I was thinking about converting another bike to brifters yesterday, and was flicking through eBay for second hand Tiagra or Sora brifters at a sensible price.

Not much about, but there are a few UK sellers offering brand new Microshift R7, R8 and R9 sets at seriously cheap prices - less than £30 including postage from one seller.

I'm very tempted, but is this too good to be true? The items are UK stock, although the generic listings point towards the sellers being drop shippers. Has anyone used, or are using Microshift brifters and can give any idea of how well they work in comparison to Sora or Tiagra equivalents?

For an idea of how cheap these are, I bought a second hand Tiagra set a few months ago in rough looking but working condition for just under £50.

Thanks, as always, for any feedback.

EDIT - anyone know how to change the title? Just noticed what the auto correct has done to the title. And it's an Android device, not Windows!

You can do a search for these on the forum, but a number of commentators have praised them in the past as an inexpensive effective alternative
to Shimano. They do have different ergonomics but have kept up with the 10-11 speed evolution in brifters and I can recall no negative comments
as to their engineering or longevity.

https://www.microshift.com/en/product-category/road/

I got a pair of r8 for a cheap cx build I did this past year and would recommend them without hesitation, the ergonomics are different, but in some ways kind of better than shimano (separate shifting paddles). I ended up parting out the bike and selling it (I got a new bike retail) but the components worked well.

I have not used that particular item, but my other experiences with Microshift components have all been positive.

Another alternative to brifters is the Gevenalle system, which mates a bar-end shifter with a brake lever: Developed for cyclocross, they are simple, rugged and repairable. You can shift across an entire cassette with one motion. https://www.gevenalle.com/shifters/

I almost bought a carbon 10sp group last year on ebay for cheap and it weighed less than Ultegra. Still wish I would have bought it. Every review I've read of Microshift has been positive.

Cheers everyone for the feedback - I'll get a set ordered this weekend.

It's nice to get some real world views about a product (and alternatives) rather than the opinion from a writer who's used a product for a day or two, and is more concerned about advertising revenue than publishing a full unbiased review, so thank you for taking the time to post replies.

I don't personally have any bikes with microshift but the bikes I've worked on were fine. I like the setup better than old Sora thumb levers. I'm curious to ride their high end stuff but I think they're really competitive at the entry level.

Last year, I upgraded my DT shifters to Micro-shifter (R7). Ridden over 600 miles, no issues. KB