LeSexyFishorse

Hi,

Seeing a lot of budget road bikes with Microshift groupsets or Shimano Tourney. Most of the reviews I can find are quite old. How do these groupsets do in 2020? If you ride say 15-20 miles 4 to 5 times a week, is it going to hold up?

Microshift STI

Microshift RD

TiHabanero

I have installed a few Microshift road set ups now and as far as the install goes, nothing unusual to report. My buddy installed Microshift 11 speed on his bike this past summer and he is very impressed with the functionality, and says it easily rivals the big names in shifting. He will have a 2000 mile report to me in the spring. In a few years he will know if it is durable.

sloppy12

I would go microshift all day long over tourney. now with acolyte, advent, and advent X I don't even think its a contest.

mstateglfr 

In the last 4 years I have used Microshift 9sp and 7sp shifters for extended periods of time- both work perfectly fine, as I would expect. The materials are good, fit/finish is fine, and I actually like the 2 paddle shifting design.
For 3 years and a probably 4000mi, I used Microshift 11sp bar end shifters. They are also very well designed and use good materials.
One of our family MTBs has Microshift Advent 1x9 on it as of a few months ago. Only a handful of rides, but shifting worked as I would expect.


I dont think Microshift should be compared to Tourney as that is an entire brand compared to a low end entry level product. Microshift has a wide variety of products with most well above low end entry level.

Moisture

They all shift just fine and will do so reliably as long as you know how to be gentle and maintain the derailer properly.

Keep the springs inside the derailer free of dirt or grease, and lightly oiled, and it will last you a very long time.

icemilkcoffee 

People love to sing praises of Microshift but I encountered two problems:
1. The band was too loose such that the lever was still loose after I tightened it all the way. This is just horrible QC. Luckily I have another band from a Shimano lever.
2. The small shift paddle will dig into your fingers all the time. It is not flush with the brake lever. It annoyed me to no end, although my son seemed to have no problem with it.

ClydeClydeson

I have no long term experience with Microshift, but from what I have seen their new parts are easily as good as Tourney.

In my experience, the lower-end Shimano groups like Tourney work great when new but wear out fast - generally a person who rides regularly will wear out the moving parts (like pivots in the derailleurs) within a couple months of riding, and they get sloppy and harder to keep adjusted. I cannot imagine Microshift could be worse in this respect.

skidder

I've been using Microshift bar-end shifters and a long-cage RD on a tour bicycle, no problems to report. Its not getting heavily loaded, just a 'credit card' touring set-up, and it's also in the daily 'road ride' rotation with a few other bicycles. Just looking at the assemblies they appear as well made as Shimano stuff of about the Tiagira (sp?) level. Never had any experience with the brifters.

mstateglfr 

Oh, you have experience with Microshift to say this? Surprising.

veganbikes

If you are riding a bunch and riding regularly the cheap stuff isn't for you. Tourney is useful for a bike that is barely ridden and destined for the trash at some point. If you are looking for a road bike prepare to spend around $1k and get a decent bike that will hold up well and work properly. If you are on a budget increase the budget always and be happier (especially if you are actually riding often which it looks like you plan on) and look at a flat bar bike if savings is your goal. 6-8 speed is pretty outdated tech and not supported on the higher end, 9 speed is getting that way though after market you can find some stuff and the Microshift Advent group is build a wider range 9 speed set up which is handy. We are in the 12 speed era (even some 13 speed) so 10 and 11 are still relevant and still seeing some high end stuff or at least decent mid range and if you stick to the mid range on up you will have a good reliable long lasting bike and will likely save over time.

Moisture

Nonsense . Any derailer can shift reliably and last a long time when treated with respect. You've simply been spoiled by the fancy stuff.

mstateglfr 

Are we in the era of 12sp road drivetrains though? ProsCloset shows Shimano with 76% of road bike drivetrains and Shimano is at 11sp. Not only is 11sp still relevant, its the top level so there is more than just 'some high end stuff' at 11sp. Current DuraAce and Ultegra are 11sp. Current top level Di2 is 11sp.
I would say we are solidly in the 11sp era for road drivetrains. Sure, 12sp is offered, but I wouldnt ever say that makes it the 12sp era.


But this is largely moot with regard to the question which was about entry level road bikes and how Tourney compares to Microshift's offerings.

bluehills3149

If you're talking budget groupsets, check out LTWOO R9. You can get an 11 spd shifter with front and rear derailleurs (Shimano 11spd compatible they claim) for under a $100.

veganbikes

Yes for road we are mainly 11 speed but SRAM and Campy are 12 and the times they are a changing

The point was however that the lower speeds are getting lower and lower quality as time is moving forward so very much relevant.

canklecat

I've used MicroShift R7 brifters for nearly 2 years, no problems. And a MicroShift 8-speed cassette on my hybrid for two or three years. Works as well as Shimano. I've used that MicroShift R7 unit only with older Ultegra/600 Tricolor front and rear derailleurs, nominally for 8-speed but those work fine with 7-speed, including freewheels and cassettes, as long as the spacing and cog teeth shapes are Shimano compatible (which includes SunRace cassettes and freewheels, but probably not Suntour).

The MicroShift brifters aren't comparable to Shimano Dura Ace, but aren't bad. They look plasticky inside and shift loudly with distinctive clacks and clunks. But they work. Incidentally, they use separate levers for brakes, upshift and downshift. The brake lever isn't involved in shifting, so it's different from my older Dura Ace brifters. I don't know whether that affects reliability. The MicroShift unit appears to use little or no lubrication.

MicroNew appear similar to MicroShift but I've read complaints about the internal plastic bits breaking within a year. I haven't read any such complaints about MicroShift.

Only problem with MicroShift is some components, especially the integrated shifter/brakes, have been in short supply throughout the pandemic. That should resolve as China gets caught up on manufacturing and supply chain issues.

Moisture

No, but I have has extensive levels of experience with Tourney in the past. It may not shift as well under power (probably due to the chain and freewheel ratios more than anything else) but still did the job just fine.

I dont care so much about what era we are in.. you need to he real appreciative of where we came from to respect whatever it is that we have now. There's nothing wrong with 6,7,8 or even 5 speed ratios - it has more to do with how useful each ratio is for your needs rather than the spacing in between. I don't see 10,11,12 speeds as being very useful to many people in terms of actually using every gear on that rear cassette. Me personally, after having spent the last 2.5 months with a 5 speed freewheel, I am now far more appreciative of the seamless shifting and gear ratios which work just fantastic when paired with the right chainrings up front. This is what I consider to be most important .

Moisture

My suntour derailleur is 40 years old and is still shifting absolutely fantastic. I didn't realize just how smooth (along with being plain old fantastic quality) this derailer was until trying to shift it through a 9 speed cassette for the first time. My 40 year old friction shifters manage to shift smoother and more seamlessly, particularly under load than my old Alivio managed to with the exact same cassette - also while using a brand new 9 speed chain.

Albeit, my Alivio derailer was thrashed hard on a regular basis by the previous owner on singletrack and its condition shows. My point is, that my absolute low end Suntour derailer has held up more commendably after 40 years than my old Alivio after 14.

I used my 40 year old freewheel until a tooth in both gear number 4 and 5 snapped clean off due to chain skipping. Even then, I didn't even notice any difference in performance until taking my old wheel off to replace it...

Point is, while new low end stuff might not be built to anywhere near the same standard, one must learn to appreciate the basics first.

puckett129

.

These look interesting. Most of my bikes are running Shimergo setups either by use of a shiftmate, hubbub routing, or 11-speed campy shifters with 9-speed Shimano drivetrain. I've also got a straight Shimano flat bar setup (1x9) and a 10-speed full Rival setup. I just don't like the Shimano shifters... shape or method of shifting. I also don't like that it seems that in order to use modern-ish drivetrains, I feel like I have to keep up with the tendency to keep increasing the number of cogs in the rear.

I found the English website for these and they look like they support 7, 8 and 9-speeds all using the same shape lever. Are they compatible with Shimano drivetrains? They look to only have one shift paddle.... do they use a double-tap style of shifting? Tell me more about these!.tb_button {padding:1px;cursorointer;border-right: 1px solid #8b8b8b;border-left: 1px solid #FFF;border-bottom: 1px solid #fff;}.tb_button.hover {borer:2px outset #def; background-color: #f8f8f8 !important;}.ws_toolbar {z-index:100000} .ws_toolbar .ws_tb_btn {cursorointer;border:1px solid #555;padding:3px} .tb_highlight{background-color:yellow} .tb_hide {visibility:hidden} .ws_toolbar img {padding:2px;margin:0px}

veganbikes

Yes I do have experience with Microshift, they can and do make some great stuff and some stuff that unfortunately nobody else is really making in quantity like good thumb shifters. A lot of people do completely poo-poo Microshift but I think they have some value.

In terms of 5-8 speed stuff not denigrating the old stuff of quality. I have a 6-speed Dura Ace equipped bike, a 8 speed 600 Tricolor equipped bike and a 5 speed 600 equipped bike. All of them fine group sets that work well. My point is that the modern group sets of those lower speeds is a lot lower end and lacks the quality. The old stuff is fine the new stuff isn't so great. We say a lot that the new low end stuff is the old high end stuff and that is marginally true but most of the cheap stuff is going to more plastic and removing bearings to go to cheaper bushings and stuff like that so not wholly accurate. Some of the midrange stuff is a lot better and does share more from the older top end certainly Tiagra 4700 shares numbers and odd compatibility issues with the old DA group from the 80s to early 90s but I still would take the 7400

For those looking for shifters Gevenalle Audax is a perfect option and if indexed you can just get w/o shifters and add your own down tube or bar end shifters so you don't need to downgrade to tourney or something to get more integrated shifting.

bluehills3149

LTWOO? I know next to nothing about them aside from what I garnered from a few searches. The most I can tell you from searches (and there appears to be next to no actual reviews of the product online) the 10 & 11 spd shifters/derailleurs are compatible with Shimano 11 spd/tiagra 4700. The mechanism looks to be similar to Campagnolo with a small lever behind the brake for upshifts and a small thumb shift for the downshifts (which to me sounds great). On their website they also list a 7, 8 and 9 spd shifter but I cannot find anyone who sells them on line (alibaba, ebay) so no idea if they are actually available. Which is a pity as I have an old 7 spd roadbike I'd like to convert from downtube shifters to brifters and the LTWOO with the hidden cable design and Campy-esque shifting could be worth a look.

sloppy12

I have their 10spd "mtb" bike 1x groupset and it is ok. shifts well. Long term who knows but nothing seemed horrible. Its definitely not a MTB groupset more of a gravel IMO.

Russ Roth

I've been running the shifters for years now on my kids' bikes and have had no problems with them. The lower end rear derailleur isn't the best, I had wanted the r10 rear der but at the time had to settle for the r9 at the time due to availability. It's been 3 years now and I've had to keep the pivots more lubed or they'll rust up and the finish is peeling off the pulley cages from corrosion. The r10 rear der has aluminum and stainless steel so shouldn't have this problem. Both are 9/10sp, so spend the extra.

hubcyclist

Review just posted, still watching myself

mstateglfr 

That guy's youtube character drives me nuts, but thanks for the link. Basically- they are cheap and usability was an afterthought with regard to design. The clamping bolt moving thru the shifter body was funny- such an obviously simple issue to avoid, yet they chose not to.

Maelochs

Having watched the video, I'd have to say I am glad I got Micronew.