Originally Posted by
Dirk de Chablis
Sante was the Sora of groupsets and RX was the Claris back in the day. Shimano was approached by bike companies to build a group set to a price (not much has changed these days) corners are cut on chains, cassettes, mechs and chainsets, the weight of OE product vs blue box products is what makes the price difference.
Sante was up at the 7-series level, just below Dura-Ace (well above 600), and using a Dura-Ace type 7s freewheel.
It was also offered in a 7s cassette freehub version.
Finish and materials were to very high specification throughout.