Update: Just changed the front to a set of Shimano S04C Metallic brake pads. Cleaned the rotors and then did a full bedding-in routine of over 20 cycles. They got a bit noisier and got maybe ~10% more powerful, but still 'less than ideal' - The more I think about it, the more I think it's the cable housing. The main reason for thinking this is that the rear brake is a lot worse than the front, which makes sense as this frame uses full cable housing for the entire length of the frame. So - next step; beef up the cable housing. (Currently using Jagwire CGX-SL 'low compression'' housing.) Will switch to KEB-SL ‘zero compression' housing.
I know that Jagwire CGX isn't great (I was disappointed that my 2018 gravelbike with Jagwire labeled cables was so mediocre). I swapped that for a Yokozuna Reaction cables. Sponginess was improved by 50%, this also results in 'some additional force at the end of the lever pull'. I'm using 105 group, TRP Spyre with the original pads with SRAM Centerline 160mm rotors. It's still not in the same league as with Shimano hydraulics on a roadbike. Cable barrel adjusters are also known to be able to ruin the party...
You definitely need compressionless cable housing for any hydro-mechanic brake calipers. Huge difference in performance using TRP HyRd brakes when I swapped the housing. One question though... Is the right hand lever of this groupset still operating the plastic piece that was causing problems in the Empire's left lever? Thanks for the video!!
That groupset looks pretty decent I gotta say! Plus I need to get hold of the updated sensah 2x11 version with the updated metal arm you mentioned. As for the Zrace brakes, I'm still pretty impressed with them myself. They will never match fully hydraulic, and even with the 105 shifters the lever throw is quite alot, but I can't argue with the braking performance. They took a little while to bed in, and I get the feeling that the unbranded pads they are supplied with arn't the best, but ive since updated to a 160mm rotor up front and I'm really happy with them. The front is nice and grabby, and I can lock up the rear no problem. Also that 360 camera is wicked, your camera work is always on point!!!!
It was funny, I'd been riding this setup for a few months, and was just convinced that the brake calipers must be trash... however, your video sent me back to the drawing board. I think the longer lever throw you get with the 105 is definitely a help. More leverage. Added to that your compressionless housing and your giant man-hands. I think there's no one 'silver-bullet' but more a combination of these things. I will be experimenting for sure. Oh, and I definitely recommend the 360 cam for the one-man-band video production. Yeah; some of the shots are cliche, but when your videos are 20min longs, the same old shots get old fast. Keep up the good work, send me a message if you need help sourcing parts.
I'm using sensah srx pro with 40t cassette. I found sometimes the shifting just go crazy, i ride 78km yesterday with perfect smooth shifting no problem at all. I ride today and suddenly the shifter goes awfully out of sync. Do you get this problem too?
@@oscar6047088 It's because the barrel adjuster on the rear mech is smooth where it goes into the derailleur housing as opposed to bevelled/notched like it is on literally every other derailleur I've ever worked with or taken apart. I just got this groupo a few months ago and one suggestion a tech I work with gave me is to just tighten it down all the way and use the barrel adjuster on the frame (if you have one, that is). I think that can work in the short term but I'm afraid it'll come loose eventually. Another solution I've seen online is to get a file or a Dremel and file away some of the housing, essentially making some bevels for the barrel adjuster to rest against and keep it from moving and coming out of adjustment. I have the same issues- I can get the indexing perfect and it'll come out of adjustment in well under 100kms. I'm going to file some of the housing and see if it helps at all b/c it's really annoying having to constantly re-index my shifting- it gets to the point that the barrel adjuster runs out of space and I have to undo the pinch bolt which is going to eventually mangle the cable (it already started fraying). It's a really simple and silly thing that Sensah overlooked because when the derailleur is set up nicely, it works really well, nice and quick upshifts and fairly effortless downshifts. If I can't get the derailleur to stay indexed, I'm just going to have to pull the trigger on a Rival or some other Sram 1x11 rear mech with Exact Actuation and hope that China Cycling is correct about these shifters having the same cable pull ratio. If this thing would stay indexed, it would be a really good groupo for $150- I'm still kinda happy with it b/c I wasn't about to spend $300+ on a whim to basically try out 1x11 and have a project, so for the money, it sort of did what I needed it to. Hope this helps a little. Be well.
@@ehlpitel so the direct barrel adjuster is non index like the 105. Can u just add blue loctite to make it stop moving on vibration? Seems a easy fix to me. Or simply remove the direct barrel adjuster on the rear mech, and just run an inline adjuster on frame instead?
When they come out with a 1x13 like Campy I'm in. When all the world is going mad, riding on a beautiful, country road is the remedy! Thanks for the video.
I had exactly the same experience with braking power as you do. And the problem is in the shifters. I used compressionless and regular housing, different calipers, rotors, pads etc. As soon as I swapped Sensah shifters for a Sram... Well. I was stunned. The braking felt so powerful that I could lock both wheels being on the hoods with only one finger. So long story short it's the shifters. Maybe something about leverage or build quality (if you try to brake really hard you can see and feel like some of the shifter's parts flexes a bit).
@@gilo816 I still use mechanics. Road/gravel hydraulic shifters are too expensive right now. And breaking power of good mechanical disk brakes is more then enough for my style of riding
Are you sure this is the fault of the lever handles? I was planning to buy Sensah SRX but after problems with brakes I prefer to pay 50% for the Sram Apex 1 set. The derailleur supports 11-42. Is the Sram Apex 1 shifting clutch better than the Sensah? If so, I have a second reason to choose Sram. I will use hybrid brakes, the same from the film China Cycling, 160mm disc. What to buy?
I've just recently completed my monster cross conversion. For some reasons, I couldn't get my road brakes in time and I used a set of TX805 (previously M375) MTB brakes which are cheap as hell. For road levers, I'm running a pair of Sensah Reflex (8 speed) on a TY300 RD on a 11-34T cassette (8 speed). Despite road pull on a linear MTB disc brake calipers, it is working reliably. What I did was to 'pre-load' the brake arm until there's some rotor rub, then back it off a little to get no more rotor rub. Then I do the same with the r-pad by adjusting the 5mm hex bolt head. With the setup, I'm getting good braking power both front and back. For front housing, I used standard brake housing and cables. For the rear, I used the Jagwire road pro kit's compressionless housing. The compressionless housing is making my rear back 'too powerful' i had to back off the caliper's brake arm a little more than usual to gain modulation and decrease risk of wheel lock up. *I wanted TRP spyres, but my orders keep getting cancelled by shops. So I purchased a set of R517 later but it didn't get delivered on time when I was converting to drop bars. So I wanted to *try* with the TX805 MTB brakes to see if it works, and it did! In general, one shouldn't be mixing road (short pull) levers with MTB disc mechanical brakes (long pull). For some reason, this works.
The brake cable ratio is probably the culprit here. I suspect the Sensah levers are using SRAM'a pull ratio, which is awful for calipers designed for newer Shimano pull ratio. You mentioned Velotrace's experience with the Zrace has been good, and he is using 105 R7000 brake levers. FYI, TRP Hy/Rd sucks with SRAM levers, so I am not surprised that you also had a horrible experience with it. You must mount the cable differently, or install the short pull conversion arm available on Amazon for around $40. Oh, also, compressionless housing also helps.
Those calipers look to be very similar to Juin Tech F1 calipers. Brakes of that type absolutely require good compassionless housing like Yokozuna Reaction. Which is, oddly enough, sold with along with badge engineered Juin Techs as Yokozuna Motoko and Ultimo calipers.
Built my own FULL carbon bike ,as money was available, starting around 2020,took 2 years. I used Sensah Empire Pro 12 speed ,twin ring, with cable operated hydraulic discs. Full carbon set. It is excellent. Now I’m thinking of going wireless and full hydraulic. Sensah is good. Had 12 speed just before a big brand brought theirs out.
Just ordered myself a set of the sensah pro's (shifters, RD, chain & cassette) for £150 including shipping and tax to the UK. Ships with a 52 tooth cassette too, which is insane! will likely need a hangar extender or some b screw fiddling to get it in, but hey, it was free. Would anyone be able to tell me (by some miracle lol) whether this would be a mtb 11 speed (therefore fitting onto a standard 10speed mtb hub) or a road 11? I'm converting an old 26" classic rigid 90's Raleigh (sentimental more than anything) to a gravel with beefy tyres. Before buying wheels / hub I'd need to know this first, and don't want to wait haha. Itching to find this out for myself, so thought 'china cycling probably has a video on it' - and I wasn't disappointed! Great video as always 😁
i have the state bike and i love the shifters. around 500 miles on the bike at this point and no issues. i am replacing the promax brakes with trp hy/rd. hopefully without issues. we will see once the conversion is done. i just received those in the mail. part of me is glad that i did not see your video about the cheap cable hydro brakes. i would have bought them for sure for 1/3rd the price of the trp brakes.
Thank you! I'll be installing this groupset when it arrives from its' intercontinental journey and using it with rim brakes on a road bike. A little odd, but my local terrain is devoid of flat roads or constant grades so much that I've never given any thought of upgrading from the stock Clarus 2x8 until 1x stuff started gaining popularity. Good chance winter will be fully upon me once they get here, but I'll try to give an update on the braking with my set up (fairly generic dual pivot rim brakes/koolstop salmon/jagwire/alloy rims) once spring pays enough of a visit to get a feel for them. Looking at the gear calculator, i'll only be "losing" one usable gear ratio going from a 16 speed drivetrain to an 11. I never intentionally cross chain so 16-4=12, planning on using 46 front with the thinking that I'll get over losing 50x11. For reference, with an 11-46 cassette the jumps are near identical to a compact (50/34) 2x8 (11-32). Swapping chainrings is pretty easy, from 46 to 44 or 48 shouldn't even require removing any links from the chain(?) and I would rather swap a chainring & add/subtract links than swap cassettes even though in terms of hassle that is a bit of a draw.
Got it and installed today! Only was able to get it out for a very short ride, but will try to continue replying to myself here with updates. The Good: Shifting on the 11-50 cassette was SPOT ON even with a massive jump from 42t-50t which is very impressive. Still had some b-limit screw after setting it with ~6mm clearance to the 50t pie plate, so I think it could handle a 52t. (your derailleur hanger may vary, no extender needed) Lever throws are better than i expected with better feedback than Shimano Clarus. Internal pieces are all metal except a tiny little plastic dodad the function of which I haven't clearly determined. Noise is minimal with only a little bit noticeable from the jockey wheels in the two lowest gears. Chain line turned out just about perfect, nothing I did, just luck. That said If you are switching from a 2x8 that luck *should* carry over. Very glove friendly, confirmed. Good feedback when braking from the drops, but at a cost. The Bad: Leverage from the hoods while braking isn't good, small or weak handed people may struggle. Braking overall with generic tektro dual pivot calipers I'll have to leave for a future update, new pads + driving sleet + wet & grungy roads today. So it was crap, but since i rarely ride in that weather on my road bike I'm not at all confident it was crappier than entry level Shimano. Brake throw is on the long side, adjusting the levers inward may require very tight gaps between the pads and the rim. Slight horizontal play in the left dummy lever which has parts that serve no purpose in this application. The rear barrel adjuster IS NOT INDEXED AT ALL, the insert is keyed, but not the arm where they mate! I luckily have a barrel adjuster on the down tube so will likely go ahead and locktite the rear, because I have zero faith it won't adjust itself otherwise. The Neutral: Hoods are comfortable, but the material leaves my questioning the durability. No instructions included, but they can be downloaded directly from Sensah as a pdf. My road bike has a Mullet, nothing at all stealthy about it and the derailleur hangs LOW so be aware of curbs! I think it looks awesome, but that'll likely not be a universal opinion! Overall: I am really very pleased with it, the jumps on the massive cassette didn't bother me in the least and is near exactly what I'm accustomed to. I'm confident the 46-50 is more than I really need, but haven't hit the steeper climbs with it yet. That said, the 15% hill was more a test of balance than strength, it was kinda silly in a good way. Should fit the bill nicely when the grade goes over 20%. Specs: Motobecane Mirage SL frame, tektro r312 brake calipers, Kool Stop Salmon pads, FSA Tempo compact crank, USAMade 110mm & 130mm BCD SharkTooth PRO 46t chainring, Fulcrum Racing 7 wheels, sunshine 11-50 cassette, zrace 11sp chain. The cassette & chain had me worried, because they were so cheap, out of box everything is great, time will tell.
@@srdannisic7157 Super late, longish term update; Leverage on the lever is just not good at all from the hoods, the "solution" for myself is to position the levers higher on the bar to more easily reach below the pivot point from the hoods. It looks off, but it really, really helps. I have medium hands and a decent amount of "old man" grip strength, for riders with small hands or weaker grip strength I would not recommend. (sliding them up meant having to reduce the throw, those with smaller hands would need to keep their calipers and wheels PERFECTLY center and true.) Braking from the drops has been, fine. I did switch to sram calipers - didn't notice a difference. Pet theory: these levers were deigned for gravel specific bars with outward flare. The shifting performance has been good once I got the muscle memory down, I have a massive cassette 11-42 is fantastic, 42-50 is marginal. I wouldn't recommend over 46t without a drop link, plenty of space for it with the b limit but extending it that far is asking a LOT and results in very finicky indexing. In fairness, Sensah lists the max cog at 46.
I like Chinese Groupsets and your videos so when I was doing a Gravel Bike build I said I'd try this groupset. Bought the full kit, Levers, rear dearaileur, bottom bracket, chainset, Chain and cassette however after 600km this groupset has left me down badly. To start I could never get the shifting adjusted right, the rear dearaileur would constantly jump between gears and wouldn't drop down to the 11 on the cassette unless I pulled the derailleur out by hand. Also the chain wasn't long enough to go into the biggest gear ( I think I had a 50 or 52 as a biggest gear) this meant I only ever had 9 semi working gears on the bike at most. After a few chain drops I turned the clutch on the dearaileur up to the max but I'd still get chain drops. Also backpedalling was now impossible due to the clutch on the dearaileur. Maybe it was an issue with the chain and front Chainring but I suffered many chain drops on road downhills mainly, not even on rough terrain. Then the last straw was recently I just hopped on the bike to go for a ride and went to shift up the gears and bang the mechanism in the lever broke straight off and I was stuck in bottom gear for the ride. Really frustrated and disappointed with this groupset. Then 2 less issues I had were the hardness of the hoods which was mentioned here, they were like hard plastic at the start but did soften out over time and secondly the paint and decals on the Levers wore away in no time. More of a cosmetic issue but something I thought I'd mention. I wouldn't recommend this groupset to anyone even though as I said at the beginning I'm a big proponent of trying new Chinese Groupsets. Thought I'd post this here in case someone finds it helpful👌
one thing about compression less housing is that the cable runs have to be as tight and direct as possible. If you have any slack or slow meandering loops they work really poorly, I found this out with my HY/RDs.
Ive used this but rebranded as Ferrino Fantasy and it has been awesome so far. Using it for about a month now. Im using the same rebranded cable pulled hydro brakes by Ferrino. In my opinion is about the same as shimano caliper rim brakes
Very comprehensive and honest review. Brakes: Quite often, even with big brand bikes, the interface between brake pads and the rotor is misalighned due to inaccurate machining of the contact faces on the frame. True also that better cable housing makes a huge difference (speaking from experience). And brake pads.
I feel you pain on finding gravel roads in China! There really are none! I still like my gravel bike on the every changing road conditions here in Guangzhou haha......
This makes a very interesting option for trying 1x. The rig I'd be using it on is an old CX bike with canti's so bad braking wouldn't be anything new 😁
The Advent X; offers a real clutch, double paddle shifters behind the right brake, derailleur only compatible with advent shifters, 10 speed and Cannondale has spec'd them on their base level Topstone. The last part might go a ways to explain the very limited availability right now. Sensah is definitely less expensive right now, but not by a whole lot.
thanks for the review, looks like I will hunting down a 1x11 SRX for my current canti equipped gravel bike. PS If you want to make sure your invisible selfie stick on the Intsa360 One R stays invisible (it made a couple of brief appearances in this video) get yourself an aftermarket cage with 1/4" threaded adapter (I use a metal Ulanzi) that way the selfie stick stays parallel to the camera which is the risk with a gopro mount.
Yeah, I think it will work well for CX. Maybe chain slap may be a lot if you're riding down stairs, etc. As for the selfie stick, yeah...it was my first day using it and I had some third party selfie stick and the angle wasn't perfect. Thanks! 😁
TRP Hy-Rd callipers have always been really good in my experience, maybe try some with the SRX levers. Pure cable operated discs really need compressionless outer housing, and even then I’ve never found any that are anywhere near as good as a full hydraulic setup. Cable/hydraulic combination usually works well though.
The leaver pull on the Hy Rd is really long. You can buy a shorter brake arm from some guy on amazon as a remedy. The juin tech r1s are a really good alternative however.
I like them. They have lots of power. I've you are descending down mountains then maybe get full hydro. There was only one rider ever where I was able to overheat mine descending on an extremely long and steep gravel road because I had a death grip on the brakes the entire time and only towards the tail end of the descent did my stopping power start fading. The reservoir can only dissipate so much heat but to be fair my braking technique under those situations could use some work.
Thanks for the content Joe. Going to be using the same groupset on an up coming gravel build we're doing soon. Was going to comment about the fluid in the calipers possibly being low. But it looks like you've checked this already. Look forward to an update on your progress.
I've experienced bad braking performance on cable actuated hydrolic disc brake (only rear), which is TRP HY-RD (after 2000+ km). Then the main solution is change brake pad, even though it was perfect, I also replaced the inner cable, and become more perfect.
Can you add some spacers to the end of the cable clamp on the caliper to move it further from the pivot point? Literally like a stack of washers and maybe a longer bolt? Just seems easier to modify caliper fulcrum rather than modifying the brifters.
A review of a gravel group, and not a single pebble ridden in the video. You do sell it on it's climbing ability though. In all my time on actual gravel/bike packing I've never felt like I've needed a 50t (and I'm a bigger rider at 84kg riding a heavy steel frame) skip the 9-50, most riders will be pretty damn happy with an 11-42 running a 34-38 chainring unless of course you plan on climbing 10-12% grades every day. I love the suffer of a good climb and a 50t would be great, but I'd have to say a 9-50t is something I'd only put on a wheelset with specific route planned. Good content as usual though!
Hey, you're right about the road. I was doing gravel riding a few months ago, but last month had the operation to take the metal plate out my leg, so the holes from the bolts are still in my bone. If I fall off, the risk of a break is probably higher than normal, so, I'm sticking to good roads for a few more weeks.
@@ChinaCycling heck yeah, a recovery is a recovery. Take the time that's needed and get back to your normal routine. I think though, the current setup you have is more climbing/bikepack oriented, however IF it was possible to run a 32-50t 2x and a 10-36 cassette without issues, I'd be in heaven. Problem is with 2x and the cross-chain on huge climbs and the sometimes horrible a watt-loss, godawful noise and "unreliability" of a 2x setup when actually gravel grinding is questionable at best. Tons of people have had success riding 2x on a gravel oriented bike, but I've had nothing but issues, so until a company makes a gravel 2x system I'll stick with my 1x and not worry about being stuck in a 52t for 100k with climbs.
I should point out that the currently shipping SRX Pro (as of mid-2022) left levers do NOT contain any shifting guts that can be unlocked. The lever body is empty.
I'm waiting g to see this review before buying SRX for my gravel bike, I already use the Empire & Ignite components on my bikes, the cycling world needs more good quality alternatives to Sram & Shomano.
Hey Joe, hope youre doing well. will like to say really love this new 360 camera view that you are giving us, quality stuff right there! I see you are rocking a new set of carbon wheels? any information on them by chance?
Thanks Benjamin! First time using the 360 cam. Maybe I overdid it in this video, but I think it's a great tool for making single-man videos and having a lot of variation in camera angles. Those wheels will also get a review. They're the lun grapid 650 wheel, very light for a gravel wheel.
@@ChinaCycling ya I could imagine this set-up will be heaps help to you, a one man army. but honestly, I love the angles, especially where I can see the articulation of the gears when you shift the lever. Sweet! Although I am not riding a 650b wheelset but I will definitely be waiting for that review to be out.
Which 1X model is their latest version, I see Empire and or SRX? Can I run cable pull V brakes on a MTB/ gravel drop bar conversion? Big thanks for the great information. I’m really enjoying you guys reviewing of the various Chinese frames and group sets. Microshift is saying mid November before drop bar Advent -X is available but my wife needs a 1X bike now so the Sensah stuff looks interesting. Now if one of you youtubers could recommend a good carbon endurance road frame with room for 38cm tires I’d like to hear it too. 👍
I would have thought Magene would have reached out to you regarding their new power meter. You put me on to them a while back but all the sensors I bought seem to burn the batteries after only a few days so I'm on the fence at the minute.
Thanks for the great review! Keep us posted with reliability in the coming month if anything changes ;) For the braking issue, it'd be interesting to try the standard for cable actuated mechanical disc brakes calipers: TRP Spyre C; mine don't have jaw-breaking performance but they stop me where I want reliably. Off Topic: Can we expect reviews for crank spider powermeters from the likes of XCadey and SIGEYI in the near future??
I have an XCADEY one that I've been riding for months. It's very reliable. Will review it when I get a final version (mine is a development / beta AXS version)
Great video Joe. I heard of various people using compression outer cable can improve the braking of any mechanical disc setup. I would maybe reccomend looking into the Juin Tech GT-F (flat mount) or GT-P (for post mount) if that fails might be a cheaper upgrade than going full hydro.
I just installed this groupset a few days ago and have been very impressed so far. Shifts as smoothly as my SRAM Rival. One issue I've noticed is that on fast descents, when in one of the top two gears, if I stop pedalling there is insufficient tension in the derailleur's spring to avoid chain slap. Doesn't happen with the same setup with a SRAM Rival RD. From a search of forums and YT I haven't found anyone else reporting this issue, so it might just be the unit I received. The derailleur jockey wheels spin smoothly so I suspect it's just the little bit of friction from my new near DT Swiss 350 freewheel overcoming the derailleur tension (note this setup works fine with my SRAM Rival RD) . I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this issue or/and found a solution?
Same freehub, same issue. I haven't found a solution, I think I've somehow developed a habit of easing off on the cadence instead of stopping or reversing suddenly.
@@cdmbr7090 interesting to hear it's not just me! I'm starting to adjust my habits too. Some circumstances are hard though, for example when switching which foot is down on fast windy trails...
@@cdmbr7090, I've ended up switching to a Rival RD. The difference in spring tension is like night and day. For future builds I think the Sensah levers coupled with a Rival RD is the most cost-effective combination.
Great video,, Joe. I know this is not the main subject of this video, but could you tell me what tires are you using at your Gravel bike? Not easy to find them at Aliexpress. Thank you in advance and good training 👍🚴🇧🇷
I think it would be better on rim brakes. If you try to use your fingers to stop a wheel spinning by grabbing the braking surface of the rim; it's pretty easy. If you try to grab the disc with your fingers, it's hard to push enough to stop the disc spinning. I think discs need more 'squeezing' power than rim brakes do.
Hi, I just bought this groupset from aliexpress but I am struggling setting it up. The shifting just does not work. If I can shift from high to low gears I can not shift from low to high or vica versa. Also sometimes when on the 50t cog and I shift one gear higher it jumps up two cogs. Spent two afternoons trying to make it working but no avail. Running 50t casette. Any ideas?
@@jonathanang1660 Yes I did. First it was a bit strange that the end of the cable comes out "the front". I checked this on vids/pictures and that looks good to me.
I wonder how many bikes are there that have been equipped OEM with Sensah groupsets. I mean, if Microshift can do it, why don't the other Chinese brand groupsets follow? (Although we only see them in the lower priced bikes, would be interesting to see something like an Arsis on a mid-high end carbon framed road bike)
Any info if the SRX Pro Left Shifter/STI could be routed with a Front Derailleur? I currently have the Sensah Empire GS and on would like to change my Cassette/Cogs & RD to a wider range for steep climbs all the while retaining my 52-36 Crank + Sensah Empire FD. Thanks Mate!
awesome video. Just wanted to know if you had some issues shifting to the second highest gear? like their is a delay in shifting, or it would not shift at all to the second highest gear or it would skip it completely and go straight to the highest gear?
Hello @chinacycling,nice video review,but i'm interesting about your dropbar flare rise,where i can buy ,please send link or name this dropbar flare,thanks 🙏
Hello! I bought this groupset, but in my opinion with a damaged left brake lever. On the left brake lever there is a broken bent plastic element to which the spring is attached, and on the right shifting\brake lever the plastic bent element is intact, there is no damage. At the same time, the left brake lever works, but this damaged plastic element inside it confuses me. Is the left brake lever supposed to work like this or did I get a damaged left brake lever?
Hello Joe. Any thoughts on using this setup with rim brake calipers ? All my bikes are rim brakes, so that's where this setup is going . Thank you. KB.
I think it would work well with rim brakes as they rely on the increased diameter of the rim brake braking surface to brake rather than disc brakes that rely more on squeezing force with the smaller diameter of a disc rotor
I'm pretty sure Sensah is developing a higher end electronic groupset to offer an alternative to Ultegra Di2, and probably also developing hydraulic groupsets. Any info? 👀
They may becoming a victim of their own success. While they have their own patents, im sure their groupset also infringe or at least go uncomfortably close to shimano and srams. When they were unknown it was fine, but now they're getting international recognition I'm sure lawyers will come knocking. Electronic groupset have a lot of patents around them because how relatively new all the tech is.
Update: Just changed the front to a set of Shimano S04C Metallic brake pads. Cleaned the rotors and then did a full bedding-in routine of over 20 cycles. They got a bit noisier and got maybe ~10% more powerful, but still 'less than ideal' - The more I think about it, the more I think it's the cable housing. The main reason for thinking this is that the rear brake is a lot worse than the front, which makes sense as this frame uses full cable housing for the entire length of the frame. So - next step; beef up the cable housing. (Currently using Jagwire CGX-SL 'low compression'' housing.) Will switch to KEB-SL ‘zero compression' housing.
I know that Jagwire CGX isn't great (I was disappointed that my 2018 gravelbike with Jagwire labeled cables was so mediocre). I swapped that for a Yokozuna Reaction cables. Sponginess was improved by 50%, this also results in 'some additional force at the end of the lever pull'. I'm using 105 group, TRP Spyre with the original pads with SRAM Centerline 160mm rotors. It's still not in the same league as with Shimano hydraulics on a roadbike.
Cable barrel adjusters are also known to be able to ruin the party...
You definitely need compressionless cable housing for any hydro-mechanic brake calipers. Huge difference in performance using TRP HyRd brakes when I swapped the housing. One question though... Is the right hand lever of this groupset still operating the plastic piece that was causing problems in the Empire's left lever?
Thanks for the video!!
Piece for piece litterally the same parts I'm canvasing now for a gravel bike. Glad to see the parts I want are decent.
Any news with KEB-SL?
Do you have an update? Did the compressionless housing work?
That groupset looks pretty decent I gotta say! Plus I need to get hold of the updated sensah 2x11 version with the updated metal arm you mentioned. As for the Zrace brakes, I'm still pretty impressed with them myself. They will never match fully hydraulic, and even with the 105 shifters the lever throw is quite alot, but I can't argue with the braking performance. They took a little while to bed in, and I get the feeling that the unbranded pads they are supplied with arn't the best, but ive since updated to a 160mm rotor up front and I'm really happy with them. The front is nice and grabby, and I can lock up the rear no problem. Also that 360 camera is wicked, your camera work is always on point!!!!
It was funny, I'd been riding this setup for a few months, and was just convinced that the brake calipers must be trash... however, your video sent me back to the drawing board. I think the longer lever throw you get with the 105 is definitely a help. More leverage. Added to that your compressionless housing and your giant man-hands. I think there's no one 'silver-bullet' but more a combination of these things. I will be experimenting for sure. Oh, and I definitely recommend the 360 cam for the one-man-band video production. Yeah; some of the shots are cliche, but when your videos are 20min longs, the same old shots get old fast. Keep up the good work, send me a message if you need help sourcing parts.
I'm using sensah srx pro with 40t cassette. I found sometimes the shifting just go crazy, i ride 78km yesterday with perfect smooth shifting no problem at all. I ride today and suddenly the shifter goes awfully out of sync. Do you get this problem too?
@@ChinaCycling zrace vs TRP Spyre??
@@oscar6047088 It's because the barrel adjuster on the rear mech is smooth where it goes into the derailleur housing as opposed to bevelled/notched like it is on literally every other derailleur I've ever worked with or taken apart. I just got this groupo a few months ago and one suggestion a tech I work with gave me is to just tighten it down all the way and use the barrel adjuster on the frame (if you have one, that is). I think that can work in the short term but I'm afraid it'll come loose eventually. Another solution I've seen online is to get a file or a Dremel and file away some of the housing, essentially making some bevels for the barrel adjuster to rest against and keep it from moving and coming out of adjustment. I have the same issues- I can get the indexing perfect and it'll come out of adjustment in well under 100kms. I'm going to file some of the housing and see if it helps at all b/c it's really annoying having to constantly re-index my shifting- it gets to the point that the barrel adjuster runs out of space and I have to undo the pinch bolt which is going to eventually mangle the cable (it already started fraying). It's a really simple and silly thing that Sensah overlooked because when the derailleur is set up nicely, it works really well, nice and quick upshifts and fairly effortless downshifts. If I can't get the derailleur to stay indexed, I'm just going to have to pull the trigger on a Rival or some other Sram 1x11 rear mech with Exact Actuation and hope that China Cycling is correct about these shifters having the same cable pull ratio. If this thing would stay indexed, it would be a really good groupo for $150- I'm still kinda happy with it b/c I wasn't about to spend $300+ on a whim to basically try out 1x11 and have a project, so for the money, it sort of did what I needed it to. Hope this helps a little. Be well.
@@ehlpitel so the direct barrel adjuster is non index like the 105.
Can u just add blue loctite to make it stop moving on vibration? Seems a easy fix to me.
Or simply remove the direct barrel adjuster on the rear mech, and just run an inline adjuster on frame instead?
When they come out with a 1x13 like Campy I'm in. When all the world is going mad, riding on a beautiful, country road is the remedy! Thanks for the video.
been riding this groupset for over a year, aprox 3000 miles, and have not even needed to have anything adjusted. Reliable.
CC bringing the best of the east to UA-cam!
After shipping, the Microshift Advent X group is only around 33% more expensive and the derailleur has a proper clutch.
I had exactly the same experience with braking power as you do. And the problem is in the shifters. I used compressionless and regular housing, different calipers, rotors, pads etc. As soon as I swapped Sensah shifters for a Sram... Well. I was stunned. The braking felt so powerful that I could lock both wheels being on the hoods with only one finger. So long story short it's the shifters. Maybe something about leverage or build quality (if you try to brake really hard you can see and feel like some of the shifter's parts flexes a bit).
Yeah, I think so. I've changed so much at this point. But, still gonna keep seeing if there's a solution.
Welp, time to switch to sram shifters I guess. When you switched to sram were you still using mechanical or cable actuated hydraulic calipers?
@@gilo816 I still use mechanics. Road/gravel hydraulic shifters are too expensive right now. And breaking power of good mechanical disk brakes is more then enough for my style of riding
Are you sure this is the fault of the lever handles? I was planning to buy Sensah SRX but after problems with brakes I prefer to pay 50% for the Sram Apex 1 set. The derailleur supports 11-42. Is the Sram Apex 1 shifting clutch better than the Sensah? If so, I have a second reason to choose Sram. I will use hybrid brakes, the same from the film China Cycling, 160mm disc. What to buy?
@@AlexanderGoroshilov last question. The compressionless housing did nothing at all to the brake modulation? Like zero difference?
I've just recently completed my monster cross conversion. For some reasons, I couldn't get my road brakes in time and I used a set of TX805 (previously M375) MTB brakes which are cheap as hell. For road levers, I'm running a pair of Sensah Reflex (8 speed) on a TY300 RD on a 11-34T cassette (8 speed). Despite road pull on a linear MTB disc brake calipers, it is working reliably.
What I did was to 'pre-load' the brake arm until there's some rotor rub, then back it off a little to get no more rotor rub. Then I do the same with the r-pad by adjusting the 5mm hex bolt head. With the setup, I'm getting good braking power both front and back. For front housing, I used standard brake housing and cables. For the rear, I used the Jagwire road pro kit's compressionless housing.
The compressionless housing is making my rear back 'too powerful' i had to back off the caliper's brake arm a little more than usual to gain modulation and decrease risk of wheel lock up.
*I wanted TRP spyres, but my orders keep getting cancelled by shops. So I purchased a set of R517 later but it didn't get delivered on time when I was converting to drop bars. So I wanted to *try* with the TX805 MTB brakes to see if it works, and it did!
In general, one shouldn't be mixing road (short pull) levers with MTB disc mechanical brakes (long pull). For some reason, this works.
The brake cable ratio is probably the culprit here. I suspect the Sensah levers are using SRAM'a pull ratio, which is awful for calipers designed for newer Shimano pull ratio. You mentioned Velotrace's experience with the Zrace has been good, and he is using 105 R7000 brake levers. FYI, TRP Hy/Rd sucks with SRAM levers, so I am not surprised that you also had a horrible experience with it. You must mount the cable differently, or install the short pull conversion arm available on Amazon for around $40. Oh, also, compressionless housing also helps.
This 100%!
+1, sounds like the culprit is incompatible cable pull ratios. New shimano is different, don't know what Joe's calipers and the sensah levers use.
This was the comment I was hoping to find! You da man. I shall update my setup and do a follow-up. Thanks for the help.
Those calipers look to be very similar to Juin Tech F1 calipers. Brakes of that type absolutely require good compassionless housing like Yokozuna Reaction. Which is, oddly enough, sold with along with badge engineered Juin Techs as Yokozuna Motoko and Ultimo calipers.
I have same brake setup with Duraace R9000 shifter.. having same problem with the brake as well..it didnt really bite.
Built my own FULL carbon bike ,as money was available, starting around 2020,took 2 years. I used Sensah Empire Pro 12 speed ,twin ring, with cable operated hydraulic discs. Full carbon set. It is excellent. Now I’m thinking of going wireless and full hydraulic. Sensah is good. Had 12 speed just before a big brand brought theirs out.
Just ordered myself a set of the sensah pro's (shifters, RD, chain & cassette) for £150 including shipping and tax to the UK. Ships with a 52 tooth cassette too, which is insane! will likely need a hangar extender or some b screw fiddling to get it in, but hey, it was free.
Would anyone be able to tell me (by some miracle lol) whether this would be a mtb 11 speed (therefore fitting onto a standard 10speed mtb hub) or a road 11? I'm converting an old 26" classic rigid 90's Raleigh (sentimental more than anything) to a gravel with beefy tyres. Before buying wheels / hub I'd need to know this first, and don't want to wait haha.
Itching to find this out for myself, so thought 'china cycling probably has a video on it' - and I wasn't disappointed! Great video as always 😁
i have the state bike and i love the shifters. around 500 miles on the bike at this point and no issues. i am replacing the promax brakes with trp hy/rd. hopefully without issues. we will see once the conversion is done. i just received those in the mail. part of me is glad that i did not see your video about the cheap cable hydro brakes. i would have bought them for sure for 1/3rd the price of the trp brakes.
Let us know how you get on. Good move by State bikes using this grouppo
Did it improved the braking performance ?
I guess every roady is just waiting for a electronic/ hydraulic sensah groupset
😁
I'm not buying a new bike until that comes out.
@@aj2i18jx same here haha, the prices will be verrryyyy high
Thank you!
I'll be installing this groupset when it arrives from its' intercontinental journey and using it with rim brakes on a road bike. A little odd, but my local terrain is devoid of flat roads or constant grades so much that I've never given any thought of upgrading from the stock Clarus 2x8 until 1x stuff started gaining popularity. Good chance winter will be fully upon me once they get here, but I'll try to give an update on the braking with my set up (fairly generic dual pivot rim brakes/koolstop salmon/jagwire/alloy rims) once spring pays enough of a visit to get a feel for them.
Looking at the gear calculator, i'll only be "losing" one usable gear ratio going from a 16 speed drivetrain to an 11.
I never intentionally cross chain so 16-4=12, planning on using 46 front with the thinking that I'll get over losing 50x11.
For reference, with an 11-46 cassette the jumps are near identical to a compact (50/34) 2x8 (11-32). Swapping chainrings is pretty easy, from 46 to 44 or 48 shouldn't even require removing any links from the chain(?) and I would rather swap a chainring & add/subtract links than swap cassettes even though in terms of hassle that is a bit of a draw.
Sounds good man. You'll be golden.
Got it and installed today! Only was able to get it out for a very short ride, but will try to continue replying to myself here with updates.
The Good:
Shifting on the 11-50 cassette was SPOT ON even with a massive jump from 42t-50t which is very impressive. Still had some b-limit screw after setting it with ~6mm clearance to the 50t pie plate, so I think it could handle a 52t. (your derailleur hanger may vary, no extender needed)
Lever throws are better than i expected with better feedback than Shimano Clarus.
Internal pieces are all metal except a tiny little plastic dodad the function of which I haven't clearly determined.
Noise is minimal with only a little bit noticeable from the jockey wheels in the two lowest gears.
Chain line turned out just about perfect, nothing I did, just luck. That said If you are switching from a 2x8 that luck *should* carry over.
Very glove friendly, confirmed.
Good feedback when braking from the drops, but at a cost.
The Bad:
Leverage from the hoods while braking isn't good, small or weak handed people may struggle.
Braking overall with generic tektro dual pivot calipers I'll have to leave for a future update, new pads + driving sleet + wet & grungy roads today. So it was crap, but since i rarely ride in that weather on my road bike I'm not at all confident it was crappier than entry level Shimano.
Brake throw is on the long side, adjusting the levers inward may require very tight gaps between the pads and the rim.
Slight horizontal play in the left dummy lever which has parts that serve no purpose in this application.
The rear barrel adjuster IS NOT INDEXED AT ALL, the insert is keyed, but not the arm where they mate! I luckily have a barrel adjuster on the down tube so will likely go ahead and locktite the rear, because I have zero faith it won't adjust itself otherwise.
The Neutral:
Hoods are comfortable, but the material leaves my questioning the durability.
No instructions included, but they can be downloaded directly from Sensah as a pdf.
My road bike has a Mullet, nothing at all stealthy about it and the derailleur hangs LOW so be aware of curbs! I think it looks awesome, but that'll likely not be a universal opinion!
Overall:
I am really very pleased with it, the jumps on the massive cassette didn't bother me in the least and is near exactly what I'm accustomed to. I'm confident the 46-50 is more than I really need, but haven't hit the steeper climbs with it yet. That said, the 15% hill was more a test of balance than strength, it was kinda silly in a good way. Should fit the bill nicely when the grade goes over 20%.
Specs: Motobecane Mirage SL frame, tektro r312 brake calipers, Kool Stop Salmon pads, FSA Tempo compact crank, USAMade 110mm & 130mm BCD SharkTooth PRO 46t chainring, Fulcrum Racing 7 wheels, sunshine 11-50 cassette, zrace 11sp chain. The cassette & chain had me worried, because they were so cheap, out of box everything is great, time will tell.
@@All4Grogg any new updates? I’d be using this with tekpro mini v
@@srdannisic7157 Super late, longish term update;
Leverage on the lever is just not good at all from the hoods, the "solution" for myself is to position the levers higher on the bar to more easily reach below the pivot point from the hoods. It looks off, but it really, really helps. I have medium hands and a decent amount of "old man" grip strength, for riders with small hands or weaker grip strength I would not recommend. (sliding them up meant having to reduce the throw, those with smaller hands would need to keep their calipers and wheels PERFECTLY center and true.) Braking from the drops has been, fine. I did switch to sram calipers - didn't notice a difference.
Pet theory: these levers were deigned for gravel specific bars with outward flare.
The shifting performance has been good once I got the muscle memory down, I have a massive cassette 11-42 is fantastic, 42-50 is marginal. I wouldn't recommend over 46t without a drop link, plenty of space for it with the b limit but extending it that far is asking a LOT and results in very finicky indexing. In fairness, Sensah lists the max cog at 46.
I like Chinese Groupsets and your videos so when I was doing a Gravel Bike build I said I'd try this groupset. Bought the full kit, Levers, rear dearaileur, bottom bracket, chainset, Chain and cassette however after 600km this groupset has left me down badly. To start I could never get the shifting adjusted right, the rear dearaileur would constantly jump between gears and wouldn't drop down to the 11 on the cassette unless I pulled the derailleur out by hand. Also the chain wasn't long enough to go into the biggest gear ( I think I had a 50 or 52 as a biggest gear) this meant I only ever had 9 semi working gears on the bike at most. After a few chain drops I turned the clutch on the dearaileur up to the max but I'd still get chain drops. Also backpedalling was now impossible due to the clutch on the dearaileur. Maybe it was an issue with the chain and front Chainring but I suffered many chain drops on road downhills mainly, not even on rough terrain. Then the last straw was recently I just hopped on the bike to go for a ride and went to shift up the gears and bang the mechanism in the lever broke straight off and I was stuck in bottom gear for the ride. Really frustrated and disappointed with this groupset. Then 2 less issues I had were the hardness of the hoods which was mentioned here, they were like hard plastic at the start but did soften out over time and secondly the paint and decals on the Levers wore away in no time. More of a cosmetic issue but something I thought I'd mention. I wouldn't recommend this groupset to anyone even though as I said at the beginning I'm a big proponent of trying new Chinese Groupsets. Thought I'd post this here in case someone finds it helpful👌
I allso ride with mechanical disc brakes - and the key is to have good housing. Jagwire or something similar.
Thanks for the tip, I'll order some ASAP
Good video Joe!!! Man those 360 shots look awesome :)
Merci Charles! It's a great tool for one-man video making
when I was in Kunming there was a path I could take on my regular commute that was dirt and gravel . It went along the river.
I am running Sensah SRX with Jagwire housings, Avid BB5 calipers and the cheapest Shimano rotors i could find and have great braking.
one thing about compression less housing is that the cable runs have to be as tight and direct as possible. If you have any slack or slow meandering loops they work really poorly, I found this out with my HY/RDs.
Wow. I was just wondering about this same exact setup. Subscribed
Ive used this but rebranded as Ferrino Fantasy and it has been awesome so far. Using it for about a month now.
Im using the same rebranded cable pulled hydro brakes by Ferrino. In my opinion is about the same as shimano caliper rim brakes
Great share and information here! Plus some amazing scenery! Keep up the great work China Cycling.
You keep getting those KOMs, I'll keep making videos 🙌
Very comprehensive and honest review. Brakes: Quite often, even with big brand bikes, the interface between brake pads and the rotor is misalighned due to inaccurate machining of the contact faces on the frame. True also that better cable housing makes a huge difference (speaking from experience). And brake pads.
I feel you pain on finding gravel roads in China! There really are none! I still like my gravel bike on the every changing road conditions here in Guangzhou haha......
This makes a very interesting option for trying 1x. The rig I'd be using it on is an old CX bike with canti's so bad braking wouldn't be anything new 😁
Yeah, it's worth giving it a try at this price.
Interested in how it compares with Microshifts.
Me too, I think it's cheaper than Microshift?
@@jamesowen418 probably. Advent X is 167 and is 10 speed. Not sure if it can take hydraulic brakes.
The Advent X; offers a real clutch, double paddle shifters behind the right brake, derailleur only compatible with advent shifters, 10 speed and Cannondale has spec'd them on their base level Topstone. The last part might go a ways to explain the very limited availability right now. Sensah is definitely less expensive right now, but not by a whole lot.
thanks for the review, looks like I will hunting down a 1x11 SRX for my current canti equipped gravel bike. PS If you want to make sure your invisible selfie stick on the Intsa360 One R stays invisible (it made a couple of brief appearances in this video) get yourself an aftermarket cage with 1/4" threaded adapter (I use a metal Ulanzi) that way the selfie stick stays parallel to the camera which is the risk with a gopro mount.
Yeah, I think it will work well for CX. Maybe chain slap may be a lot if you're riding down stairs, etc. As for the selfie stick, yeah...it was my first day using it and I had some third party selfie stick and the angle wasn't perfect. Thanks! 😁
I also use this groupset, paired it with shimano tourney calipers, works better than those cheap hydraulic calipers, and with less maintenance
Any rumors on any chinese electronic groupset?
SENSAH should do one under 200 dollar
TRP Hy-Rd callipers have always been really good in my experience, maybe try some with the SRX levers. Pure cable operated discs really need compressionless outer housing, and even then I’ve never found any that are anywhere near as good as a full hydraulic setup.
Cable/hydraulic combination usually works well though.
The leaver pull on the Hy Rd is really long. You can buy a shorter brake arm from some guy on amazon as a remedy. The juin tech r1s are a really good alternative however.
@@abedfo88, JuinTech GT will be the better version.
I like them. They have lots of power. I've you are descending down mountains then maybe get full hydro. There was only one rider ever where I was able to overheat mine descending on an extremely long and steep gravel road because I had a death grip on the brakes the entire time and only towards the tail end of the descent did my stopping power start fading. The reservoir can only dissipate so much heat but to be fair my braking technique under those situations could use some work.
Thanks for the content Joe. Going to be using the same groupset on an up coming gravel build we're doing soon. Was going to comment about the fluid in the calipers possibly being low. But it looks like you've checked this already. Look forward to an update on your progress.
I've experienced bad braking performance on cable actuated hydrolic disc brake (only rear), which is TRP HY-RD (after 2000+ km). Then the main solution is change brake pad, even though it was perfect, I also replaced the inner cable, and become more perfect.
Can you add some spacers to the end of the cable clamp on the caliper to move it further from the pivot point? Literally like a stack of washers and maybe a longer bolt?
Just seems easier to modify caliper fulcrum rather than modifying the brifters.
A review of a gravel group, and not a single pebble ridden in the video. You do sell it on it's climbing ability though. In all my time on actual gravel/bike packing I've never felt like I've needed a 50t (and I'm a bigger rider at 84kg riding a heavy steel frame) skip the 9-50, most riders will be pretty damn happy with an 11-42 running a 34-38 chainring unless of course you plan on climbing 10-12% grades every day. I love the suffer of a good climb and a 50t would be great, but I'd have to say a 9-50t is something I'd only put on a wheelset with specific route planned. Good content as usual though!
Hey, you're right about the road. I was doing gravel riding a few months ago, but last month had the operation to take the metal plate out my leg, so the holes from the bolts are still in my bone. If I fall off, the risk of a break is probably higher than normal, so, I'm sticking to good roads for a few more weeks.
@@ChinaCycling heck yeah, a recovery is a recovery. Take the time that's needed and get back to your normal routine. I think though, the current setup you have is more climbing/bikepack oriented, however IF it was possible to run a 32-50t 2x and a 10-36 cassette without issues, I'd be in heaven. Problem is with 2x and the cross-chain on huge climbs and the sometimes horrible a watt-loss, godawful noise and "unreliability" of a 2x setup when actually gravel grinding is questionable at best. Tons of people have had success riding 2x on a gravel oriented bike, but I've had nothing but issues, so until a company makes a gravel 2x system I'll stick with my 1x and not worry about being stuck in a 52t for 100k with climbs.
SENSAH should do a electronic group set.
Under 200 dollar.
I should point out that the currently shipping SRX Pro (as of mid-2022) left levers do NOT contain any shifting guts that can be unlocked. The lever body is empty.
Does it use an hg driver and what is your wheelset?
I want this in my road bike, amazing!
I'm gonna use the 2*12s group set ofsensah in the coming up season. it should be great
Use Jagwire cables for improved braking performance
Did i miss your crank explanation ???
The ztto hydraulic cables are better but you have to adjust the pads to be close as possible to the rotor.
I'm waiting g to see this review before buying SRX for my gravel bike, I already use the Empire & Ignite components on my bikes, the cycling world needs more good quality alternatives to Sram & Shomano.
Very good and useful review 👊🏻✌️
Juin Tech R1 for cable pull hydros.
I saw those too. I also have some TRP cable hydros I can try. This is not over yet 🤪
I use those. They're decent with KoolStop pads and Yokozuna Reaction
JuinTech GT latest version with 4 pistons is better I guess.
Do a review about the LTWOO 11 speed it looks like a campagnolo and sram
Hey Joe, hope youre doing well. will like to say really love this new 360 camera view that you are giving us, quality stuff right there! I see you are rocking a new set of carbon wheels? any information on them by chance?
Thanks Benjamin! First time using the 360 cam. Maybe I overdid it in this video, but I think it's a great tool for making single-man videos and having a lot of variation in camera angles. Those wheels will also get a review. They're the lun grapid 650 wheel, very light for a gravel wheel.
@@ChinaCycling ya I could imagine this set-up will be heaps help to you, a one man army. but honestly, I love the angles, especially where I can see the articulation of the gears when you shift the lever. Sweet! Although I am not riding a 650b wheelset but I will definitely be waiting for that review to be out.
How is it today? Does it have any issues?
How was the shifting performance after 9 months?
Thank you!
Nice explanation, beautiful shots! 😃👍
Always see you in the comments, thanks for tuning in
@@ChinaCycling It's a pleasure! 🙂
😷🤗
Which 1X model is their latest version, I see Empire and or SRX? Can I run cable pull V brakes on a MTB/ gravel drop bar conversion? Big thanks for the great information. I’m really enjoying you guys reviewing of the various Chinese frames and group sets. Microshift is saying mid November before drop bar Advent -X is available but my wife needs a 1X bike now so the Sensah stuff looks interesting. Now if one of you youtubers could recommend a good carbon endurance road frame with room for 38cm tires I’d like to hear it too. 👍
I actually really want to know where you got that jersey! Looks awesome
Great review! So being SRAM pull this RD won't work with my Shimano RS505 brifters?
Does the rear derailleur work with the sti's from the sensah empire pro 2*12? That would make an awesome 1*12 groupset!
Looking forward to this. Consider using SENSAH XRX 1x12 speed
Would be interested to see a review of LTWOO and S-ride
I'll look into it. Never heard of them. 🤔
yep LTWOO one of the rising star in ph for budget build.
I would have thought Magene would have reached out to you regarding their new power meter. You put me on to them a while back but all the sensors I bought seem to burn the batteries after only a few days so I'm on the fence at the minute.
Thanks for the great review! Keep us posted with reliability in the coming month if anything changes ;)
For the braking issue, it'd be interesting to try the standard for cable actuated mechanical disc brakes calipers: TRP Spyre C; mine don't have jaw-breaking performance but they stop me where I want reliably.
Off Topic: Can we expect reviews for crank spider powermeters from the likes of XCadey and SIGEYI in the near future??
I have an XCADEY one that I've been riding for months. It's very reliable. Will review it when I get a final version (mine is a development / beta AXS version)
@@ChinaCycling Oh, good news! I'll be waiting for that review.
Hello! Have you checked the compatibility of sensah shifters with ltwoo rear derailleurs?
Great video, thanks!
Good job 😃👍 Thanks. I ordered products from them a few days ago :)
Great 👍
The shifters are not compatible with hydraulic brakes right?
Great video Joe. I heard of various people using compression outer cable can improve the braking of any mechanical disc setup. I would maybe reccomend looking into the Juin Tech GT-F (flat mount) or GT-P (for post mount) if that fails might be a cheaper upgrade than going full hydro.
I'll try anything. Will update with progress.
Those are really pricey though
@@fajrulnorman pricey but still cheaper than full them upgrading to full hydro
Here we got crossmac z10 mtb, with 1x13 sensah arx.. I have done some googling.. But failed to find just the groupset only sensah arx.
乔老师，我推荐用trp的山地款线拉机械碟刹，我山地车用制动力都完全OK，不会比油碟差
我也试过了。效果还是一般般。我继续实验
I just installed this groupset a few days ago and have been very impressed so far. Shifts as smoothly as my SRAM Rival. One issue I've noticed is that on fast descents, when in one of the top two gears, if I stop pedalling there is insufficient tension in the derailleur's spring to avoid chain slap. Doesn't happen with the same setup with a SRAM Rival RD. From a search of forums and YT I haven't found anyone else reporting this issue, so it might just be the unit I received. The derailleur jockey wheels spin smoothly so I suspect it's just the little bit of friction from my new near DT Swiss 350 freewheel overcoming the derailleur tension (note this setup works fine with my SRAM Rival RD) . I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this issue or/and found a solution?
Did you adjust the spring to the "max" setting?
Same freehub, same issue. I haven't found a solution, I think I've somehow developed a habit of easing off on the cadence instead of stopping or reversing suddenly.
@@ChinaCycling Yep, still seems to be just a little too weak.
@@cdmbr7090 interesting to hear it's not just me! I'm starting to adjust my habits too. Some circumstances are hard though, for example when switching which foot is down on fast windy trails...
@@cdmbr7090, I've ended up switching to a Rival RD. The difference in spring tension is like night and day. For future builds I think the Sensah levers coupled with a Rival RD is the most cost-effective combination.
Could you use the shifters with sram apex derailleurs?
Great video,, Joe. I know this is not the main subject of this video, but could you tell me what tires are you using at your Gravel bike? Not easy to find them at Aliexpress. Thank you in advance and good training 👍🚴🇧🇷
WTB Byway 😉
@@JoJoLaPompa Thanks👍
Yup, WTB byway. May not find them on aliexpress though. 🤣
What crankset are you using that allows you to "throw any old chainring on"? SRAM Apex only goes down to 38t, for example. (why????)
Any update on the brakes?
Two questions...
Would you use this 1x groupset on a road bike?
What do you think breaking performance would be like actuating Dura Ace rim breaks?
I think it would be better on rim brakes. If you try to use your fingers to stop a wheel spinning by grabbing the braking surface of the rim; it's pretty easy. If you try to grab the disc with your fingers, it's hard to push enough to stop the disc spinning. I think discs need more 'squeezing' power than rim brakes do.
@@ChinaCycling thanks for the info. I do a lot of climbing so I’m considering this groupset minus the breaks on a road bike.
Hi, can you give me instructions on how to adjust the tension springs?
Hello, since there, did you found a solution in order to fix the bad breaking ? I suppose you have other shifters in your recommandations ?
How did you get that number for the weight of the shifters? I got 457 grams on my scale for the shifters and 318 grams for the derailleur.
GCN doing a review of Sensah Empire 12 carbon road,shocker!
haha. ;)
can you recommend 1x set up if your rides compose of 70% pave roads and 30% gravel?
Can we please talk about those one-sided pedals? What brand/model please?
Any info on whether or not sensah will be coming out with a fully hydraulic brake-shifters?
how is the shifting performance in this using 50t cassettes? any shift skipping or problems as such? And how many links of chain are you using?
Good stuff ... my only question is what's with those socks?!? :)
They have donuts on them. That's like 20 watts. 🍩
Nice video. Will those break levers works with shimano cantilevers breaks?
I wanna add this to my commuter bike to test it out. Will this work with rim brakes?
Looks like cable actuated disc
Hi, I just bought this groupset from aliexpress but I am struggling setting it up. The shifting just does not work. If I can shift from high to low gears I can not shift from low to high or vica versa. Also sometimes when on the 50t cog and I shift one gear higher it jumps up two cogs. Spent two afternoons trying to make it working but no avail. Running 50t casette. Any ideas?
have you routed the cable correctly through the rear derailleur? that was abit finicky for me but my srx groupo works flawlessly
@@jonathanang1660 Yes I did. First it was a bit strange that the end of the cable comes out "the front". I checked this on vids/pictures and that looks good to me.
Does the Shifter on your Bike is also a new Version with the plastic replaced by metal?
I wonder how many bikes are there that have been equipped OEM with Sensah groupsets.
I mean, if Microshift can do it, why don't the other Chinese brand groupsets follow? (Although we only see them in the lower priced bikes, would be interesting to see something like an Arsis on a mid-high end carbon framed road bike)
Any info if the SRX Pro Left Shifter/STI could be routed with a Front Derailleur? I currently have the Sensah Empire GS and on would like to change my Cassette/Cogs & RD to a wider range for steep climbs all the while retaining my 52-36 Crank + Sensah Empire FD. Thanks Mate!
When the loop on your shoe was rubbing against the lever of your camera mount, almost getting caught on it, I may have shit a brick
I was also having nightmares about the camera mount coming loose and falling in the spokes. Would have been badass footage though.
awesome video. Just wanted to know if you had some issues shifting to the second highest gear? like their is a delay in shifting, or it would not shift at all to the second highest gear or it would skip it completely and go straight to the highest gear?
Do you know if Sensah is working on a hydraulic version of this? From some comments on another video I got under the idea that they were.
Hello @chinacycling,nice video review,but i'm interesting about your dropbar flare rise,where i can buy ,please send link or name this dropbar flare,thanks 🙏
Fantastic video. Which bottle cages are those?
I'm not sure of the brand. I found the cheapest titanium ones I could on taobao (Chinese version of ebay)
Is the SRX Pro rear derailleur compatible with SRAM Apex/Rival hydraulic brifter? I am looking for a full hydraulic setup for my wife's bike.
Hello my friend! How you doing?
Can I use this rear derailleur on sram apex 11v shifters w/ hidraulic breaks?
what is the brand and model of your bike frame? thanks and ride safe
Hello! I bought this groupset, but in my opinion with a damaged left brake lever.
On the left brake lever there is a broken bent plastic element to which the spring is attached, and on the right shifting\brake lever the plastic bent element is intact, there is no damage. At the same time, the left brake lever works, but this damaged plastic element inside it confuses me. Is the left brake lever supposed to work like this or did I get a damaged left brake lever?
Hello Joe. Any thoughts on using this setup with rim brake calipers ? All my bikes are rim brakes, so that's where this setup is going . Thank you. KB.
I think it would work well with rim brakes as they rely on the increased diameter of the rim brake braking surface to brake rather than disc brakes that rely more on squeezing force with the smaller diameter of a disc rotor
Have you tried compressionless housing? Really important for cable disc brakes
I'm using mid-level jagwire stuff. Will switch it out for the high end stuff.
@@ChinaCycling the important thing is that it is not just a coil. That will just act like a spring under the high disc brake forces
How did you adjust the spring tension on the rear mech?
uhm does the rd only compatible with sram cassette?
Great video!
How big levers are? compare to Sram or Shimano. Is reach of lever adjustable? I have short fingers.
Yes there’s a lever adjuster at the back of the hoods. Remove the cover you should see a small hole. You stick an allen and twist
@@gilo816 Thanks a lot
I'm pretty sure Sensah is developing a higher end electronic groupset to offer an alternative to Ultegra Di2, and probably also developing hydraulic groupsets. Any info? 👀
We can only hope
They may becoming a victim of their own success. While they have their own patents, im sure their groupset also infringe or at least go uncomfortably close to shimano and srams. When they were unknown it was fine, but now they're getting international recognition I'm sure lawyers will come knocking. Electronic groupset have a lot of patents around them because how relatively new all the tech is.