mstateglfr 

all this for $150? Where?

mstateglfr 

Microshift. Their shifters and derailleur work perfectly with shimano.

Maelochs

tested and proven over many, many years' time too.

eja_ bottecchia

Kimmo 

Hey wow, that looks pretty damn close. But the cost is eye-watering! Another $45 for shipping, holy crap. Interested to see about the Giant ones, though...

I've spoken to a Specialized dealer, waiting to hear back. Not holding my breath, though...

I was thinking of taking it in to work to see if one of the guys can weld it up for me... I don't need the bottom half of the slot, so it can be stronger in that respect, but I was wondering about how necessary it'd be to have it heat-treated...

Anyway, I finished editing a couple of vids about the Sensah gear: Sensah Empire review

CliffordK

If you have access to a decent metal shop, it would probably only take a few minutes to cut one out of a solid block of aluminum. An hour?

Just put a block of aluminum into a mill. Cut out the notch, then cut out the slot, drill the holes. And you're done. I like to use a hand file a bit, which should cut aluminum quite easily.

Take a GOOD derailleur with you to use as a pattern, plus, maybe the bad derailleur too, so they can tune it up a bit.

There seem to be two types of hangers. One type holds the derailleur in a single orientation, another is adjustable, depending on the curvature of the hanger/derailleur interface.

CliffordK

Oof!!!!

I didn't see the $45 shipping!!!

It was showing up as $2 to $6 for shipping for those ads I sent. It does give some ideas though.

Land of Australia??? !!!!!

The Post Office here can be a bit funny. I took a cable stop about 5mm in diameter taped inside of an envelope to the post office a while ago. It should have shipped for 50 cents as a letter... They charged me about $5 to ship it as a package, but then treated it as an envelope and lost the tracking info (fortunately it still arrived).

The next similar item I'll probably just package it up, cover it with stamps, and hope it arrives.

Often the Chinese direct shippers do better with international shipping. UK shippers?

Anyway, let me know if you strike out with local sources.

Kimmo 

So there was an Argon 18 hanger on eBay that looked like it might work, but the supplier couldn't be bothered giving me any info on it.

After a while I caved in and gambled on it, and it fit perfectly. Countersunk lower bolt, upper one a button head through a curved slot for angle adjustment, very neat. And the main thing is, it's beefy billet, so I was able to use the Sensah fd without fear of breaking the hanger again.

So yeah, for posterity: Specialized Tarmac from about 2008, 15mm bolt centres on the front derailleur hanger (the type with the mounting bolts behind the fd mount), Specialized dealers couldn't help, but Argon18 hanger worked.

Kimmo 

How'd you go?

Maelochs

Good to see this thread is still going. Going to watch those reviews----thanks for taking the time and making the effort.

friday1970

Now that I've had it on for a whole season, I guess I can give a small review of it.

First is the shifters. The right shifter for the rear cogs has worked great. The single lever action works great. Big push of the lever to push up to the larger rear cogs, short one to the smaller cogs. And having medium sized hands, I really have no trouble shifting. However, the left shifter has given me some problems. First and foremost, if I push the left shifter in too far, the outside lever disengages with an smaller internal one. Then I have to loosen the cable on my FD to fix the shifter. Second issue with the left shifter is that after switching to the larger chainring, sometimes it does not want to shift back to the smaller chainring. I have to give the lever a little nudge to the left, then it will switch to the small chainring.

Braking with these shifters has been better than my Shimano and Microshift equipped bikes. The brake cable starts higher above the axis in the shifter, meaning it moves the brake cable more. So, less pull and more force to the brakes.

The FD works fine on my Shimano 105 crankset. Once I adjusted it better, the issue with having to nudge the left shifter has been a bit better.

The RD works great. No problems. Precise and never misses a gear. However, I am seeing a little rust on some of the steel parts. I'm at the office and I'll have to see where it is rusting and post it here.

So really, other than downshifting on the left shifter and some rust, this groupset has been actually pretty good. I've taken it up some hills in New Hampshire, brevets here in Michigan, and plenty of rides locally. Never once has this groupset given me a bad ride yet.

Kimmo 

So, you seem not to mind the large throw to pull the shift cable? Something you can get used to, you reckon? (I've hardly used mine.)

Um, something's up here - only one of those sentences can be true; they're mutually exclusive.

friday1970

I really don't notice the pull when shifting the FD cable. Maybe I am just used to it. Having three bikes, one with the Sensah Empire, one with a Microshift, and one with a Claris, I really don't notice too much differences in pull length. I guess in terms of mechanical properties of a lever, the higher the brake cable starts above the axis, the less force you have on the pull. But the braking on my Sensah feels better than my Claris groupset.

FlamingTux

Folks, reviving old thread

Any new first-hand experience with Retrospec groupsets ? Anyone actually try the groupset and compare it to its more well-known rivals for example, Taiwanese Advent micro shift , SRAM and SHIMANO?

veganbikes

I would have put this in a new thread rather than one from 2018 as it is not really directly related. I know Retrospec for making really low end fixed gears and some crusier type bikes with cheap parts. I would imagine any groupset they have made or commissioned is probably also of the lowest quality. Microshift, Shimano and SRAM also make some low end stuff but they also make some high end stuff (at least in the case of SRAM and Shimano) and mid tier but decent stuff in the case of Microshift. I see no reason to go with anything else (aside from Campagnolo or maybe Rotor Uno) I get there is a race to the bottom for some reason or another, there usually is, but I value reliability and good support above saving a buck or two.