I'm a fan of what Micoshift is doing these days.

I'm a poor with 4 boys under 8. They've all got sick sub 15lb bikes built from junk stores and ebay. I could have used your help 4 years ago. This is my new favorite bike channel.

Seriously this groupset is our “normal/reasonable” cyclist’s savior. I do like doing my thing of vintage and new old stock, but there’s just times where you can’t beat new, and the big brands are leaving that void Microshift is absolutely crushing and I love it! Thanks for covering this stuff too!

Microshift is highly underrated in my opinion. I replaced a 9 speed Acera with a microshift Advent and has been flawless in the 12 months and 5,000 Kilometres I've had it.

I don't think CUES would exist without the semi-recent competition from Microshift Advent/AdventX on many entry level bikes. .... Also I always find it funny when you mention budget or saving money on a setup with Paul Clampers.

This is INSANE news! The m5120 is an awesome derailleur. Being able to use Sword shifters with it is a game-changer. I can't wait to tinker

I dont even own a bike with disk brakes! I love Microshift for what they offer. I have two full AventX with drop bars shifters. I love the paddle placement, I found them very easy to use and reach. I also have a bike with SHimano 105 rear derailleur and Shimano 105 flat bar shifter. I am the target audience for Microshift. Nothing I have is Modern. 10 speed everything.

No one mentions it because it's not in the World Tour.......and we know the cycling industry/ media are obsessed with performance.

funny how shimano not labeling their rear mechs correctly for size makes you expect the same "wiggle room" i.e. labeling error from competitors. otherwise great and very interesting video! the group seems to be a great option especially if you can use up old shimano mtb parts

The only liquid that should be on your bike is sweat -- love it

Wait… So I can use - say - a 10-speed XT derailleur with a Sword shifter? That’s huge.

Thanks for this timely video. I am building up a frame and was trying to decide between microshift or converting a used rim brake groupset into a disc brake system. This made me decide to go with Sword.

Super useful thoughts. I’ve been thinking about building up an old Ti frame with Microshift 2x for touring and this addresses a number of the compatibility and range issues that have been spinning in my head.

Thanks!

Thanks Russ! 👍

Great video. A lot of good information here. Thankyou.

Glad we have got a decent manufacturer filling this gap, everything seems to be really well thought out and the compatibility is good. Microshift really seems to be hitting the right spots at the moment. Would look at this group set in the future for updating any old bike. Big fan of 9 speed for value and durability.

Russ, in the video you may be confusing large-cog capacity (mostly a function of the parallelogram geometry) with total chain-wrap capacity (which largely depends on the distance between upper and lower pulley wheel). Based on what you say here, it sounds like the rear derailer capacity would be maxed out by an 11-42 cassette with a 40/28 crankset, or your 40/26 crankset with an 11-40 cassette. The fact that you could shift into and out of the 42t cog with no issues (as far as I can tell, in the video), despite the official large-cog capacity of 38t, indicates that the Microshift's large-cog-capacity is similarly conservative to Shimano. Maybe you're also running into other issues which indicate the max large cog is actually less than 42, but the words you said there make it sound like you're still talking about chain wrap capacity. This discussion starts around 7 min into the video. Later in the video (7:45) you mention (correctly) that cage length is the factor impacting the ability to run a larger cassette in 2x setup.

Excellent! Now let's try the Sword 11-48 cassette with a 2x crankset 😊

Loving my Advent X, would definitely consider Sword in the future but currently loving my Tiagra 4700.

Looks like the Sword Black shifter would be a good and simple upgrade for my Marin Nicasio+ with Advent 9 speed.

Love my microshift and all my bike have the same spacing so i want to swap between them. Would love to just change the front crank on 2 of them so thanks for this

Micro Shift has great stuff, I have use the Advent X and twin uses Sword with Paul Clampers and he says it works great.

I e-mailed MIcroshift after swapping out my stock 2by for one with 2 less teeth on both rings and asked if I could go from 34 to 36T on the largest cassette cog, by switching from their R8 rear mek to their Marvo LT long cage 9-speed. They answered yes, so I naturally bought their 11-38T cassette. It's working fine even without a Wolftooth RoadLink extender.

nice alternative. I find sometime even with shorter throw brifters my aging hands get really strained after a couple hours of riding. Its less with Di2. It wouldn't be an issue except cannot squeeze the brakes hard enough when it gets towards 4 or 5 hours. One finger sounds good though.

I have used Microshift on any Shimanoe freehub cassette snd and derailleurs. No issues whatsoever and half the price.

Just a note for people: the Sword CAN go to a 42T cassette (as in the max cog size), but it has low capacity (the amount of chain it can tension) so you'll have to run a 1x to do so.

There’s a long cage sword mech that would work better for your big cassette. I think you have the medium one.

super curious about your experiments with this and cues-my dd is a 2020 520 that i desperately want shorter cranks on while maintaining range

I haven't used Sword yet, But I have been overall ahppy with Microshift's "high end" drivetrains.

This is huge. There is plethora of second-hand Shimano Deore and XT parts in very affordable prices. If I can just buy Sword levers and reuse old Shimano stuff this turns out to be real banger.

Thanks for the review. I was looking at the LTWOO GRT12 but thanks to you are reconsidering. At the other end of the price scale are you interested in reviewing the INGRID groupsets?

I currently run Advent 1x9 on my gravel/commuter/tourer. It ok, still working after 14,000km+. Looking to upgrade to something new but cant really justify the additinal cost of Sword over the Ltwoo GR9 1x11. I'd much prefer hydraulic brakes. I find hydraulic brakes a lot more reliable and easier to maintian than cables and the performance is night and day. I havent tried Klampers though, nor will I at the price they go for! I also dont need 2x. I dont need more range than what a 11-50T offers.

I ran the Sword Brifters with Advent X 10 Speed 11-48 cassette.

How do the sword shifters work on road bars w/o flare? I have road 2x mechanical mechanical setup and am considering these thanks!

Great video ! Thank you! To all those saying no hydraulic brakes, there is a very simple workaround I have micro shift mechanical shifter and brake levers work with TRP HY/RD hydraulic shifter and I love it, it is way way easier than the reservoir on the levers. less fuss and I can make the other disc. brake bikes I have turn hydraulic in less than .10 minutes.

If you will probably find that no Cues stuff will become cheaper due to shops wanting rid of it. I run 9 speed and always on the look out for cheap Shimano 9 speed stuff. A Cues shifter to non Cues derailleur travel agent will be made by somebody at some point.

What if you just use the long cage rear derailleur from the 1x sword or adventX with the 2x geoupset? Im thinking of doing this on my bike, which has the adventX 1x10 and making it a 2x setup with the same rear cassette

Hi, what do you think about Sensah? I use it on five bikes in my family and it is very good. This brand has capability of 11 and 12 speeds road shifters with gravel rd and also have 2*11/12 set of shifters for flat bar. Last year i build touring bike with 2*9 shifters, 34/46 on front and 11-40 cassette - wide range too.

Is it possible to run the front derailleur without housing (e.g. when using classic downtube shifters)?

How easy is it to operate the paddles, particularly the smaller one, with thick gloves in the winter?

I see that there is an advent 9 speed 2x front derailleur.... but no crank? Is the sword 2x that crank?

I may need to upgrade my Journeyman from Sora to Sword now if the rear derailleur has the same pull as Shimano.

How is it to use with an old school 10sp road ( non- compact? 52/39 w/shimano cassette 11- 30 ish?

My only complain about mechanical disc brakes is that good ones are really expensive. I'd love a low maintenance, all cable gravel, but in Europe a Microshift Sword groupset is 40 euros less than a Shimano grx 400. Yes, without brake calipers.

Now i can bring my 10s xtr derailleur live again

Peak peak peak!

Great video as always thanks , on a side note . could you tell me where I can buy those round cable ferrules ?

Best mecanical brake is 4 me the trp spyre next one i buy is microshift stuf i had a bike whit hubgear shimano alfine 8 gears an dropbar shifter from microshift it whas awesom

So, Sword brifters + Shimano FD + Shimano RD + Paul brakes?

I believe you can use the Advent 9-speed long cage rear derailleur (47t capacity and 42-46 max cog) with the Sword Black shifters (same cable pull according to Microshift) and have your 2x wide range set-up. No need for any Shimano hacks...

I was all why don't they rebadge their advent 9 speed 2x rear mech as sword mega range or something so was assuming that's what sword black was going to be. but they just took the clutch off the sword one? from the specs the advent 9's rear max cog is 42-46 with 47t capacity

Yo russ you should review the Marin Larkspur. Only mixte non custom production bike avaliable and is basically an atb from factory.

Using a simple logic, if they were compatible with Shimano Dynasys and with CUES too, I mens Dunasys and CUES RDs must have the same pull ratio and would be interchangeable.

Now M5120 RDs will be out of stock everywhere. Need to grab one or two spare.

Hmmm... They choosed a weird pull ratio, I assume to get a lesser feeling of step up while shifting up the cassette but it will never work properly with sram 1:1 or whatever Shimano equally weirdo ratio. If you ever tried a 1:1 SRAM or TRP derailleur with a friction shifter you'll certainly notice how well it works...

Honestly I contacted several of my local bike shops and none of them carry microshift, plus here in Canada you can't order directly from microshift as a home mechanic, or even find their groupsets online. I too prefer mechanical but right now this is not accessible at all here.

I love microshift. But the 2x10 Sword group has gotten very close in price to grx400. And I personally prefer shimano when I can swing it. It’s also nice to be able to swap in parts from tiagra 4700 which can be found pretty cheaply on eBay these days. I could see myself going 2x9 sword for a specific build. But for 2x10, I’m not really seeing a reason to go with sword over shimano.

I agree that hydraulic braking is not the most user friendly thing but when bike touring with heavy loads in big descents, i found that mechanical disk brakes are limited. I literally burn my brakes rotor in a descent and barely killed my self because i couldn’t not brake enough in this very steep road

My Sram x9 10 speed had a 39-26 crankset. Shifted like butter too. You might want consider them if you build anything else. They also made a 42-28 I believe.

Not sure going to Shimano Dyna-sys M5210 buys you much. Yes bigger rear cog, but lower overall capacity of 41t. Whereas Sword RD has capacity of (38-11)+(46-29)=44t To use that Shimano RD with a 42t cog you would need to use different cranks to get a lower gear...

I have their centos groupset, the front mech is just amazing, much better than any Chinese mainland rivals' offering, brifter is comfortable to hold, no werid bulge to cut my hands. But in other area they do lag behind, like no hydraulic disk option. Also their retail presents are pretty weak, probably Microshifts' focus is still OEM orders.

They should release just sword brake levers to pair them with their bar-ends.

Will the sword RDR work with the advent x 1x10 trail trigger shifter?

Instead of playing BCD games for your low/wide doubles. Its time to have these made for direct mount.

I'm so sad, I want to change my Kona Dew to a drop bar and these Microshift shifters look so good! I wouldn't need to change my derailleur If only they supported hydraulic brakes :((

Hey, blood is also a liquid!

What silver bars are those in the beginning?

Cable and-nothing but cable is what biking is about

congrats for your constant tweaking!

where can i get those reusable cable ends?

shimano has similar offerings.

Hey guys, do you think there's a chance the leavers work with V-brakes?

Ooh! What day are you at Eurobike?

Limitations in low gearing 5:02

42, 46 is never to be ridden as two-by…

But you have mechanical and mechanical sensah and ltwoo so there is not only sword...

Great stuff 🎉

You way underplayed the sweat should be the only liquid on your bike comment. Brilliant.

Anyone who's learned the rate of hydraulic failures might like to invest in compressionless housing and cable-actuated calipers.

Their logo looks more like a syringe than a sword & sheath, to be honest 😂

Hi Russ! I own Sword..and I’m a happy owner from the Accent X range..I have a question re Sword though: The left lever has a dropper lever option..can you look into how to use this? I’m having difficulty with cable config here! Installation doesn’t seem to easily work here..as both ends ‘want’ cable ends. Or am I missing something? :)

I went hydro after all the hype. Not worth it for me. More tools, more mess, special fluids 🙂‍↔️

So Klampers at almost $500 a pair put me off of mechanical disc brakes. Most other options are pretty universally panned, or similar in cost (Growtac’s at $365). So while I am not strictly against an all mechanical drivetrain, I went with L-TWOO 1x12 hydraulic for about $220 (aluminum version, just levers, calipers, and rear mech). It is been pretty flawless on two bikes and plenty of miles. Sure it is less tinkering friendly, but 510% range has been plenty enough. So are there mechanical calipers that don’t break the bank and don’t suck?

DIYers, di wires

you should grit your teeth and try 12 speed 105 mechanical - just so you know how it runs.

Grease is an acceptable fluid in bike ... bearing.

Do you wax?

Anybody else misread as “Microsoft Word”?

Too much focused on electronic shifting.

Sorry, I don't like Microshift brifters.

Excellent! Now let's try the Sword 11-48 cassette with a 2x crankset 😊

Thanks!

Thanks!