[biceryder]

Thanks for the feedback.  I’m going to be a little more patient but I did find an online retailer that will ship to my country for about 650.00 for the rim brake set.  I have an older Tarmac that I use for travel and training.  It works perfectly fine with R7000 but I would love to update it to EDS just as an exercise in pure vanity…

At 650.00 for a rim brake upgrade, I’m hesitant until there are more end user reviews.  If it was in the 500.00 range I probably would have already bought it.

[toxin]

Wait a few months for aluiminium rim brake version to come out. They delayed it to adjust the manufacturing processes because demand was higher than expected