Sensah / L-Twoo shifters or groupsets, anyone tried them?
- Thread starter foz
- Start date
OK, so first test ride on these yesterday. The levers are larger than what I am used to, but I find them very comfy. Shifting is very good - nice action, easy to move the lever but with a positive click. The 7 speed rear DX mech indexes perfectly. Front won't drop down to the small chainring, but that is more to do with the mech adjustment than the levers. They will only shift over 2 of the 3 chainrings though. Not a major problem, I will set up for inner and middle for now, and look at swapping the middle for a 38/39/40 to give a slightly higher range. I am still getting used to the shifter action - the same lever does braking, and both up/down shifts. Seems a little wierd (I am used to campagnolo where there is one lever for each thing, not one for all 3!), but I have only had a 10 mile test ride so far. There is a faint rattle, especially from the left lever, so I will have a look and a bit of grease in the right place will probably fix that. All in all, I like them!
I've bought these before, but returned to seller without installing. Was mainly annoyed at the seller rather than the product itself.
Seller was offering 2x9 and 1x9 versions - ordered 1x9 just to find out that the seller just filed away the switch tang on a 2x9 set's LHS. So absolutely no benefit of buying 1x9, as you get all the bits (and weight) of a 2x9. Also seller understated their weight by about 80g in the ad, which was annoying.
Before that I was a happy user of Chinese "MicroNew" shifters. £30 delivered (is what they used to cost going back several years). Lasted about 8k miles on my commuter, and while the brake levers were getting a bit of play in their pivots, the shifters were still working fine. Still have them as backup if one of my campy sets breaks (...who am I kidding, I'll just buy more campy...)
The Sensah shifters appeared to be better made and had better quality levers, but were quite large, and the shifter mechanism appeared to be more complex (therefore less reliable?) than micronews.
I think these might appeal to Shimano STI users, as they tend to be very large compared to microshift or campy.
Seller was offering 2x9 and 1x9 versions - ordered 1x9 just to find out that the seller just filed away the switch tang on a 2x9 set's LHS. So absolutely no benefit of buying 1x9, as you get all the bits (and weight) of a 2x9. Also seller understated their weight by about 80g in the ad, which was annoying.
Before that I was a happy user of Chinese "MicroNew" shifters. £30 delivered (is what they used to cost going back several years). Lasted about 8k miles on my commuter, and while the brake levers were getting a bit of play in their pivots, the shifters were still working fine. Still have them as backup if one of my campy sets breaks (...who am I kidding, I'll just buy more campy...)
The Sensah shifters appeared to be better made and had better quality levers, but were quite large, and the shifter mechanism appeared to be more complex (therefore less reliable?) than micronews.
I think these might appeal to Shimano STI users, as they tend to be very large compared to microshift or campy.
thepedaller
Dirt Disciple
I've just got the Sensah Empire groupset recently and installed on one of my bikes. Quality of the kit seems quite high and overall fit and finish is excellent considering the price shipped to UK is about £100 or so. Initial observations
- Level throw is a bit far compared to mainstream brands, up 2 and down one maximum.
- Shift accuracy is not as good as mainstream brands. I've checked the derailleur hanger alignment so not sure what else it could be. Doesn't always shift perfectly, but as I've only installed it I can't 100% rule out some issue with my install so the jury is still out on this one.
- Brake lever pull ratio doesn't seem as high?? I haven't measured this but just as a gut feel as when the brakes are disengaged there is a large gap to the rim
- Otherwise quite happy with this, considering the whole groupset costs as much as a single brake/shifter from Sram/Shimano. Looks quite good, I like how the brake levers have adjustable reach and generally has a smooth feel to it.
- Level throw is a bit far compared to mainstream brands, up 2 and down one maximum.
- Shift accuracy is not as good as mainstream brands. I've checked the derailleur hanger alignment so not sure what else it could be. Doesn't always shift perfectly, but as I've only installed it I can't 100% rule out some issue with my install so the jury is still out on this one.
- Brake lever pull ratio doesn't seem as high?? I haven't measured this but just as a gut feel as when the brakes are disengaged there is a large gap to the rim
- Otherwise quite happy with this, considering the whole groupset costs as much as a single brake/shifter from Sram/Shimano. Looks quite good, I like how the brake levers have adjustable reach and generally has a smooth feel to it.
