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Do I have a bike problem? Perhaps

I've accidentally developed a bit of a collection of bikes over the (many) years simply by modernizing over time with new capabilities or different uses and not selling off the old ones. Bikes store better than say cars and usually have a lot lower residual value to try to capture by selling them off (Covid times were an exception) I thought it might be fun to write up their stories to share. These are all rideable and I do actually ride them. They range from a steel-framed 1982 Bianchi I bought new while in high school (in Celeste of course) to a contemporary gravel bike where I've experimented with various components to the point where comparisons to the Ship of Theseus come to mind. Along the way have been an early aluminum MTB, a custom full suspension MTB, a few different road bikes of different vintages, a tandem, commuters and more.

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L-TWOO eGR - Installation and use

Installation and first impressions Updates: 6/10/24, 7/4/24, 9/26/24, 10/3/24, 11/8/24, Spring 2025 Note: I've left the early text more or less as written. But there have been updates. So do scan through the updates below Background I was interested in the LTWOO eGR groupset to use on my 2019 Salsa Cutthroat . It was running SRAM Force 1 HRD (Mechanical shifting, hydraulic brakes) with a Garbaruk 10-50 cassette and their cage extender to allow for that range on Force.  The setup worked, but I never had the reliable, crisp shifting I would have liked. Usually ended up 'finessing' each shift with partial presses etc. It was nearly impossible to find the right tension setting to get perfect indexing.  As my first 11s rig, I tolerated it as semi-normal for a while. Some of this is understandable given that it was modified outside of OEM spec. So I'm not badmouthing the Force itself based on that (for the badmouth, see this YouTube: SRAM Force 1 HRD (any DoubleTap) Shift...
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New electronic gravel groupsets: Wheeltop GeX and LTWOO eGR

So, there has been a fair amount of chatter in the last year+ about the new electronic shifting gravel groupsets from China.  LTWOO got to market first with the eGR and you can read my writeup of installing that here . But more recently Wheeltop came out with their equivalent GeX system ( Installation writeup here ). Initial pricing on both was almost too good to pass up as an experiment and I did so. Current pricing is still quite competitive vs even the lowest end electronic shifting from SRAM or Shimano but not the 'no brainer' it was at first. Highlights of these systems: Both 'groupsets' are really just 1x mini groups. They both include: Rear Derailleur Brifters Brake calipers Charge cable (use your own USB brick) For a full groupset, you will still need to provide: Crankset/chainrings (1x only with GeX and eGR. Both have road 2x options) Chain Cassette options: Wheeltop GeX 3-14 cogs, 10-52 teeth LTWOO eGR 10-12 cogs, 11-46 teeth officially. However, I've run ...
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Installing Wheeltop GeX

I've already had experience with the first of the new, value-priced electronic groupsets from China in LTWOO eGR. You can read about that experience here , but in summary it's pretty good but wasn't perfect for my application for two main reasons It expects to stash the battery inside the frame and have a wire run out to the derailleur. Unfortunately, my V1 Cutthroat isn't set up that way and I had to strap it to a bottle cage in a less-than-pretty way Officially it only supports up to a 46t cassette and I run a 50t. It does actually work, but it's a little cranky about it in setup and operations. But along comes the Wheeltop GeX solution. Same idea from a company that has been making components for others for many years and MTB electronics for a couple of them. It promised to address my issues in that it uses a battery attached to the rear derailleur directly and officially supports 51t cassettes. Reports are the...
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