m_yates

I'm upgrading an old road bike from the 1980s. It is an old 10 speed bike (I guess people would call it a 5 speed now, with a double crankset). I wanted to upgrade it to 9 speed with a triple crankset, since I am fat, old, and slow. It has been several years since I've bought bicycle components, and it seems Shimano, Campagnolo, and Sram have all gone insane with 11 speed cassettes for all kinds of bikes. It is nearly impossible to buy a new 9 speed system for a reasonable price.

Microshift sells 9 speed components for cheap. They are also all silver, so they look kind of retro. I don't think they would look out of place on an old steel road frame.

Does anyone have any experience with these in terms of reliability and function? I will be using friction shifting, so I don't care too much about indexing.

Microshift FD-R539 Triple Front Derailleur - 9 Speed:



Microshift RD-R47 Long Cage Rear Derailleur - 9 Speed:

ypsetihw

yup! they're great! I used to have them on an old higher end scwhinn road bike a few years back in 8 speed and they worked great. I just ordered and received, although have not yet installed, microshift STI shifters for use on my commuter, paired with a shimano 9 speed drivetrain.

if you are using the integrated STI shifters, I think you will like them. they have a slightly different actuation than standard shimano or sram, with a seperate button for downshifting, but I actually like it, very easy to use. Also, the form factor of the brifters is very comfortable to my hand, similar to shimano. their components are well made IMO, and they will certainly be better than the vintage stuff. the fit and finish is nice, and the price is right. go for it!

HillRider

Microshift components have gotten a very good reputation and are also sold as private label products by Nashbar, Gevanelle and probably several others.

I have two sets their 10-speed indexed shift levers supplied as OEM shifters on Gevenalle/Retroshift "brifters" and they have been flawless for thousands and thousands of miles on the two bikes.

Andrew R Stewart 

At Full Moon Vista we have had good experience with MS components. Their ders are quite functional with only nit pics of difference in "performance" between same speced Shimano stuff. Their brifters do use somewhat different ergonomics so one should check them out in person before spending $ on them. As most bike brands don't use MS brifters this last suggestion might be harder to achieve then one would hope. But the ders have done us well so far. Andy (Who wonders if he has met the OP...)

m_yates

Thanks. It is good to hear. I may order the 9 speed brifters from Microshift too. The Microshift 9 speed brifters are cheaper than buying bar end shifters + brake levers.

Edit: I don't think we've met, Andy. I live in Fairport and my regular shop is RVE. I'm not involved in competitive riding around here either, just commuting and recreation. I have done the Ride for Missing Children Century ride in Rochester a few times. The last time I did the century was 2 years ago. If you were there, I was one of 2 people (out of ~350 riders) on a recumbent. I took crap from carbon fiber bike riders repeatedly.

dsbrantjr

I have had very positive experiences with Microshift products and would not hesitate to buy them again.

bulldog1935

8000+ mi on an R10 RD and love it, along with matching thumb shifters
RD10 looks the same as your photo, and I'm running it 9sp
(Running Ultegra CX70 FD)

superdex

Microshift 9spd brifters: $159 (Microshift R9 9 Speed Road Levers > Components > Drivetrain > Road Shifters | Jenson USA)

Shimano Sora 9spd brifters: $158 (Shimano Sora ST3500 9sp STI Lever Set - Shifters - Excel Sports)

um ... I can't think the Microshift are higher quality than Sora?

m_yates

I guess I haven't been shopping at the right place.

I need them for 3x9 system, though.

Shimano is $174.99 (https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...7&category=774)

Microshift is $137.99 (https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...0&category=771)

The Microshift web site claims comparable quality to Sora, but who knows...

bulldog1935

Sun XCD derailleurs are re-branded Microshift, and sell for almost twice as much.
They also use the derailleur body design that originated with SunTour and that Campy later copied.

Bill Kapaun

What's the drop out spacing of your frame?
If a 5 speed, there's a STRONG chance it's only 120mm.
9 speed "road" will be 130mm.
You can spring them a few mm, but 10mm is too much, without some bending of the faces to keep them from exerting a bind on the cones. (I feel I may have been "eating" DS cones on a couple bikes that I got a little "aggressive" in spreading by jamming a wheel in.
At that point, you may as well to a "proper" cold setting".

m_yates

Yes, you are correct. The frame had 120 mm spacing in the rear. I already cold set it to 130 mm with the Sheldon Brown method of using a length of 2x4 wood and string to check alignment. I did the cold setting and then sent the frame to be powder coated.

I've already run into a host of issues upgrading components and I haven't even ordered all the parts I need or gotten the powder coated frame back yet. Modern hubs require respacing the frame. Modern 700c wheels instead of 27" wheels require adding new long reach brakes. The frame requires hex nut brakes, not recessed nuts. Modern rear derailluers don't have an integrated hanger, and my frame doesn't have a derailleur hanger. I need one of those adapter claws. The seat post diameter is an odd size that required a shim, and my shim was destroyed removing it before powder coating. My headset is a weird size that I can hopefully reuse, or otherwise I will need a new threaded fork, which will require me to buy a new stem, which will require new handlebars. On and on it goes. Not much is standard size compared to a modern frame.

I may add a post when I am done with this project showing before and after photos of the bike. My post will be titled something like "How to spend $1500 on a bike that is worth $100".

HTupolev

Aw dang, that sucks. Sometimes the brakes are adjustable enough to make up that extra 4mm.

Wait, really? They make seat posts in a lot of diameters.

Oh no, do you also have an obscure clamp diameter!?

D:

HillRider

Tektro still makes nutted caliper brakes and there are ways to adapt a frame and fork requiring nutted brakes to accept recessed brakes.

xenologer

Absolutely Hate Microshift front shifters/derailers
have had to assemble and tune bikes at work that used their componenets

their philosophy and the reason they have the name 'micro'shift is because the fronts are not indexed in the traditional sense, instead there's a continuous span of 'trim' positions, with no defined primary positions. I guess they feel that so many people have problems adjusting front shifting, might as well eliminate the issue by making them act like friction shifters.

And relating to that design philosophy, their front Derailers don't work very well when mixed with other brands 'real' indexed shifters. Cage shaping tends to be less proactive than shimano and doesn't shift cleanly. - they assume you'll be using it like a friction shifter and overshift and manually trim constantly.

Microshift Rear derailers/shifters are OK

Dan Burkhart 

So I guess you wouldn't be a Campy fan either then, huh? I for one think non indexed front shifting is a good (very good) thing.

Andrew R Stewart 

I wish we had talked before you went ahead, I might have been able to see some of the issues you now are challenged by. How is your headset weird? Did you align the drop out faces after the spreading? What are the dimensions of the seat tube ID and your current post? RV and E is a big shop (for our area) but not the shop I think of when discussing out of the mainstream projects. Although since they like to buy out shops they do have some odd parts. Andy.

xenologer

Nope.
Additionally I barely tolerate 'trim' on shimano road setups.

I like my shifts to be a single definitive push on the lever that just works cleanly; no over or undershifting, no rubbing in some combos that needs to 'trimmed' out.
Shimano MTB drives can be setup to achieve this very nicely; it's always amazed me that their Road counterparts are both more expensive for equivalent grades as well as poorer performing in that regard.

L134 

[QUOTE=m_yates;19295904].

Does anyone have any experience with these in terms of reliability and function? I will be using friction shifting, so I don't care too much about indexing.

Are there brifters that are friction? I, for one, regretted "upgrading" to brifters and went back to bar end friction.

HillRider

Yes there are. Gevenalle (gevenalle.com) offers "brifters" that are basically brake levers fitted with a machined bracket that mounts downtube shift levers or the shift lever from barends.

You can buy them equipped with 9,10 or 11-speed indexed rear shifting levers or friction rear shift levers or with no levers and use ones you already own. In all cases front shifting is friction.

rydabent

They work fairly well, it is what my TerraTrike came with. However they do not work as well as the Sram shifters that are on my Rans Bike.

bulldog1935

I have never tried a Microshift FD, but I don't even like SunTour FD.
For my money, Shimano has made the best FD since the late 70s.

drlogik 

Very high quality components for the money. Perform admirably too. I wouldn't hesitate. Wabi Cycles puts them on their multi-speed bikes because of this. They are made in Taiwan though...but so are a lot of our components these days (you'd be surprised how many).

kaos joe

We have a total mongrel system on one of our tandems....9sp MicroShift brifters, Shimano XT derailleurs, RaceFace chainrings, Sram cassette and chain. It works absolutely flawlessly.

bulldog1935

Some of the best hand-made frames in the world come from Taiwan, and they've been building bikes and components there since the 80s. Taiwan is not a bad word in bikes.