Kimmo 

So this is interesting...


Shifts like SRAM but with Shimano's pivoting brake lever. Neat. And the shape is such a rip-off of Shimano that it might be worth trying Shimano hoods on.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SENS...847859902.html

They claim the quality is between 105 and Ultegra, which is hard to believe for the price... looks a little clunky, particularly the hoods. Still, it's a promising start.

The vid mentions at the end that there's a a lock-out to prevent accidental shifting while braking... in my book the whole point of Shimano's design is the ability to downshift and brake in one movement - it's a feature not a bug, particularly with the front brake on the right.

Tempted to grab a set just to try em out...not like it's a big spend. I'd be looking to go the hack on that lockout, though. Also I'm not interested in the increased dish of 11s, so I'd be going 10 of 11, or an overhanging cassette (I have a 10s cassette mounted on a 7s freehub body on one bike)...

ETA:

FullSpeedAgain

Coming from nowhere I wouldn't expect them to have the quality of a decades experienced brand as Shimano, (which are not perfect either, STI shifters tend to fail due to wear) but it's interesting to have new alternatives.

rms13

The price is right. Buy some and give us a review. The main issue for me is that what I like about Sram is the fact that you have a dedicated brake lever that doesn't move and second lever for shifting. So having one shifter that is also the brake defeats that purpose. But the price point is about $100 U.S. less then the comparable Microshift group which is the most mainstream budget set and Microshift has it's own set of issues

mcours2006

+1.

Lazyass

If they came in 10sp I would give it a shot. I don't have any spare 11sp wheels.

Kimmo 

Shimano do an 11-32 cassette that'll fit on 10s, Edco do 11s cassettes that'll fit on 10s, or you can just get an 11s cassette that comes in single cogs and leave the biggest one off (10/11).

FullSpeedAgain

You have lots of ways (more than I had imagined) to solve that, have a look at this

mstateglfr 

Sensah, LTWOO, S-Ride...are they all the same company? Are they related companies?
Are they quality or crap?

So many questions and such little interest in spending money to find out.

radroad

Like others, I'm curious about initial quality and durability. Go for it, shipping to Australia shouldn't take long.

Kimmo 

You can like that about Campy as well... I think the main thing about SRAM is a single lever shifts up and down, and the resulting elegance of the mechanism. As mentioned, these levers differ from Shimano in that there's a lockout to prevent simultaneous braking and shifting. I think it's pretty cool to have one lever to rule them all, but as mentioned, if I get a set (I think I will), I'll try to modify the right one to allow simultaneous shifting and braking.

rms13

I actually tried Campy on one bike I built up but never liked the thumb button. Microshift also uses a thumb button for what it's worth.

Kimmo 

That guy is totally wrong to advise removing one of the middle cogs; it'll make the shifting blow chunks. If you run 10/11, you want to remove the big cog or the small cog.

He also forgets a really good reason to keep using 10s wheels, even though he includes a great diagram illustrating why - the inferior flange offset of 11s makes those wheels weaker.

Kimmo 

I had a pretty cool idea about Ergos; you could probably use them with a NuVinci hub, if you ditched the thumb buttons and converted the index mechanism to friction, assuming they spool enough cable...

noodle soup

Theoretically this is true, But Campagnolo and Mavic have been using hubs with less flange offset since 1997 + 2003.

Wheel strength isn't an issue with 11 speed.

Kimmo 

And I've never been impressed with Campy and Mavic's excessive dish. Also, I've been quite alarmed by how marginal the 11s Shimano wheels I've built have been. It's reached the point where IMO there's no strength benefit (actually the reverse) from going with a traditional 32 or 36 build over a system wheel.

There's impressive stuff done to minimise the impact of dish, but there's stuff-all done to minimise dish in the first place. There's no getting away from the fact that dish weakens a wheel, and that less is better.

GrainBrain

I read a little about this company recently on the Disraeli Gears site.

Sensah derailleurs

Seems that they worked for SRAM in China, then SRAM moved it's factory, but these people stayed behind and created their own product. A unique product to try if you have an SRAM derailleur lying around.

noodle soup

So what's your solution?
11spd wheels aren't failing all over the place.

tagaproject6

That animated bike has the saddle way too high for that animated rider!!!

Kimmo 

A wheel with a 10s Shimano hub is stronger than the same wheel with an 11s Shimano hub; this is incontrovertible. Have you built a wheel on one of these? It's well dodgy.


And it wasn't necessary. 11s cassettes that fit on 10s wheels are available, and one is even by Shimano themselves.You only need to find 1.8mm. Hell, I was able to find 4mm when I modified a 10s setup to use a 7s body. There's even room for 11 cogs on a 7s body! Witness the fitness:






The gap between the RD cage and the spokes is 2mm. There's just over 3mm between the chain and dropout.


...BTW, I ordered Sensah Empire, along with an Ultegra cassette and chain.There won't be any drivetrain hacking, since the bike it's going on is rocking those stupid Ksyrium ES, with the seized nipples. Stay tuned.

str8jakett

Looking forward to your review , even though I don't personally like brake lever shifting (or thumb buttons for that matter).

noodle soup

I'm not disputing the fact that a 10 speed shimano wheelset is stronger than an 11 speed. I'm saying that wheel strength isn't an issue on 11 speed wheelsets

I've built 27 11 speed Shimano wheelsets, and 34 9/10/11 speed Campagnolo wheelsets, The only time there was a spoke tension issue, was with Circus Monkey/Bitex hubs(10 speed Shimano)..

Kimmo 

I've only built a few, all Open Pro, but after the first set I hated it because even with the DS nipples getting to the point of wanting to round off, the NDS was only just getting tension.

Although this was probably partly because my boss was an idiot who thought he could tell his customers and mechanic not to use double butted spikes because they're 'weak'... I couldn't stand working for that prick anymore. I'm a hydraulic service tech now.

noodle soup

Might have used DS spokes that were too long.

There are some 11 speed hubs that are poorly designed, but most are fine. With disc bikes going to 142mm, things are getting better

He sounds like a fool

DrIsotope

I just saw this group on Amazon for $168 on Prime. That's a fine deal if they're any good. Looking forward to the review from @Kimmo.

friday1970

I also ordered this Sensah Empire groupset and it arrived in the mail earlier this week. I've only unboxed it, played around with the shifters while holding them in my hand, and weighed the components.
Shifters with cables are 496g, RD was 196. FD was 98g.
Shifting is a bit odd. As you shift the RD lever, you can feel the cable loosening for a bit, then a pull as you turn the lever all the way. All 10 clicks were there, and as you short shift while pulling the cable at the same time, you can feel it being pulled out at equal increments.
The real test will be when my 11speed cassette and chain arrives. I will be replacing a Microshift Arsis 10 speed groupset on my main road bike with the Sensah, and my rando bike gets the Arsis. I only have one set of wheels that support 11 speed cassettes, so a little musical chairs with the components.