This BUDGET Electronic Gravel Groupset is $560 // Wheeltop GeX

[@lolbubs11111]

I appreciate the honesty in disclosing that the product was provided for free. I think it's an important caveat, and in general (not criticizing your reviews specifically), does tend to bias reviewers. Even without explicit cash compensation and without editorial review. Looks like a promising groupset and really highlights how slow Shimano has been to get its act together with 1x12 for gravel.

[@erikk7643]

are you really comparing a new Chinese company to a long standing Japanese company?

[@dcv9460]

@@erikk7643 Bro, what's wrong with that? You should always have a "BENCHMARK" when you're comparing whatever (components) so that YOU have a better idea of how it is

[@erikk7643]

@dcv9460 in theory there isn't a problem. However the completely different cultures leads to different results. Who makes the most reliable cars and motorcycles? Is it a Japanese company or a Chinese company that make the most reliable bicycle parts?

[@Aka.Aka.]

​@@erikk7643you're letting your emotions get the better of you. Remember, Chinese people are human! ❤❤

[@petergibson7287]

When he is in his garage and setting up the gears, and then the brakes, did everyone notice the cargo bike in the background? This guy is living life right!

[@TheBikeSauce]

It’s probably the bike that gets the most consistent use (I still take the kids to and from school on it)

[@andrewblakesley4202]

Mechanical 1x9 or 1x10 does all I'll ever need. 3 bikes, all built up and serviced at home.

[@stevemartinez9075]

Great job Nolan. I look forward to all your videos. I wake up every Sunday just to watch your videos. We met before we live in the same neighborhood. Keep doing your thing my brother until then ride on.

[@aaronedgeart]

Love this and the future of electronic shifting, my 2016 Sram eTap is still going strong but will be quite expensive to replace when it finally gives out.

[@alenkovacic7913]

The battery is removable and replaceble in case something is wrong with it. There is a chap in the wheeltop fb group that made his own app, which allows you to save presets if you are running different cassettes..+ it has some other features like standby mode in race mode...he is trying to make the groupset open source.

[@hansschotterradler3772]

The app should come preprogrammed for various cassettes so that you are able to simply select the indexing for the cassette you have.

[@TheBikeSauce]

That’s a great idea 🤘

[@galenkehler]

I agree, I'm not sure why it's not. Cassette spacing are a known quantity.

[@Zai-wp4bx]

I'm sure they preprogrammed it for Shimano

[@hansschotterradler3772]

@@Zai-wp4bx Shimano 11 or 12 speed?? Why not program it for multiple cassettes? At least the common ones such Shimano, Sram Campagnolo 11, 11 and 12 speed.

[@Zai-wp4bx]

@@hansschotterradler3772 I have mine on Shimano 12 speed.

[@larryw1389]

I just purchased this group set. The app is the only part of the group set that I have had trouble and or frustration with. The terminalogy in the app takes some redefining, if you have some experience working on any bike build you should make it work. The build quality of the componets is very good.

[@TheBikeSauce]

I’m with you 100%

[@b4oh]

Your knowledge is so high! Keep up the great stuff

[@RideYearRound]

I've been using this for a few months as well and like you was given the product for free. I was pretty skeptical at first, but I've been really impressed with it overall. Set up was pretty much a nightmare (mostly when swapping from a gravel to an mountain cassette), but once I figured it out it made the process super simple testing their mountain version as well.

[@dcv9460]

Thank you for your honest review

[@ParzivalHB]

After going Di2 for road, I have really enjoyed electronic shifting over mechanical. The Wheel Toop groupsets at this price point is compelling for me to put electronic shifting on my other bikes. Great review.

[@Nick-cs5yc]

I’m sticking to my “ Steampunk “ mechanical setup 👍👍

[@angieee-]

Budget Elecronic groupset came from a long way but they definitely getting the recognition now.

[@itstheterranaut]

I've been waiting for this :) at the price, its compelling, and I think I'll be going down this road later this year. Fine tuning: something of a shame that they dont have preselected templates for things like "Shimano Road 11", "SRAM Road 11", etc- that would save a lot of time.

[@TheBikeSauce]

Maybe they will after reading this comments section?

[@itstheterranaut]

@@TheBikeSauce ah :) I see I'm not alone in suggesting this! Well, we can hope.

[@dodginglions5163]

Another outstanding review!…thanks for sharing this video!…😎

[@Scomelbasses]

My biggest concern with this group set as compared to SRAM or Shimano is parts availability and the possible difficulty to acquire them.

[@jazzechos1372]

Nice review. I was considering putting this on my fat bike...however for the price....the lack of a cage lock and the removeable battery kind o nixed that thought. I have SRAM AXS wireless on both my FS XC , the Hardail and on the grave bike I have SRAM AXS Apex. The APEX doesn't have the locking cage which to be honest is a real pain....which is why I changed my mind.

[@nkantar]

This seems rather promising. I just built a bike with microSHIFT Sword 2x10 and TRP HY/RD brakes for no less than that price tag. I could see this being a candidate for the coveted Electronic Groupset for the People award. And my first electronic groupset, actually…

[@nicozegers]

Once you have made the fine tuning of the cassette, can you save it as a preset, and have different presets to recall when changing wheels? I have one bike using a 11s 10-50 cassette and another with a a 12s 10-51. Having the capability to quickly change wheels between them would be the killer feature that would make never look back to the big brands

[@TheBikeSauce]

That’s a great feature to have, but the Wheeltop doesn’t have it at the moment as far as I know

[@blklex250]

wheeltop stole my business from shimano twice already.. no complaints.. great quality.. and true wireless with no di2 bs to muck around with in the frame.. if there's a catch i haven't found it

[@erikk7643]

my 1st thought would be the reliability. How long have you owned them and how much do you ride?

[@cohese]

I'm curious about that derailleur paired with a flat-bar shifter setup. Like you mentioned, ideally the derailleur battery would be a module to allow carrying a spare. Still I'm temped and would be interested in updated info on battery life as you learn more. Like you I shift a lot and I'm tired of pushing the thumb lever on my Sensah to shove the chain up the cassette. Great review as always! I appreciate your friendly and efficient communication style. Your information per second watched is really high. Keep up the great work - I always look forward to watching your videos when they pop up!

[@galenkehler]

They have a flat bar shifter/derailleur called the OX

[@TheBikeSauce]

The flat bar OX shifters won’t currently shift the GeX rd, but they say it’s in the works

[@cohese]

KZbin just handed me a video short on the Wheeltop EDS OX 2.0 but I don't see it on their US website yet. That might be the one for me on my flat bar setup. This KZbin search will find it: @wheeltopgroup wheeltop eds ox 2.0

[@adasda-x3q]

You don't need a spare. Bring a power bank.

[@sjanzeir]

No matter how technologically advanced this rear derailleur is, if the knuckle (the part through which the hanger bolt goes) is made of composite (I'm looking at you, L-twoo) then forget about it. It will fail and it will fail soon. Of all the parts of a rear derailleur, the knuckle is the one piece that needs to be made the most robust and wear resistant, because if it's poorly made, made of soft material, or wears even slightly, no amount of adjustment or readjustment can make the derailleur work properly.

[@samirnava1692]

Could you possibly review the primos dame gravel bike?

[@TheBikeSauce]

It’s in the works! It’ll be live next week

[@erikcarter7919]

Great review! Do you know if the RD will connect to a Garmin head unit with ANT+ like the Sram AXS will?

[@SonnyDarvish]

7:10 tell me about it. They're usually too intrusive with their questions and asking to participate in survey, etc.

[@berniekeene868]

Hello. Are you still selling the Vecnum stem? I ordered one a few days ago, but I have to change the shipping to address. I sent an email to the address on the website asking for your help with this. Thank you.

[@TheBikeSauce]

Hey Bernie, no biggie. I’ve updated the shipping address and replied to your email. Cheers!

[@dvoob]

I've heard some other people have had trouble with 10t cassettes, have you messed with that at all? Not super happy with the 2t jumps on the low end of all the shimano 12s 1x cassettes so not being able to run sram cassettes is somewhat of a deal breaker.

[@TheBikeSauce]

Haven’t tried with a 10t cog. Website says min cog is “10-11t” which to me is code for “works with 11t, but your results may vary with 10t”

[@martingesser3846]

Andrew Dizzle Dillman said in his review that he first tried it with a 10t cassette and it didn't work. He had to switch to a Shimano cassette.

[@michiganstate149]

​@@martingesser3846If he did the install himself, I'm sure there's some setup items with chain length or other adjustments that could fix that. There is no way a derailleur should not worth with a 10t when it will with a 11t.

[@TimR123]

I’m running a GeX with a Garbaruk 10-50 and it’s working fine.

[@davidcrowson4745]

👍👍👍👍👍I enjoy your content.

[@guadalupesolis2909]

Would you recommend the specialized diverge if I'm looking for an adventure gravel bike? Also does the future shock really need to be changed every 1k miles

[@TheBikeSauce]

The diverge is a fantastic adventure bike. The future shock doesn’t need to be replaced every 1k miles, but it will eventually fail and you can replace it or delete it at that point

[@Mavczers]

Can't you pick 1x12 di2 mtb groupset and connect it into grx or 105 shifters?

[@TheBikeSauce]

Unfortunately not. Shimano stuff is not cross compatible like the sram stuff

[@bexilford2]

Shimano and SRAM have a strict restriction on speeds requiring purchase of new shifters and deraileurs. Wheeltop allows you to reprogram.

[@alprime9548]

Hello great review, so much so I want to get one to upgrade my gravel bike. Do you think this will work on a Poseidon X for upgrading it?

[@TheBikeSauce]

It will definitely fit on a Poseidon

[@alprime9548]

@@TheBikeSauce thank you.

[@jamessankey01]

Excellent video, thanks. What do you film with? Also do they communicate with head units (gears etc)?

[@TheBikeSauce]

This video was shot on Insta360 X4 and reframed in post. At the moment there’s no integration with head units. Thx!

[@TimR123]

@@TheBikeSaucethe integration is incomplete, but I’m getting sprocket position data (what gear I’m in and recording to the FIT file) on a Garmin 1040. There is a ConnectIQ field that is said to be needed so I installed it. But IT does not display the gear for me 🤷 I haven’t (yet) taken the time to debug if having that field makes it possible for it to show elsewhere even though the field shows nothing or what.

[@MokaBoucha]

Am I seeing correctly. You’re running a 48mm wide tire on a Diverge whose specs say 47mm max? Was there enough room?

[@TheBikeSauce]

There’s plenty of room

[@MokaBoucha]

@ thanks

[@Knight766]

I'm planning to build a bike with this groupset on a Campagnolo 13 speed 10-44T, hope it works.

[@TheBikeSauce]

Report back here on your experience if you don’t mind

[@hawkeye5035]

Does the app allow reassigning button function? To say setup like SRAM? Thanks!

[@TheBikeSauce]

Yea you can reconfigure the buttons

[@scherzo0o]

are there 13 speed cassettes in the 11-45 range?

[@zachs6191]

new sram red, yes

[@scherzo0o]

​@zachs6191 Well, those who can buy that cassette can afford something a bit more upbudget than Wheeltop. 😅😅😂

[@henrycheang424]

Hope they keep it affordable and good.

[@virginiascurti5036]

Can you do 2X?

[@TheBikeSauce]

They don’t officially have a 2x ‘gravel specific’ group, but they have a 2x version for road.

[@michaelc3416]

Integrated, non replaceable battery is a negative. Batteries have a lifespan, so not being able to replace an old battery means what? Replacing the entire groupset package? Or, at least the RD, if available separately. Plus, the inability of carrying a spare on multiday rides... Seems like it might be a decent setup for the money, but the battery issue is an issue for me personally.

[@jered2177]

Convert it to friction shift

[@DaveCM]

Friction shifting sucks

[@Willard_guy]

Id like this groupset but with cable brakes(seams you can only get there road groupset with cable brakes) so I can be a dumbass and spend way to much money on parts for a 90's mountain bike drop bar conversion.

[@chicomojo]

I was working in shops when Shimano debuted Di2, and I remember looking at it, realizing how simple it actually was, and concluding that manufacturers in SE Asia would eventually simply cut the big component makers out of the equation and make their own electronic groupset. I am sincerely surprised that it took this long.

[@Putt-Putt-Vroom]

$34 to produce groupset marked up to $560 to $800 is why used $25 for a full descent clunker bike always wins.

[@marcelliu3422]

❤🎉

[@big_bird8597]

why cant we just do wireless braking now

[@jered2177]

I like black olives

[@subliminalfreedom]

Interesting

[@dominicbritt]

Groupset + price of chainset, chain, cassette, bottom bracket......not really that economic...

[@tomconway6808]

The flexibility of being able to adapt it from 3-14 speeds is pretty nice though. With Shimano and SRAM if you want more or fewer speeds you need to buy new shifters and deraileur(s). Wheeltop also bought Rotor. So we'll see what a whole groupset ends up looking like in terms of pricing when they start offering that.

[@TheBikeSauce]

Didn’t know that. Thanks!

[@fukawitribe]

In the UK and Europe it's still significantly cheaper than the alternatives (or similar-ish in Shimano's case) after getting the rest of the groupset. Not 2 or 3 times cheaper for sure, but a highly non-trivial amount.

[@joshuarebennack68]

Any discussion of these components should include a LONG discussion of the ethics of buying items from China. Not saying this groupset was put together by Uyghur child slaves, but it might have been. And just blowing past that is sort of "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" -ing past some bad stuff. Look we all want good deals and it can be hard to think about the long-term consequences to our purchases. But claiming "you can't beat the price" seems a bit callous knowing Chinese companies integration/collusion with social/religious/political prisoners used as "free" labor, i.e. families shackled to assembly lines. At the very least, have some deep ethical discussions and point to the hidden cost (i.e. misery and blood) of "cheap" products. And to be clear, this isn't a racial or political viewpoint. Its a "don't be a jacksass" viewpoint. Paying more for a Taiwanese, Korean, Filipino, or many other Asian countries; bike parts would be worth it.

[@TheBikeSauce]

I see where you're coming from, but this isn't the place for that discussion. Your message makes some pretty huge assumptions about all Chinese manufacturing, and a blanket claim that more expensive asian products must somehow be worth it isn't as noble as you want it to sound. I'm with you though; there are of course ethical considerations anytime you purchase anything from overseas. This is just an experiential review of one such product.

[@joshuarebennack68]

@@TheBikeSauce If you recommend a product, you take on the baggage associated with it. So yes, reviewing a product is the right time to discuss that baggage. Frankly, the argument that "it's just the thing, not how it came to be" has been made before. (Do you know who Avery Brundage was?) As to the "assumption", I'll let this article speak for me: www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/against-their-will-the-situation-in-xinjiang FYI, this is the most sterile discussion of this issue, there are many more from a multitude of sources - NGOs, etc. Products from South Korea (for example) aren't free of issues just because they're more expensive. However, I can research the companies and Korea's policies and their impacts, unlike with China, where transparency is deliberately discouraged. I don’t know the origins of Wheeltop parts because both the company and the government ensure I can’t. It could involve child labor-or not-but it's a gamble on who's actually on that assembly line. Ignoring that fact in a review, or claiming it’s irrelevant, makes one complicit in the policies and impacts of both Wheeltop and the Chinese government. ^^^I'm not saying this because I don't like you and your channel, I'm saying this because I do like you and your channel.

[@Souzaphotos]

If it wasn't an integrated battery I'd be ordering.

[@TheBikeSauce]

For sure. It’s my main dislike I’d say

[@Souzaphotos]

@@TheBikeSauce If they make another model with a battery I'll put them on multiple bikes for sure.

[@dcv9460]

If you don't like INTEGRATED batteries - go order a SRAM. Nobodys stopping you

[@carlosflanders518]

Sram have a patent on the removable and swappable batteries. Wheeltop would be all over this if they thought they could get around it but they can't

[@TheBikeSauce]

@carlosflanders518 figured so

[@peterbedford2610]

Budget?? 😂

[@TheBikeSauce]

unfortunately

[@aintnobodygottime4dat]

Electronic groupset 🤮

[@woduk]

Personal taste like dare I say it e-bikes. Not for me

[@TheBikeSauce]

They’re not for everyone

[@TimR123]

If you’ve tried one, fair enough. I run mechanical too and love the tactile experience and long term repairability. But I love the low effort, non fiddly, precise shifting on electronic shifting. Both have merits.

[@Yes-sw8gh]

560 isnt budget in any world.

[@TheBikeSauce]

It is in the cycling world, unfortunately

[@Yes-sw8gh]

@@TheBikeSauce Thats why I refuse to buy anything Shimano or Sram, if I do its an actual budget groupset. I'll buy a nice second hand derailleur, give it a good clean and lube, maybe some new roller wheels, slap that on my frame and go about my life. Ive ridden many bikes, from oldschool hardtails to the most modern enduro and downhill bikes, and I'll say that if you can get a good semi oldschool trail or enduro bike, you should buy it and never look back until the bicycle industry realizes that a bicycle should never be the cost of a new small car. 560 euros I can literally buy an old golf GTI. I can buy a mid drive motor and a battery for a DIY ebike conversion, even.