My initial thoughts on MicroShift 3X8 brifters
 

A couple days ago I swapped my Sora 3X8 shifters and Tiagra rear mech for microShift R8 3X8 shifters and Ultegra rear mech. I have gone on a couple rides and I have to say that the microShift shifters are working really well. I much prefer the double-paddle design of the R8s over the Sora's method of swinging the brake handle to shift to a lower cog and pushing the button to shift to the higher cog. The R8 shifters work flawlessly with the Ultegra mech, the shifts are crisp and fast. The front is working well too but I still need to do a little adjusting of the front mech to get it to a reasonable working point. The brakes feel great and it was easy to adjust front/rear to have the same initial bite points when pulling the handles. I haven't made any panic stops yet but I probably need to try it a few times just to get the feel of it.

I'm not saying anything bad about the Sora shifters. These suckers are 18ish years old and were full of dirt and grime (mud wasp nest I think in one of them) and they shifted and engaged the brakes perfectly. Shimano make great products. I just didn't like that button, and I couldn't reach it from the drops (not that I ride in that aero position a lot but it only took one time in the drops and wanting to go even faster to figure out that I wanted a change.

So .... I'll keep putting some miles on these microShift shifters and see if my mind changes about them in the future. So far, I am liking them and think they are a very nice upgrade to the Sora 3X8 shifters of the 2006 vintage. Total cost for the R8s was $106 shipped to my door and the kit included cables and housing. I bought them from 365 Cycles out of Pennsylvania via Amazon.

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I bought a microShift long cage 7 speed rear derailleur that was in a non-descript box. It's just been in my spare parts bin for a while. I had forgotten about it until I tracked down how much I paid for my shifters in the above post. My Ultegra rear mech just didn't have the capacity for a triple crankset so I decided to dig up that microShift mech and put it on the bike. When I put in my AliExpress orders I always add a few trinkets for the bike. A couple of those were the anodized jockey wheels. I dug those out and put them on the microShift mech before I installed it. I was surprised that the mech didn't have any grease on the mech from the factory, and the OEM jockey wheels are bushing, not bearing. The Blue ones I put on have RS (rubber sealed) bearings, so a step up. I then put a liberal amount of Tri-Flow on all the pivot points.

I set the H and L limit screws, pulled the cable taut, clamped it down and it shifted perfectly first time. Not bad.

I can tell the blue on the wheels isn't going to last all that long .... oh well.


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A month in and what have I learned:

• These shifters work with Ultegra 9-speed rear mechs flawlessly (using only 8 speeds.)
• These shifters do not work with microShift 7-speed rear mountain mechs.
• These shifters work flawlessly with the microShift R9 long cage rear mech (using only 8 speeds)
• When combined with short drop handlebars the paddles fall perfectly on my fingertips when in the drops. (huge difference from the standard Bontrager handlebars that came on the bike.)
• You really have to crank down on the clamps to keep the shifters from moving around on the handlebars. (so maybe not good for carbon handlebars?)

Nice review.
my son has 2x8 Microshift on his Decathlon gravel bike and they work flawlessly.
we are blessed to live in an age when even ‘budget’ components perform so well and are so reliable.

My 30 year old Trek 520 touring bike has a 7 speed rear (3 rings up front) and brifters - controversial on a touring bike back then.

The past 7 years that bike has been doing Zwift duty in the basement on a wheel-on smart trainer - a fairly benign environment but lots of miles and not much shifting.

I did a very hilly ride on Zwift and had to use the big ring in the back - and the brifter for the rear died, couldn't get off that ring. Cable was fine, tried soaking in WD40 (that had worked years ago), no joy.

Took it in to bike shop, they found inexpensive MiroShift 7 speed shifters and replaced. They seem to work pretty well, but on my 3 different bikes I now have:

1. Trek 520 3X7 with Microshift double paddle shifting
2. Jamis Renegade with SRAM 1x transmission and "double tap/long push" shifting on one paddle one way.
3. Trek Domane 2X with Shimano traditional brifters

The first ride on each bike involves some fumfering for the first few shifts...

Learned a new word, thank you!
I hear ya on the mixing of shifter brands. This winter I got rid of my two SRAM drivetrains and replaced with 11-speed 105. Now everything in my garage is Shimano, Campagnolo, or Campagnolo copy (L-Twoo).

I have them on a couple of my bikes. No complaints from me. They're cheap and they do the job.

Had them in a bike I sold 5 years ago. They worked fine. I found the hoods uncomfortable though, but I used them for 5 years anyway.

I have not used the Microshift brifters yet but I have their Advent X 1x10 drivetrains on a few of my mountain bikes and they perform flawlessly and were easy to set up.

Just put some on my Soma Pescadero last week. Was having trouble with bar end shifters staying in gear on rough sections of road, and finally gave in to the call of the last century technology. They went on well and have been easy to adapt to on the first couple rides. I am using the triple front shifter on a double, so it is 2 clicks for a front shift. We will see how they hold up.

I have Advent 9 1X on one of my gravel bikes. I greatly, greatly like the ergonomics/shifting design of Microshift over Shimano. Not only that, it was inexpensive and works perfectly.

I’m close to grabbing R9 3x for a 2004 Trek 2300 after my experience with Centos11 drop and flatbar stuff. I have the Centos11 drop on a Cannondale Synapse with 105 derailleurs and it’s great. The flatbar stuff has been used with 105 5800 and GRX 800 on two different 730 Multitrack projects.