Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 18,252
Likes: 6,624
From: ,location, location
Bikes: Foundry Chilkoot Ti W/Ultegra Di2, Salsa Timberjack Ti, Cinelli Mash Work RandoCross Fun Time Machine, 1x9 XT Parts Hybrid, Co-Motion Cascadia, Specialized Langster, Phil Wood Apple VeloXS Frame (w/DA 7400), R+M Supercharger2 Rohloff, Habanero Ti 26
Shimano still makes 9 speed stuff but as time goes on it does get lower and lower in quality, the 7 and 8 speed stuff has already hit that bottom.
Microshift stuff is nothing special but still decent. The nice thing is they make bar end and thumb shifters which are a great way to shift. The low end stuff is not going to be an improvement over the similar Shimano stuff but is probably not necessarily worse.
The Advent stuff is pretty neat for what it is and certainly is a good way to go for a budget mountain or gravel bike.
For me though a nice M737 derailleur is the way to go they obviously aren't being made any more but aren't super tough to find and not super expensive and runs 9 speed like a champ which is really the minimum I want as it is easy to find decent quality 9 speed chains and cassettes and things like that.