I have had this group set on my bike for the last 2 weeks and I had exactly the same thought about a change in indexing when in race mode. 👍🏼 Really pleased with it otherwise. Fingers crossed regards longevity. 🤞🏼
I liked the shifting and I have a feeling that if I went back and slightly reindexed it I could get it to work perfectly in both. Plus my chain is a bit slack if I’m honest so I think a new chain would have helped but I still think there’s a very slight difference between the two
I haven’t experienced any rattle from the levers, maybe because of the rim brake version I am running. Indexing is not fun, but coming from mechanical it actually looked easier on the app then a barrel adjuster for me. Will keep testing on long rides and see how it’s going. Always on casual mode for me.
I think the indexing on wireless is always way easier than barrel adjuster, and would much rather do wireless adjusting every time. It wasn’t complicated but I did have to ride and re index one or two of the gears after doing it in the stand
Just discovered your channel and enjoying slowly watching your uploads from the beginning. I live in Maidenhead and work in Marlow so recognise a lot of where you ride which is really cool to see. Loved your Quarry Wood Climb segment as I hate that hill. I've had a few health issues so haven't managed more than about 5-6 months cycling at a time since 2020 but will be doing an effort on that hill tomorrow after work...wish me luck. Will also do the Red Kite Ride in a couple of weeks so may see you there. All this is just to say, it's a great channel and I'm really enjoying your content as I slowly try to get some fitness back in my legs (again). Keep it up and thanks for all your efforts. I'll keep my eyes peeled on Sunday rides to see if I ever spot you zipping past me lol
Appreciate you coming to have a look. Thank you, yeah I bomb around Maidenhead, Taplow, Windsor way a lot. Quarry wood is my favourite- for some reason I just really like it but boy is it harder than you think!!
@@thewattlife Didn't like Quarry Wood before Sat, like it even less today lol. Managed 3:43 which isn't fast but HR hit 195bpm (4 off max) and this is 4 months after a minor (I mean minor) heart issue so I'm happy with the time. But every time I do an effort on it, just after that hairpin, I think 'Give up...give up' and then I spend the next 2 minutes in absolute max heart rate hell. I'll never enjoy that hill but I will get a PB on it next year!
It’s always more fun when you come round the hair pin and suddenly see another cyclist further up. Gives you something to chase. Well done with your time. I’m going to do a run up it next week with the SLC
@thewattlife I am getting the impression that this is not quite a finished product, I will say this, it does not matter what groupset you get if you don't know how to index your gearing setup which takes alot of patience and time then just take to the bike shop to do it for you. I have learned the hard way how to rebuild and maintain my bikes over the years, and it can be frustrating at times. You should always have a proper bike maintenance stand to work on, makes life so much easier. I am glad you gave a proper honest review on this. I may have to go with this EDS iF I cannot get the Sram Force Rim brake AXS Version Shifters. Stock is limited at the moment so keeping my eyes peeled. Retired From Uk living and biking in Portugal. 👍👍
I wouldn’t say it not finished. It works great. I got it to work great. You’re correct- indexing is a pain in the ass and everyone has to do it no matter what bike and group set. Make the shifters bigger and it was a good setup for the money
@@thewattlife I used this fantastic article on Shimano F.D.s and explains in deep detail how they should work 100%, you need to google it called(I am not allowed to put links on here) cycling-obsession - Installation Guide for Shimano Front Derailleurs. There was alot of stuff in there I did not know about he even explains to you how to set your trim. worth a read.Once set up you will never have to adjust again ever, unless you undo the cable. But it's the same principle for wireless setups as well.👍👍
Because the current R8000/GRX800 cable shifting is so good, I would see this WT as a downgrade. I can understand the desire to get rid of cables, but once you get your head around routing them neatly, you are blessed with beautiful shifting.
i love using it with my gravel bike. it is precise enough and anything goes wrong with gravel route, EDS tx is ready to throw away. the lever reach cannot be adjusted.
I run a 13s rotor cassette and setup was a mess because I was not following the directions. The L and H are stop screws not adjustment. The fine tuning screw is the adjustment and initial step and that is on page 47. If you don’t set this first you may have issues. I am betting no one is doing it correctly and it’s making the reviews inconsistent. You can’t say the race mode is bad if you don’t set it up properly
@@thewattlife I am sure it’s done correct, but no one shows that step and leaves us assuming it was done correctly. Then proceeds to say they had this issue or that something is slightly off or a feature does not work. So how do we know it was installed properly? It would just be nice for reviewers to show up the setup they used.
You can put some assembly grease into the back of the shifters I think near where it clamps to the bars to stop it from making the shaking rattle noise
That’s a great tip thank you. As a home build it’s great to get these little pointers. This really makes it a good offering if you don’t mind the smaller levers
With modes changing the indexing; the what if you just set it up (index it) in race mode and just leave it there? Also, if using racing mode and turn the unit off, to weak it up do I need to connect the cables to it every time? I just bought mine and making my new build this weekend. Tnks
All you have to do is change it back to casual mode when not in use.Then when out again change back to race mode , that way the system will remember the clog indexing for race mode.Simple to do in the app .Just got to remember to do it after each ride.
bike looks great and came out lighter than I would have guessed. I wear XL gloves and can just barely palm a basketball, feels like im grabbing onto tiny lil nubs with the di2 shifters and cant "reach" the top buttons on them because they are too close. Entire bike industry especially chinese branded stuff is certainly geared for "normal" sized people.
I have two rim brake bikes as well as two disc brake bikes. I wish to upgrade one of the rim brake bikes (10 speed) to eletronic shifting and wheeltop is the only new option. It is a "want" not a "need" and so looks like I'll wait for version 2. I've been burnt before getting the first iterations of a product e.g. Assioma, PowerTap P1.
So many website storefronts have 105 Di2 for about or a little less than $1K - these Chinese electronic groupsets are not cheap enough to offset the risks.
@@mjock392 possibly. Personally - I don’t think that there’s enough business providing parts for older technology. Besides Colnago - who’s building new rim brake bikes in volume?
@@petersouthernboy6327 best budget bikes are not new low end bikes but mid and high end used ones. Lots of people buy used and most used bikes and wheels with the best deals are rim brake. The "you need disc brakes on road because they're better in the wet" narrative you will hear from UK based cycling channels (i.e. most of the big names like GCN etc), but the truth is when it's dry (and it's mostly dry in Central and South Europe) rim brakes are just fine and many people still prefer them.
@@mjock392 I still have my first bike - full XTR XC race bike (Gary Fisher Sugar 1) with rim brakes. And that bike is very performance limited in terms of tires and wheels.
@@petersouthernboy6327 I was talking about ROAD bikes and wheels, since this is a road group set discussed in the video, and the 105 you mentioned is a road group set also. For MTB and gravel - yes - disc brakes are a must.
I know you had a gripe about the lever hoods. Is it possible that old sram red hoods from etap or doubletap shifters would work? They might work because they have the same profile
Hmmm good question- I think maybe if you got a Sram stelthimajig you might be able to make it work, and the WheelTop is oil based rather than dot fluid so if it doesn’t then you can just clean it up. Personally though, my hunch would be that the fit wouldn’t be great
Crikey Max, I am staying out of group rides if people are riding hoods the way you grip the bars!! Having your whole hand above the bar and on the hood tops seems like a recipe for disaster to me. Maybe you were exaggerating the point. I always have the hood between my thumb and index finger. The hood type, for example Hydraulic electric gears will have much bigger hoods than electric rimbrake or mechanical, so the reach will be different and available hand positions will be different. Changing stem length for fit would be necessary for different hood dimensions. On your force setup, have you bought the Sram stealth rings for the cassette yet? ( Standard on the red cassette but you have to buy for after fit on force)(
If I’m riding in the group then yes for sure thumb and at least index finger around the lever but if you’re out solo and on a straight road where you’re not going to need the breaks then yeah I’m all up on the lever- which is fine on a bigger lever because you still have room to grip the brakes if needed but these really are a lot smaller!
@@thewattlife they are rubber rings which sit in each grove of the sram cassette and stops the chain form bouncing off the middle structure. It makes the drive quieter and smoother. They are standard on sram red but not force. Google sram stealth rings.
@@thewattlife no, the sram chain is different, narrow and more depth I think. You would need the same cog increments and the same internal diameters in each gap.. so specific to the mfg. They will also reduce wear. So well worth the £20 particularly if they were not already fitted to the expensive Red cassette.
I'll add my coments here in case anyone finds them useful, as I was an early adopter (right when the cycling inflencers started getting samples, end of April of something). I'll try to keep it extremely simple: quite a painful setup, especially the FD; decent shifting; stick to casual mode, else your battery will drain in a week; lever shape is made for smaller hands, although I find them quite small for me, even though I am 173 cm, unsafe to go in a aero position as there's no rubber to hold; I was very concerned about spares, and still am. Having said that, I stopped using it as I was involved in a car crash and my road frame cracked behond repair, so I am now using my gravel bike with GRX Di2. Having used both Di2 and EDS TX, I strongly suggest (if budget allows) to go Shimano or SRAM, it does the job better.
The size of the levers was basically the only reason I had to swap them back out, descending in the small levers was just not as comfortable as my Srams.
I see this and wonder if the system was properly set up? Did you set fine adjustment first? Do you even know where that screw is? Unless you read the directions on page 47 you didn’t. I keep seeing this and realize most think it’s similar to a mech. It’s not. Not one reviewer shows the setup and I bet not one got it correct.
No, they haven’t had any say in making this video. They asked if they could see it first but I’m not being paid so I’ve shared it here and they will see it (*if they watch the channel) at the same time that everyone else see it
Your comments about the size of the levers is weird to anyone who has done the majority of riding on rim brakes. I always wrap 2 fingers behind the levers when I ride on the tops. Perfectly comfortable, aero and safer than resting all your fingers on the lever. 1/2 finger braking should work on any road bike.
I don’t think it’s particularly weird once you try for yourself the size of these levers. They are a lot smaller, uncomfortably so. And this is written by someone who rides a rim brake bike ever single day
One can buy a Sram Apex Xplr 1x electronic groupset that includes the cassette, crankset and chain for under 700usd, and it can provide all the gearing range that most people would need. Not to mention the superior support and warranty you get with sram as well as removeable, replaceable batteries. These chinese electronic groupsets should cost alot less compared to their rival counterparts from shimano and sram.
With how good I’ve found the shifting on the Sram Force I don’t think I’d go back to Apex. I can see your point though and trust me, with how quickly these companies develop products without the red tape of western bureaucracy they will have a great offering very very soon
for me Wheeltop negative is they are not robust, they shift ok at the beginning. but after i run it about 4000k this thing start show inconsistency in shifting, i check it people say it was because my derailer hanger. i got to bike shop check it and it not true my derailer hanger are still true. what happen to my wheeltop. my derailer start shown strange behavior. if i shift down from the top the derailleur position change to a bit off to down gear. but if i shift it from small gear to big gear the derailer will off to bigger gear. this cause my gear to shift by it self if i put torque on my pedal gear number 3456 have the issue (note WT speed is invert their smallest cog is read as speed 1 and the bigger cog is read 12). a bit confusing if you already familiar with sram. in the beginning i recommend this shifter to people it feel nice on hand it small and it look good the brake leaver are so good. but after i got this problem i never recommend this shifter to people this thing are have issue in longevity. if you have budget better you toke ultegra or force
Did you try chaining the chain- after that amount of time the pins stretch and you get more lateral play in the chain plus you get chain stretch. You’ll have to reminded gears running an old chain anyway…
Nice man- good deal. I got my Sram Force with Power meter for £1800. There are deals out there, but I can’t switch out loads of different cassettes and have to run Sram chainrings on a BB86. There’s small advantages to both
Agreed - so many website storefronts have 105 Di2 for about or a little less than $1K - these Chinese electronic groupsets are not cheap enough to offset the risks.
Perhaps don't want to mess with the extra cables? The Wheeltop is much less competitive in price if anyone is building disk brake bike. But for rim brake guys, this is the cheapest option. Ultegra di2 8150 cost 1200 usd in my region with NO Warranty , unless you buy it from an authorized dealer, which costs you double for the same a set of Ultegra di2 from questionable source. Sram killed its rim brake product line. Campy... Well its doing campy thing.
Often I ride with maybe my little finger hooked under the brake leaver- and if I’m out solo I’ll ride with my palms pressed into the top of the levers and fingers sitting on the very top of the brake lever
Nah I disagree sram and Shimano need to add that in that or much finer adjustment, your hanger has to be absolutely perfect for a one size fits all solution to get this shifting without rasping in a gear or 2. Better yet auto sensing would be awesome. Another thing this shows up is sram and Shimano is backward compatibly and future compatibility a simple firmware will allow them to full compatible with anything old and new. 13 speed? no problem "upgrade the arm and pullys and your done " go to you local bike shop for upgrade to be preformed. they're just servos they can be told exactly what to do and where to sit. Mark my words someone will fine a way to hack these systems if hasn't been done already.
So you try to hold the hoods in a way they are not designed to be held and frankly no one does and that’s why you switch them out? Also you don’t know how to take out the slop in the lever? There is an adjustment 😂 Another review from someone who did not install it correctly and has a personal gripe.
I don’t have a personal gripe, I like them. The levers are too small. Thats not a debate that’s just a fact. They shift fine as I said but the race mode does change the indexing
Is this really your own bike....no bottle cages, no water? I'm amazed with riders, mostly guys, who slam their stems and then they have a massive seat height to stem height difference which is to put it simply ludicrous....your whole position upper back head/neck position is very distorted and prime to having neck vertebrae problems....and the angle of your forearm whenever your hands are on the brake hoods is not correct, with your hands in the drops even worse. If your frame is undersized this is clearly evident. As to the size of the levers good thing you didn't ride with older mechanical levers your hands would never fit. It also just kills me that recreational cyclists shave their legs, especially when they have fine leg hair....ya, ya, ya "my legs are easier to clean, plus I feel faster", ya by 1 watt maybe. Pros shave their legs because they race and any injury is harder to treat when there are hairs in the wound and having no hair makes massage easier. Also riding with your arm out to hold a camera or phone to record your video on a busy road with cars passing all the time is extremely stupid, you'd really look clever if you were to crash while making your video. If you don't like any mechanical or other noise you should stick to riding indoors.
Garbage in, garbage out. That's barely a review, more of a "I had to make a video because they sent me the stuff so here it is". But that's how the game is played, so don't blame the players. Out of all the issues you list, the rattling shifters are unacceptable. I'm on a L-TWOO er9 so I know a thing or two about setting up Chinese electronic groups. When it came out wheeltop was supposed to be a fancy L-TWOO, but it isn't.
@@thewattlife you didn't bother getting the shifting to work properly. You didn't bother changing the pads to see if the brakes would work properly. You leave it to others to figure out. That's what I call garbage in garbage out.
Pierre- the title is literally how I got the shifting to work great and I made it clear that I got the front shifter working great with only one dropped chain before setting low limit. I’m reviewing the brakes of the WheelTop- I’m now running Absolute Black brakes on my Sram but they cost £65 for a pair. WheelTop is £650 for the whole thing. I think you secretly loved it
I have had this group set on my bike for the last 2 weeks and I had exactly the same thought about a change in indexing when in race mode. 👍🏼 Really pleased with it otherwise.
Fingers crossed regards longevity. 🤞🏼
I liked the shifting and I have a feeling that if I went back and slightly reindexed it I could get it to work perfectly in both. Plus my chain is a bit slack if I’m honest so I think a new chain would have helped but I still think there’s a very slight difference between the two
I haven’t experienced any rattle from the levers, maybe because of the rim brake version I am running. Indexing is not fun, but coming from mechanical it actually looked easier on the app then a barrel adjuster for me. Will keep testing on long rides and see how it’s going. Always on casual mode for me.
I think the indexing on wireless is always way easier than barrel adjuster, and would much rather do wireless adjusting every time. It wasn’t complicated but I did have to ride and re index one or two of the gears after doing it in the stand
Just discovered your channel and enjoying slowly watching your uploads from the beginning. I live in Maidenhead and work in Marlow so recognise a lot of where you ride which is really cool to see. Loved your Quarry Wood Climb segment as I hate that hill. I've had a few health issues so haven't managed more than about 5-6 months cycling at a time since 2020 but will be doing an effort on that hill tomorrow after work...wish me luck. Will also do the Red Kite Ride in a couple of weeks so may see you there.
All this is just to say, it's a great channel and I'm really enjoying your content as I slowly try to get some fitness back in my legs (again).
Keep it up and thanks for all your efforts. I'll keep my eyes peeled on Sunday rides to see if I ever spot you zipping past me lol
Appreciate you coming to have a look. Thank you, yeah I bomb around Maidenhead, Taplow, Windsor way a lot.
Quarry wood is my favourite- for some reason I just really like it but boy is it harder than you think!!
@@thewattlife Didn't like Quarry Wood before Sat, like it even less today lol. Managed 3:43 which isn't fast but HR hit 195bpm (4 off max) and this is 4 months after a minor (I mean minor) heart issue so I'm happy with the time. But every time I do an effort on it, just after that hairpin, I think 'Give up...give up' and then I spend the next 2 minutes in absolute max heart rate hell. I'll never enjoy that hill but I will get a PB on it next year!
It’s always more fun when you come round the hair pin and suddenly see another cyclist further up. Gives you something to chase.
Well done with your time. I’m going to do a run up it next week with the SLC
@thewattlife I am getting the impression that this is not quite a finished product, I will say this, it does not matter what groupset you get if you don't know how to index your gearing setup which takes alot of patience and time then just take to the bike shop to do it for you. I have learned the hard way how to rebuild and maintain my bikes over the years, and it can be frustrating at times. You should always have a proper bike maintenance stand to work on, makes life so much easier. I am glad you gave a proper honest review on this. I may have to go with this EDS iF I cannot get the Sram Force Rim brake AXS Version Shifters. Stock is limited at the moment so keeping my eyes peeled. Retired From Uk living and biking in Portugal. 👍👍
I wouldn’t say it not finished. It works great. I got it to work great.
You’re correct- indexing is a pain in the ass and everyone has to do it no matter what bike and group set.
Make the shifters bigger and it was a good setup for the money
@@thewattlife I used this fantastic article on Shimano F.D.s and explains in deep detail how they should work 100%, you need to google it called(I am not allowed to put links on here) cycling-obsession - Installation Guide for Shimano Front Derailleurs. There was alot of stuff in there I did not know about he even explains to you how to set your trim. worth a read.Once set up you will never have to adjust again ever, unless you undo the cable. But it's the same principle for wireless setups as well.👍👍
Thanks- I’m always up for this kind of stuff and will help as I love to build bikes
Because the current R8000/GRX800 cable shifting is so good, I would see this WT as a downgrade. I can understand the desire to get rid of cables, but once you get your head around routing them neatly, you are blessed with beautiful shifting.
I completely agree with you! I have the old Shimano 105 RD-5000 and it is good enough for me.
Agreed. The mechanical 800 series GRX 12 speed works flawlessly.
i love using it with my gravel bike. it is precise enough and anything goes wrong with gravel route, EDS tx is ready to throw away.
the lever reach cannot be adjusted.
Yeah I like it- did me good if I could get bigger levers on it then no problems
I run a 13s rotor cassette and setup was a mess because I was not following the directions. The L and H are stop screws not adjustment. The fine tuning screw is the adjustment and initial step and that is on page 47. If you don’t set this first you may have issues. I am betting no one is doing it correctly and it’s making the reviews inconsistent. You can’t say the race mode is bad if you don’t set it up properly
Everyone know L and H are limit screws. I didn’t have a problem setting it up
@@thewattlife I am sure it’s done correct, but no one shows that step and leaves us assuming it was done correctly. Then proceeds to say they had this issue or that something is slightly off or a feature does not work. So how do we know it was installed properly? It would just be nice for reviewers to show up the setup they used.
Sure man next time I will
You can put some assembly grease into the back of the shifters I think near where it clamps to the bars to stop it from making the shaking rattle noise
That’s a great tip thank you. As a home build it’s great to get these little pointers.
This really makes it a good offering if you don’t mind the smaller levers
With modes changing the indexing; the what if you just set it up (index it) in race mode and just leave it there?
Also, if using racing mode and turn the unit off, to weak it up do I need to connect the cables to it every time?
I just bought mine and making my new build this weekend. Tnks
Race mode doesn’t all the front and rear derailleur to go to sleep- so it will run the battery down over night/ very quickly
All you have to do is change it back to casual mode when not in use.Then when out again change back to race mode , that way the system will remember the clog indexing for race mode.Simple to do in the app .Just got to remember to do it after each ride.
If you have a different cassette on different wheels, do you need to reindex every wheel change or can you save a profile for each wheel.
This is a great question and as far as i know there are no saved indexing profiles. Would be a good and easy idea though
There is a one click reset, so if you feel like youve got too far down the rabbit hole of awful indexing you can reset
That is one of my biggest worries with all adjustable electronic groupsets incase you ride on the road and on a trainer.
bike looks great and came out lighter than I would have guessed. I wear XL gloves and can just barely palm a basketball, feels like im grabbing onto tiny lil nubs with the di2 shifters and cant "reach" the top buttons on them because they are too close. Entire bike industry especially chinese branded stuff is certainly geared for "normal" sized people.
I have two rim brake bikes as well as two disc brake bikes. I wish to upgrade one of the rim brake bikes (10 speed) to eletronic shifting and wheeltop is the only new option. It is a "want" not a "need" and so looks like I'll wait for version 2. I've been burnt before getting the first iterations of a product e.g. Assioma, PowerTap P1.
Great video sir.
Cheers dude
So many website storefronts have 105 Di2 for about or a little less than $1K - these Chinese electronic groupsets are not cheap enough to offset the risks.
If they release a rim brake version for less than that, it would be slam dunk...
@@mjock392 possibly. Personally - I don’t think that there’s enough business providing parts for older technology. Besides Colnago - who’s building new rim brake bikes in volume?
@@petersouthernboy6327 best budget bikes are not new low end bikes but mid and high end used ones. Lots of people buy used and most used bikes and wheels with the best deals are rim brake. The "you need disc brakes on road because they're better in the wet" narrative you will hear from UK based cycling channels (i.e. most of the big names like GCN etc), but the truth is when it's dry (and it's mostly dry in Central and South Europe) rim brakes are just fine and many people still prefer them.
@@mjock392 I still have my first bike - full XTR XC race bike (Gary Fisher Sugar 1) with rim brakes. And that bike is very performance limited in terms of tires and wheels.
@@petersouthernboy6327 I was talking about ROAD bikes and wheels, since this is a road group set discussed in the video, and the 105 you mentioned is a road group set also. For MTB and gravel - yes - disc brakes are a must.
I know you had a gripe about the lever hoods. Is it possible that old sram red hoods from etap or doubletap shifters would work? They might work because they have the same profile
Hmmm good question- I think maybe if you got a Sram stelthimajig you might be able to make it work, and the WheelTop is oil based rather than dot fluid so if it doesn’t then you can just clean it up. Personally though, my hunch would be that the fit wouldn’t be great
Great review
Thank you
I bet they'll have preset profiles soon enough, that you can just pick the cassette you have from a dropdown list
Oh for sure, they will definitely have amazing app functionality and i honestly think it wont be long till they become truly competitive.
By the end of this video I wasn't sure what you were reviewing 😂
Dude I spent hours on that bench- don’t break my spirit like that 🫣
Crikey Max, I am staying out of group rides if people are riding hoods the way you grip the bars!! Having your whole hand above the bar and on the hood tops seems like a recipe for disaster to me. Maybe you were exaggerating the point. I always have the hood between my thumb and index finger. The hood type, for example Hydraulic electric gears will have much bigger hoods than electric rimbrake or mechanical, so the reach will be different and available hand positions will be different. Changing stem length for fit would be necessary for different hood dimensions.
On your force setup, have you bought the Sram stealth rings for the cassette yet? ( Standard on the red cassette but you have to buy for after fit on force)(
If I’m riding in the group then yes for sure thumb and at least index finger around the lever but if you’re out solo and on a straight road where you’re not going to need the breaks then yeah I’m all up on the lever- which is fine on a bigger lever because you still have room to grip the brakes if needed but these really are a lot smaller!
I’ll have to google what a Stealth ring is… What does it do?
@@thewattlife they are rubber rings which sit in each grove of the sram cassette and stops the chain form bouncing off the middle structure. It makes the drive quieter and smoother. They are standard on sram red but not force. Google sram stealth rings.
Handy to know. My Sram cassette is very quiet. I guess it would work for any cassette really huh
@@thewattlife no, the sram chain is different, narrow and more depth I think. You would need the same cog increments and the same internal diameters in each gap.. so specific to the mfg. They will also reduce wear. So well worth the £20 particularly if they were not already fitted to the expensive Red cassette.
I'll add my coments here in case anyone finds them useful, as I was an early adopter (right when the cycling inflencers started getting samples, end of April of something). I'll try to keep it extremely simple: quite a painful setup, especially the FD; decent shifting; stick to casual mode, else your battery will drain in a week; lever shape is made for smaller hands, although I find them quite small for me, even though I am 173 cm, unsafe to go in a aero position as there's no rubber to hold; I was very concerned about spares, and still am. Having said that, I stopped using it as I was involved in a car crash and my road frame cracked behond repair, so I am now using my gravel bike with GRX Di2. Having used both Di2 and EDS TX, I strongly suggest (if budget allows) to go Shimano or SRAM, it does the job better.
The size of the levers was basically the only reason I had to swap them back out, descending in the small levers was just not as comfortable as my Srams.
I see this and wonder if the system was properly set up? Did you set fine adjustment first? Do you even know where that screw is? Unless you read the directions on page 47 you didn’t. I keep seeing this and realize most think it’s similar to a mech. It’s not. Not one reviewer shows the setup and I bet not one got it correct.
I was considering this but with Di2 105 pretty much same price its not really that vfm
True- but it’s still an option and they will o ly get better… hopefully
Did wheeltop ask you to let them watch this video first? Did they have any input or parameters around what you could or could not say?
No, they haven’t had any say in making this video. They asked if they could see it first but I’m not being paid so I’ve shared it here and they will see it (*if they watch the channel) at the same time that everyone else see it
Your comments about the size of the levers is weird to anyone who has done the majority of riding on rim brakes. I always wrap 2 fingers behind the levers when I ride on the tops. Perfectly comfortable, aero and safer than resting all your fingers on the lever. 1/2 finger braking should work on any road bike.
I don’t think it’s particularly weird once you try for yourself the size of these levers. They are a lot smaller, uncomfortably so. And this is written by someone who rides a rim brake bike ever single day
One can buy a Sram Apex Xplr 1x electronic groupset that includes the cassette, crankset and chain for under 700usd, and it can provide all the gearing range that most people would need. Not to mention the superior support and warranty you get with sram as well as removeable, replaceable batteries. These chinese electronic groupsets should cost alot less compared to their rival counterparts from shimano and sram.
With how good I’ve found the shifting on the Sram Force I don’t think I’d go back to Apex.
I can see your point though and trust me, with how quickly these companies develop products without the red tape of western bureaucracy they will have a great offering very very soon
for me Wheeltop negative is they are not robust, they shift ok at the beginning. but after i run it about 4000k this thing start show inconsistency in shifting, i check it people say it was because my derailer hanger. i got to bike shop check it and it not true my derailer hanger are still true. what happen to my wheeltop. my derailer start shown strange behavior.
if i shift down from the top the derailleur position change to a bit off to down gear. but if i shift it from small gear to big gear the derailer will off to bigger gear. this cause my gear to shift by it self if i put torque on my pedal gear number 3456 have the issue (note WT speed is invert their smallest cog is read as speed 1 and the bigger cog is read 12). a bit confusing if you already familiar with sram.
in the beginning i recommend this shifter to people it feel nice on hand it small and it look good the brake leaver are so good. but after i got this problem i never recommend this shifter to people this thing are have issue in longevity. if you have budget better you toke ultegra or force
Did you try chaining the chain- after that amount of time the pins stretch and you get more lateral play in the chain plus you get chain stretch. You’ll have to reminded gears running an old chain anyway…
@@thewattlife it not the other issue it the issue in indexing error. it change by it self. and mechanic in bike store also think the same
@@thewattlife probably it was have problem in software.
@@endtimeslips4660have you ever upgraded the firmware version? I have the same thought after I upgrade to the latest version.
@@shsjyn i no longer use it. i go back use my sram force.
105DI2 12 gear is 900€ on Germany - so why the hassle? 😂
Nice man- good deal. I got my Sram Force with Power meter for £1800. There are deals out there, but I can’t switch out loads of different cassettes and have to run Sram chainrings on a BB86.
There’s small advantages to both
Agreed - so many website storefronts have 105 Di2 for about or a little less than $1K - these Chinese electronic groupsets are not cheap enough to offset the risks.
Perhaps don't want to mess with the extra cables? The Wheeltop is much less competitive in price if anyone is building disk brake bike. But for rim brake guys, this is the cheapest option. Ultegra di2 8150 cost 1200 usd in my region with NO Warranty , unless you buy it from an authorized dealer, which costs you double for the same a set of Ultegra di2 from questionable source. Sram killed its rim brake product line. Campy... Well its doing campy thing.
Mechanical Shimano shifters, in my bike rattles non stop, also Sram.
Someone left a good tip about adding some grease to stop them rattling which i thought was ace @MrSzwarz
As nice as electronic shifting can be... I do wonder if people that have electronic shifting ever consider going back to mechanical...
No. haha, i would rather run the WheelTop than run a Ultegra mechanical. Honest opinion there. I love electronic shifting, indexing is easier.
No. Once you try electronic gears, there's no going back.
You should probably do a bit of research before promoting Oz cycles.
Given he has an autism disorder that’s quite discriminatory.
Please dont take offence but...NO ONE HOLDS ON TO THE HOODS LIKE THAT!
Often I ride with maybe my little finger hooked under the brake leaver- and if I’m out solo I’ll ride with my palms pressed into the top of the levers and fingers sitting on the very top of the brake lever
@thewattlife man, I like your videos...don't come a cropper coz you're styling out in front of the MAWILS!
Ha trust me when I’m descending I’m gripping that thing like I just found out that my pee-pee has a 2nd function
Nah I disagree sram and Shimano need to add that in that or much finer adjustment, your hanger has to be absolutely perfect for a one size fits all solution to get this shifting without rasping in a gear or 2. Better yet auto sensing would be awesome. Another thing this shows up is sram and Shimano is backward compatibly and future compatibility a simple firmware will allow them to full compatible with anything old and new. 13 speed? no problem "upgrade the arm and pullys and your done " go to you local bike shop for upgrade to be preformed. they're just servos they can be told exactly what to do and where to sit. Mark my words someone will fine a way to hack these systems if hasn't been done already.
Auto indexing seems like it should be a thing that we have already! Mental it doesn’t exist.
@@thewattlife it should be possible especially with UDH, tell it tooth size/ scan a qr code and away it goes.
10 speed and below fine, anything above and i would save for shimano
*Sram 😈
So you try to hold the hoods in a way they are not designed to be held and frankly no one does and that’s why you switch them out? Also you don’t know how to take out the slop in the lever? There is an adjustment 😂
Another review from someone who did not install it correctly and has a personal gripe.
I don’t have a personal gripe, I like them. The levers are too small. Thats not a debate that’s just a fact. They shift fine as I said but the race mode does change the indexing
Is this really your own bike....no bottle cages, no water? I'm amazed with riders, mostly guys, who slam their stems and then they have a massive seat height to stem height difference which is to put it simply ludicrous....your whole position upper back head/neck position is very distorted and prime to having neck vertebrae problems....and the angle of your forearm whenever your hands are on the brake hoods is not correct, with your hands in the drops even worse. If your frame is undersized this is clearly evident. As to the size of the levers good thing you didn't ride with older mechanical levers your hands would never fit. It also just kills me that recreational cyclists shave their legs, especially when they have fine leg hair....ya, ya, ya "my legs are easier to clean, plus I feel faster", ya by 1 watt maybe. Pros shave their legs because they race and any injury is harder to treat when there are hairs in the wound and having no hair makes massage easier. Also riding with your arm out to hold a camera or phone to record your video on a busy road with cars passing all the time is extremely stupid, you'd really look clever if you were to crash while making your video. If you don't like any mechanical or other noise you should stick to riding indoors.
Thanks Chris. Glad you stopped by.
Maybe next week I’ll come to the Middle Ages and visit you
Chris fährt überwiegend Auto 🤡
@@f.marggrass3153 i laughed
though i do agree with the post that complaining about the hoods was odd.
Garbage in, garbage out. That's barely a review, more of a "I had to make a video because they sent me the stuff so here it is". But that's how the game is played, so don't blame the players.
Out of all the issues you list, the rattling shifters are unacceptable. I'm on a L-TWOO er9 so I know a thing or two about setting up Chinese electronic groups. When it came out wheeltop was supposed to be a fancy L-TWOO, but it isn't.
The his feels less like a constructive comment and more like you being butt hurt that you have an L-TWOO.
But thanks Pierre
It's 20 mins long. What else did you want him to do or say that would be 'review' worthy?
Definitely a good review. Definitely not garbage.
@@thewattlife you didn't bother getting the shifting to work properly. You didn't bother changing the pads to see if the brakes would work properly. You leave it to others to figure out. That's what I call garbage in garbage out.
Pierre- the title is literally how I got the shifting to work great and I made it clear that I got the front shifter working great with only one dropped chain before setting low limit.
I’m reviewing the brakes of the WheelTop- I’m now running Absolute Black brakes on my Sram but they cost £65 for a pair. WheelTop is £650 for the whole thing.
I think you secretly loved it