bikeaday

Hi to all,
Got an old Tiagra 9 sp. shifter that is broken and need replacement. I was looking at MicroShift brifter to replace this broken one. New Tiagra 9 s. shifter are hard to find and asking an arm and a leg if you can find one. MicroShift only sell for roughly 90$ for a pair. Are those any good and reliable and recommended replacement. Thanks.
Andy

techsensei

I don't have personal experience with them, but we sell other SunRace products at the co-op, and they are good quality. FYI, if you buy the MicroShift from Performance or its sister company Nasbar (under the respective brands Forté and Nashbar) the parts come with a lifetime satisfaction guarantee.

dr_lha

I just stuck 10-speed Microshift STI shifters on a bike, which I got for $75 from Nashbar. Honestly, they're pretty nice, I like feel of the shifters and they feel very positive in action and are easy to set up. The only downside I would suggest is that they are noisier than their Shimano replacements (5700 105s that went on a different bike) and the action requires a bit more "force". Still these might be considered to be good things depending on the user. I'll admit I have not ridden on them much yet, but I was quite impressed with the quality of these for the price.

redlude97

shimano sora 3500 shifters can be had in that price range

HillRider

I have 10-speed Microshift "downtube" levers on my Retroshift brifters and they have been very good performers. You should be happy with them.

bikemig 

You can also pick up shimano 9 speed bar ends if you like them; they work very well.

Darth Lefty 

2x11 Campagnolo Athena Ergos will work on Shimano 9-speed. Remarkably inexpensive at Ribble.

It's possible that Shimano 11-speeds will work on Shimano SIS 9-speed, and the new 10-speed 4700 Tiagra shifters with the new longer pull might work on SIS 8-speed. The Shimergo math looks about right. But I haven't heard of anyone trying it, and don't have the parts to try it myself.

dsbrantjr

I have used Microshift derailleurs and have been impressed with the quality of their construction. Gevenalle uses them as the basis for their BURD derailleurs: Derailleurs | Product Categories | Gevenalle

You might take a look at their approach to shifters as well, they are very simple and rugged: Shifters | Product Categories | Gevenalle I suspect that the shifters are made by Microshift as well.

HillRider

Yes indeed, the Gevenalle/Retroshift lshift evers are from Microshift.

hyhuu

They are good and reliable.

sch

as per redlube, Sora shifters available in 2x and 2x eg: Bicycle Shifters and Brake-Shift Levers - AEBike.com

These are sort of a specialty item now as 9spd slowly drifts over the horizon. The Sora class is not a bad choice at all as typically Shimano upgrades its 'lower end"
groupos as time goes by.

bikeaday

Thanks guys for all the advises. I decided to go with MicroShift shifter, not a bad deal, 73$ on aliXpress for both shifters with free ship. to Canada. Probably be nailed with another 15% of taxes when it gets here but that's life. Sora would be nice but the owner of the bike wasn't ready to pay 130$ ++. Thanks again.

Flinstone

This is kind of a lousy situation recently. Once your stuff brakes you are forced to either upgrade a bunch of stuff or accept a downgrade to some lesser line or off-brand. People say that's the nature of the small market. It might be true I suppose. I would tend to think Shimano could make enough extra stock to sell for several years without increasing price. Maybe not. Anyway, it's irritating. Maybe Sora's now are as good as Tiagras were then, due to trickle down, but it's not kind of not satisfying putting lesser tier stuff on your old beloved. Of course shimano doesn't mind if you buy a whole new 11 speed group.

dwmckee

These levers are on a lot of great quality factory bikes. You should be happy with them.

dksix

I'm using MicroSHIFT 10 speed STI's and really like them. They are louder than my Shimano but I prefer the 3 lever design to that of Shimano. They work great, very positive engagement when shifting with a loud click. I'm only complaint is side exiting cables, I wish they had some that were rear exiting. If you keep an eye on eBay you can find good deals, I got mine for less than $30 shipped.

Bike Gremlin

I'm not sure how downgrade really is downgrade. In spite of all the marketing and fuss, I find that the "obsolete" stuff is still realatively easy to source, if not Shimano, then by some other manufacturer and it works well. Unless racing, a few more grams of weight is the only penalty, while functioning and robustness is still decent, if not better.

Flinstone

From Sora to 105 I'd say the difference is not just weight. From 105 up to deor, it's more about weight though (still not only). I think I read that sora fd shifter doesn't have trim for instance. That would be a show stopper for me, but I'm not certain. It also doesn't have under tape routing for better or worse, and I think it can't shift multiple gears at once. However I'm comparing to recent higher tier stuff. To do this right I should I compare to older higher tier( yet 9-speed) stuff. I skipped 9, so I'm not sure. OH and personally, at the moment the 105 group has the best looks to me, not that I'd turn down free ultegra stuff.

redlude97

The sora 3500 shifters are worlds better in terms of ergonomics and feel compared to 9 speed 105 level shifters. They have trim too. The new 2017 9 speed sora will have under bar tape wrapping, but its unclear if it will be backwards compatible or use the new cable pull ratio

Bike Gremlin

All I can say is I switched from 10 speed 105 to 8 speed Claris. No under bar cable routing (which is good IMO, less friction), but shifting was flawless, precise, as well as FD trim option, so no problems. Ergonomy was a bit better for my hands with Clarsi, but that's personal preference, the rest however is objective data.