- Electronic wireless drivetrains.
Offerings by the likes of SRAM and Shimano can cost upwards
of a thousand dollars without the chain and cassette,
but they offer some benefits
and so lots of people are buying them.
Today we're gonna review a much cheaper option right
from the People's Republic of China.
(gentle music)
So, EDS.
It stands for Electronic Derailleur System.
It's like calling a tissue an NWA, Nose Wiping Apparatus.
(Seth blowing his nose)
But before we dig into the EDS,
why would you want a wireless shifter?
It's heavier, it's more costly.
It takes batteries that can run out.
Why are people even buying these?
(gentle music)
Well, they're actually quite good.
The shifts are smooth and accurate.
They're fast.
This thing has never fallen outta whack on me.
It's even easier to install and adjust.
Plus, it keeps everything really tidy upfront.
There are no cables to mess around with.
And the batteries last like a month.
And so, if you just swap one, anytime you think about it,
you're never really gonna run out.
And companies like SRAM even have more affordable options,
like GX AXS, which only costs about $650.
But the question is,
does this $400 option stack up to this?
All right, let's see what $400 gets ya.
This is manufactured by Wheel Top in China.
Well, right off the bat,
I'm a little worried this wasn't tested
by actual mountain bikers because it appears to be installed
on the chainstay of a prototype canyon with a drive shaft.
So on the cover of their instruction manual,
they have the one bike
that you can't install a derailleur on,
but they made it happen in Photoshop.
All right, here it is.
Okay, compact.
Pretty decent fit and finish.
And you get two batteries.
Comes with a charger, USB-C, good.
And here is the shifter.
Looks a little bulky, but it's honestly not much worse
than SRAM AXS.
Yeah, everything feels like quality so far.
Pretty decent clutch.
The clutch is what keeps the derailleur cage
from moving too easily.
Gives it a little bit of resistance
at the top to keep the chain tight.
And if this is gonna compete with the likes of SRAM
and Shimano, it's gotta have a clutch.
Interesting.
Let's go install this on my hardtail.
So let's start by removing the SRAM AXS
that's on the bike already.
So while we have this off the bike, let's compare weights.
This is SRAM XX1 AXS, and I'm getting 460 grams.
That's what I've heard elsewhere.
Let's see what the EDS weighs.
It weighs less.
416 grams.
It weighs less than XX1.
This is over a thousand dollars.
This is 400, and it can work for all different speeds,
comes with an extra battery, and it weighs less.
So that's good, but it means precisely nothing.
We have to see if it works.
(EDS clicking)
Ooh, works right out of the box.
You can program this for different cassettes.
Nine speed, 10 speed.
But how much you wanna bet?
We can just put it on there and it'll work.
(gentle music)
Okay, it's not going up to the top gear,
so we might have to do a little programming here.
Turn finger lever clockwise.
Finger LED will flash
and the finger LED will flash continuously
when the dial lever is continuously toggled.h continuously.
(dramatic music)
(ringback tone)
(indistinct)
If the system's only shifting through 11 gears,
how do I change the number of gears for the system?
- [Speaker 1] See an email including the-
- I see there's a whole bunch of videos and things.
- [Speaker 1] That has a Google Drive link.
- So that user guide's better than the one
that comes with it?
(speaker 2 speaking foreign language)
(gentle music)
I found an app.
It was really hard to find.
It doesn't say anywhere in the instruction manual
that there is an app.
Says it's in beta.
Maybe I can change the settings on it.
Holy crap.
It shows like the battery voltage, shows the stuff.
Ooh.
Flywheel speed.
11, 12.
Sure.
They call it a flywheel, we call it a cassette.
Okay, so is that like it?
Okay, I got it.
I got it shifting through all the gears perfectly
and it says it's in beta mode.
There were a lot of problems with the app.
And so, I assume these are all things they're aware of.
These are software issues they can fix.
The hardware is good.
So let's go out and test it.
(gentle music)
Okay, so number one, it's been about 30 minutes
since we last used this.
Does it just work when I press the button?
Yeah, it's just shifting.
It didn't go to sleep or anything.
Cool.
All right, let's get it on a trail.
(gentle music)
So from a traversing and climbing perspective,
just using the shifting, it's not bad.
It's really precise.
The buttons have a nice feel to them,
but it's not as good as SRAM AXS.
SRAM AXS leaves you wanting for nothing.
This isn't as fast.
There are times where you're trying to drop gears,
you can't do it fast enough and you get that crunch,
just a hair too slow.
But it's not terrible.
Another minor complaint is just the ergonomics
of the shift buttons.
It's clear that SRAM put a lot
of thought into shaping it just so.
And these are just kind of two thumb buttons.
Again, not bad, but not polished either.
But again, you're saving money on the system,
so you can't expect it to be perfect.
But the question is, how does it handle a descent?
Is it good for chain retention?
So let's take it through some chunk
and see if the chain stays on.
(upbeat music)
So chain retention, not bad.
And I'm actually not surprised.
The clutch was really stiff.
Everything seemed well built.
And yeah, performs like a high-end derailleur.
It was even quiet.
Now, I only rode for like an hour
and there are rougher trails in these.
But yeah, so far, chain retention's pretty good.
Nothing to complain about.
But that's not the only thing
that matters with a derailleur.
Sometimes you gotta ride through a creek.
All right, it's not that deep today.
(upbeat music)
Will I make it through?
That is the question.
(upbeat music)
(water splashing)
Oh, yeah, right through.
Still shifting.
Well, that's good.
All right, coming through.
(upbeat music)
Yes, sometimes your derailleur is gonna get wet,
either because you're going through a creek or it's muddy
or maybe you wanna wash your bike.
And so, whether it's mechanical or electronic,
has to deal with a little bit of splashing.
However, that's not the only thing a derailleur has
to deal with.
It also has to deal with fire.
Actually, no, we're gonna go back to the shop and debrief.
(upbeat music)
So we're back here at the shop.
The electronic derailleur system
actually performed really well.
It still has 75% of the battery left.
It did not give me one problem while I was out on the trail.
And it even seemed to do fairly well in the water.
Not only that, but it weighs significantly less
than AXS XX1, which is over a thousand dollars
for the derailleur and shifter.
And so, any criticism I have of the hardware comes down
to a pretty fine point,
like it doesn't shift quite fast enough,
the ergonomics are not as good as AXS.
These are all minor complaints when you're saving
that much money for something so light.
My big significant complaints come down to everything else.
First of all, almost nothing
in this instruction manual makes any sense
in the English language.
Now, if it worked right out of the box,
you wouldn't even need this instruction manual.
But I did, I had to reprogram it.
Nowhere in the instruction manual
does it say there's an app.
I happen to find it.
And it's not that the app is bad, it's not finished.
It even says beta on the top.
They know it's not finished.
But I needed the app to get this working.
So hopefully, by the time this thing is available
in North America, they've written a whole new manual
and finished the app.
The hardware is good, that I can tell you.
I even think it looks pretty good.
It's like murdered out.
It's all blocky, it looks like a serious piece of hardware
and it feels like one.
I mean, forget about the fact
that this company made a good high-end derailleur
with a clutch.
They made a wireless one.
And that's not something a lot
of companies can claim to have done.
They just need to get to work on the manual
and the app and just the overall user experience.
So I hope you enjoy testing
the electronic derailleur system today.
I'm gonna leave it on my hardtail and test it long-term.
Seems to work fairly well.
And if you enjoy watching us do these product reviews,
we have tons of other ones in a playlist that I left below.
I hope you learned something today, and if you didn't,
I hope you at least found this video entertaining.
Thanks for riding with me today, and I'll see you next time.
(Seth blowing his nose)
(Seth and speaker 3 laughing)
Okay.
All right, I'm pulling myself to get into it.
(Seth blowing his nose)
(Seth sighing)
(water splashing)
(Seth screaming)