@@Cade_Media I prefer to buy Shimano parts at a bicycle shop than Alie. If it is not good, I can return it under warranty, but I do have cable hats to prevent the cable from coming apart. I have a cube gravel bike with a Claris brake lever, disc brake. I am very happy with it
Great advice, and thanks for the shoutout! I would definitely reiterate using the chat function to talk to sellers. In my experience if a seller responds quickly to questions about a product, they are gernerally pretty trustworthy. Also, read the descriptions and don't just rely on the product images. I've nearly been caught out a few times myself, when the title and descriptions dont line up with the products shown... Also looking forward to seeing what you think of the SRX pro groupo dude!
Another advice is to read not just the customer reviews but especially the additional feedbacks. 90% of the reviews are "well packed. Seems like the pictures" when the additional feedbacks tell you how the item works and all the problems.
Great advice I always filter by orders sold these are rarely going to above 1000 but it filters actual sellers from pop-up shops that will disappear by the time you get your item.
I would love to see you restore some 90s road bike with aliexpress grupset, in fact i have some old bikes that are probably not worth to put full shimano grupset, but maybe it would be worth to put some ltwoo stuff?
I've found delivery times have got so much better in the last 6 years.. I know there can be issues but I recently built a cheap gravel bike with a 2nd hand marin Gestalt frame and Sensah groupset.. the whole groupset was £136 delivered.. and it works superbly. Also I find the app is way, way better for search than the desktop version.
Prowheel is another great company, makes decent replacement chainrings for 10/11 speed for shimano road 4 bolt cranksets and the prices doesn't break the bank. Lastly their a well known OEM brand.
Prowheel is the stock option on lots of Chinese bike brands. I'm currently using a Sava Warwinds 3 with Prowheel Ounce crankset. Not the lightest, but I'd say it's on par with Sora.
YES! I wanted to see your opinions on the SRX Pro. I'm currently using a different branded one called the Ferrino Fantasy and it honestly is a beast for me
All of this was spot on, I really like Ali Express, I’ve used it a number of times to Canada, and am seriously considering doing a road build with all Ali Express Frameset and groupset. There is allot of quality items there to be had. 👌🏼
I just used Aliexpress to find a hollow crankset for my kid’s bike. There are limited options and almost no hollow spindle cranks in the right size. I figure with his weight and ride style it will be more than fine provided everything is square.
Good overall summary and advice! Yup, of the stuff I ordered (over 10 orders) I've had only had one item not turn up and although got the run around from the company, Ali Ex came to the party and refunded my purchase cost.
I've been ordering stuff from aliexpress for years and only packages that I haven't received were the ones during the start of pandemic chaos. They refunded everything...
Hey Francis, I have that 1x groupset. It's bloody great however there is one small thing that is super annoying. There is no mechanism to stop shifting and braking at the same time, so i find if you do a bumpy technical decent you are in your hardest gear at the bottom !
@@Cade_Media also... I know people talk about cable slip with the SRX rear dérailleurs due to lack of aluminium notches, I've never had this problem. I wonder if a few different revisions of this groupo are knocking around.
@@abedfo88 one of the annoying things with Sensah is that they tend to implement running changes with no way of determining whether what you're buying is updated or not. For example, with the Empire line, there's been updates to internal parts of the shifters, shifter hoods, and a revised FD design but there doesn't seem to be any way to find out what you're getting as the end customer.
A carbon groupset, meaning that cassette is carbon? I recall a certain carbon expert interviewed on this channel who said some things should never be carbon, one of which are gears.
Regarding shipping times, on occasion you may find the Chinese seller also has an Amazon or eBay store. In such cases, also on occasion, they make actually have product already in-country stored in a warehouse. This has been my experience in America anyways.
The barrel adjuster on the gravel rear mech doesn’t have any notches in the aluminium mech body. That means that it unwinds while riding and changes the cable tension. I fixed mine by making some small marks in the aluminium with a dremel. Fixed the problem and it’s been perfect.👌
I nearly did this with mine before fitting it but thought I'd give it a go "as is" currently have 2000km on it with no rear mech issues. I think it could just be down to quality control of the thread that's tapped in there
Very much looking forward to you testing the Sensah shifter on a gravel bike cause I've been having my eye on it for a few days now. :-} Top video and very balanced review of pros and cons of aliexpress, thanks!
Nice video. One issue i see though is that trust within many of these "established" brands has been eroded by themselves. In a market where every company is just trying to grow and make profit they'll happily undercut other brands, 'enshiterficate' products, and give poor after service (warranties), it's a race to the bottom. I say support your local store IF they support you in return, but certainly these big companies we don't owe anything to. The latest/fastest/lightest/strongest product isn't a requirement for enjoyment, so their R&D isn't a requirement, and their media channels is also not a requirement for my enjoyment, in fact i don't bother with the over produced cinematic media now, so a middle finger to the cycle industry from me.
I also don't doubt if a small manufacturer came forward doing well for themselves that the evil corporate overlords would use their idea and/or happily demonise them. Their excuse is a free market, the same reasoning for shopping at Ali Express. Support local, screw corporates.
Just to add my agreement with the general comments. I started by buying cheap Chinese "stuff" - it was mostly crap - but got me in the game. I worked my way up to a Sensah Empire (11speed) groupset. It has been great from the start - so good it reminded me that my Ulterga kit needed re-cabling. I am happy to buy well-reviewed mid-range Chinese kit (Elite Wheels is next on the list) - but would I buy a Sensah electronic groupset? ..... not before the wise people on the internet convince me
2 lots of 12 speed Sensah shifters and derailleurs direct from Sensah, absolutely perfect, a Sensah rear derailer for my TT bike to use with SRAM shifters, from a different seller, slightly misprinted Sensah logo, I wonder if they pass on their sub standard stuff ?
Hi Francis, good to have you back at HQ in the Toon 👍. Sound advice today 👍 How did the Ali express groupset hold up with the toon 2 verbier trip? .....any long term report in the coming weeks? Carbon 1x looks really nice 👍RCA's cam Nicholls ( Australia 🇦🇺) has tested, review a couple of chinese carbon road frames, Winspace and Seku. Both impressive build quality. I think one or both frames have been x rayed by a specialist. Overall, well built frame (s).
Ahhh Ali express. Typically a month or three to Aussie. But I did get some bars quickly once. Ordered Thursday, arrived Monday. In a beat up box too. Cheers.
With Shimano seemingly ditching mechanical 105, the demand for these alternative groupsets will skyrocket. (I’d rather invest in good wheels then electronics)
I’d suggest a name change for Sora & Tiagra, something that feels a bit more aspirational, the current names don’t ooze the quality or speed. 105 and Ultegra are racy and solid in my mind.
I avoid the fake stuff always. But if there is any consolation, buy the original Chinese branded stuff. The ONE handlebars are a good example. They started out with an integrated stem carbon handlebar and it is well reviewed by Joe (China Cycling). Now, The ONE comes in traditional aero handlebar option without the integrated stem. I am very pleased with it.
I tried 4 dealers was polite and told them I still love them when I was turned away from 3 of them needing help for the insurance after being knocked off my aliracer by an automobile. Took hours of walking because my bike was knackered.
I actually bought a r7000 fd off ali. Wasn't cheaper but I couldn't get one anywhere else. It was the real deal but in a plastic bag rather then usual packaging
100% agree do your research and by from the supplier if possible and don't buy fake stuff. Now we need a review of the groupset now you have a good few Kms on it 😁😁😁😁😁
problem with that is that you need to make sure the thing is legit, and ali express in theory has customer support that can (maybe?) return you the money, etc.
@@endianAphones all known brands have super service, have ordered 2 frames from dengfu, 1 from hongfu and 2 from lightcarbon. First frame was 10 years ago, never had a problem with service or when I needed spareparts.
About the poor Aliexpress search feature. You're right - it does indeed a lousy job, but the explanation is different. They have algorithms. Aliexpress lives (among other things) from sellers paying for their products to show up higher in searches. And that, completely screws up the searches.... not to mention that it's you the customer, who pays this as well. Also, about the reviews: I'm pretty confident that lately bot, fake reviews have flooded some sellers. They're tipically-5star reviews with a very brief and quite irrelevant comment .... that's how one might recognize them...
I had two Sensah "groupsets" before: Sensah Empire 11s road and Sensah Phi 10s road shifters. Very important note: You have to look from product to product! You can not say brand x is compatible with brand y. It is completly up to the specific products you want to mix from Shimano, Sram and Sensah. But this is a deep rabbit hole of information and takes time. The easier way: Just install shifters and deraillers from the same brand. Trace Velo has tested some chinese 11s road groupsets on his channel and tried some of them with Shimano shifters and rear deraillers. Highly recommended to start with his videos - even if you don't want to buy 11s. Sensah Empire 11s road I use "Sensah Empire 11s road" shifters with an old "Sram X7 10s MTB" rear derailler (RD) on my bike with an 11s cassette. (It is an old X7-RD with no clutch; I already had it at home.) The combination works well! With the original Sensah Empire 11s RD it worked a tiny bit better in my case (the reason can be the long-used and beaten up Sram X7-RD I used. Sensah Empire 11s uses the same cable pull ratio (or nearly the same?) as Srams "Exact Actuation". Sram used this cable pull ratio with their "road 11s", "road 10s" and "mtb 10s" rear deraillers ("Exact Actuation" written on the derailler cage). Sensah PHI 10s road I installed "Sensah PHI 10s road" shifters on a road bike for a friend - together with an "Shimano 9s MTB" rear derailler and with a 10s cassette. Worked well after installing and adjusting and I am not aware of specific problems that came later. MTB-derailler because it can handle a cassette with lager sprockets (more teeth). 🙂 The cable pull ratio of "Sensah PHI 10s road" shifters is the same as Shimano "standard/old 10s road", also used by old 10s groupsets e.g. Ultegra 6600, 105 5600, ... This is often called the "standard-shimano-pull ratio" because it is also used by "6s, 7s, 8s, 9s road and MTB" rear deraillers (more exceptions for DuraAce 6-8s - according to the Internet; and perhaps exceptions for older 6s stuff...) Be carful: Sensah QUANTUM 10s road shifters have different cable pull than Sensah PHI 10s road shifters. With 11s road groupsets Shimano changed the cable pull ratio. Also with MTB 10s but newer MTB groupsets are another story... Shimano Tiagra 10s has the old and new ratio. That's why there is Sensah Phi and Sensah Quantum. - Tiagra 4600 series (until 2015): "standard/old 10s road" cable pull ratio. Sensah Phi 10s compatible. - Tiagra 4700 series (2015+newer): "new 10s road" cable pull ratio, the same as Shimano 11s road. Sensah Quantum 10s shifters compatible. All I wrote above is about mixing rear deraillers and their shifters. Mixing FRONT deraillers (FD) and their shifters is a little bit different, but in 2x-systems you often can make a weird combination work - ok-ish. But you have to invest time and you have to be able to withstand a high level of frustration. MTB and road FD are normally not compatible. The FD should be build for the chainring sizes - at least it should not be too many teeth different. I used the Sensah Empire 2x11 speed shifters (+ 11s chain) in combination with a Shimano MTB 8s front derailler for at least 1,5 years. It worked ok-ish but it was difficult to setup, I had to re-adjust more often and I would not recommend it because the precision and shifting speed was not so good. Only ok-ish. I don't know about Sram FDs, but as far as I remember: Trace Velo used a Shimano 11s road front derailler with success. Recommendations: - Watch Trace Velo's videos. - Highly recommended articles about drivetrain compatibility in general: "Science behind the magic - drivetrain compatibility" (Article on artscyclery blog), "A guide to rear shifting" (Article on cyclinguk) and of course Sheldon Brown's website! - For information about Sensah products etc.: Check the internet, read forum posts, search youtube. - Read the description of the Sensah groupsets you want to buy on AliExpress. Also read the description in only-shifters-offers to get the compatibility information that you might not get when buying a complete groupset. - Also read from different sellers because descriptions can vary in quality. - But be careful: sometimes they claim compatibility but they only talk about the cassettes and not about mixing shifters and deraillers. That said: Sensah Empire 11s shifters should work well with Sram road 11s rear deraillers as long as 1. "Exact Actuation" is written on them and 2. all other specifications are no problem, e.g. clutch, 1x, 2x, capacity of the derailler and cassette size...
@@gs78798 Hey, I'm buying a Sensah Empire 11 speed set. I've heard from many people that the front derailleur is too tough. Did you encounter this problem, and if so what replacement would you suggest?
Having looked on aliexpress after your last vid on it, yes search function is a bit off listed lots of shimano stuff, though unsure if fake or genuine. Also that rear mech is it really that big or trick of the camera.🤔
Olá! Estou montando uma Gravel e tenho dúvida entre comprar o pé de vela Zeroing ou o Senicx GR2, também não sei qual freio mecânico escolher post mount o restante já tenho.
You don't receive package, in protected time you can open dispute and most of the time they return money to you, wender can ask you wait more, but if you don't receive extended of protection time just ignor him and you get youre mony.
On the delivery note, I had an issue when ordering parts to build my keyboard with my address and it was difficult to sort. At one point they wanted me to fill an address form but it was all written in Chinese, so I obvs couldn't fill it out. We got there in the end though.
I'm thinking about a new 1x groupset for my CX bike, but I'm worried that if I break something in a crash (the crashing bit is inevitable), the season would be over before a new part arrives. Is cross compatibility with more instantly available brands a thing?
@@duncanmartin2626 no probs. Should probably add, mixing chains and cassettes from different brands usually won't be quite as good as sticking to one brand - for example a full Shimano system works best with a Shimano chain because of the little shifting ramps and stuff on the cassettes and chainrings, but it will still work!
I've had an LTWOO rear mech before that was just horrible when it came to manufacturing tolerance. It basically wiggled so much it was not functional, should never have left the factory, and then should never have left the retailer.
It will be interesting to see a long term review on these components.. Just to know how they perform over time versus the mainstay companies (Shimano, SRAM, etc…).. great video!!
As Francis mentionned have look on Luke's youtube 'Trace Velo'. He has done lot of long term reviews of those products and even discuss their issues with manufacturer 👍
The most important thing you need to know: AliExpress gave up buyer protection, instead they protecting the scammers. I had intentions to buy a few ohter things on Ali, but after this I won't buy a thing there anymore. I bought 3 pieces of an item, paid for all the three, and got a single one. Ali closed the dispute in the favor of the scammer.
Caution: AliExpress reviews are pretty much useless. The review window is so short that by the time you've collected all the parts to build up your bike, the review window is over. So 99% of reviews are first impressions, not based on any actual usage. My assumption is that this is deliberate, to get more 4-5 star reviews.
the most important reviews as those with tagged "additional feedback" which can be given up to six months later. So if something goes wrong in that time and the retailer does not fix it, expect savage "additional feedback"
The worst part with AliExpress is, everytime the package arrives in a new country, you get a mail, that your package has arrived in destination country and you will receive it soon.
@@Cade_Media if you were building a bike today (non race purposes), would you go with carbon or titanium? Also, mechanical or electrical groupset? Thank you in advance
I've been buying Chinese parts for a few years and never really had any major issue, but recently I bought a fake Redshift Shockstop stem on Aliexpress, I received it, it was so shity that it was unusable, so I wrote a detailed complaint about why it was shit and asked the money back, and they gave me the money back without saying anything, in less than 24 hours. Their customer support for fakes can be better than the support of some original stuff.
Stick with long established sellers and read the reviews, you can filter by country. Don't rely on the dispute process if your bits don't arrive, it's garbage.
I totally agree that buying fake stuff isn't a good idea because it's unfair to other companies. However, I would t go as far to say they would be dangerous. I would bet a lot of that stuff is made in the same factory to the same spec. Saying it's dangerous is just adding to the myth that Chinese brands (knockoff or otherwise) can't make good carbon parts. It's just not true.
I lost money with Ali Express, I purchased a groupset from a Resisted seller, What happened the Seller had his account hacked and someone else pretended to be legit. I lost my money from Ali because they said it was not their fault? After 2 months I got an email from them telling me that the sale failed AliExpress ethics and the case is closed. So don’t trust them.
Biggest advice is, be prepared to write off your investment. I shop on there a lot and get nearly all my gear and parts from them, and am very happy as a customer. But There's always a risk and it's hard to return. My attitude if I spend a small amount I'm not that upset if it's not quite perfect or have to write it off. Other one is shipping options - you can upgrade the shipping option which can reduce delivery times, but they still can be highly variable.
I found the bibs thin and the padding not adding any comfort. (Other brands seem to carry the same padding in their bibs) Prendi has good quality bibs +- 40 euro’s and really comfy padding + fabric.
At 4:16 you have a second time "read the reviews" instead of something about working on it yourself ( i think, coffee hasnt hit me yet)
More coffee for me next edit
It was a test to see if you're paying attention congratulations you passed.😂
@@Cade_Media I prefer to buy Shimano parts at a bicycle shop than Alie. If it is not good, I can return it under warranty, but I do have cable hats to prevent the cable from coming apart. I have a cube gravel bike with a Claris brake lever, disc brake. I am very happy with it
Great advice, and thanks for the shoutout! I would definitely reiterate using the chat function to talk to sellers. In my experience if a seller responds quickly to questions about a product, they are gernerally pretty trustworthy. Also, read the descriptions and don't just rely on the product images. I've nearly been caught out a few times myself, when the title and descriptions dont line up with the products shown... Also looking forward to seeing what you think of the SRX pro groupo dude!
I actually only clicked on this video to see if you’d be mentioned 🙌
Collab coming soon?
@@20dpbsicofante
The sheer variety of topics covered is what makes yours such a vital and essential channel. Thanks, don’t ever stop being interesting!
Btw that Sensah SRX Pro groupo is re-branded by State (and probably others) as their in-house brand. I have it, and it's pretty good!
Totally agree.. I built a Gravel bike recently using Sensah SRX pro 1x11 and it was amazing value!
Another advice is to read not just the customer reviews but especially the additional feedbacks. 90% of the reviews are "well packed. Seems like the pictures" when the additional feedbacks tell you how the item works and all the problems.
Love the pursuit of good value alternatives so thanks for sharing. Some of the one piece cassettes look very interesting.
Great advice I always filter by orders sold these are rarely going to above 1000 but it filters actual sellers from pop-up shops that will disappear by the time you get your item.
I would love to see you restore some 90s road bike with aliexpress grupset, in fact i have some old bikes that are probably not worth to put full shimano grupset, but maybe it would be worth to put some ltwoo stuff?
Second it!
I recommend two Chinese brands: My custom titanium bike frame is made from my design by Waltly Titanium. I use an oval chainring from Stone brand.
I've found delivery times have got so much better in the last 6 years.. I know there can be issues but I recently built a cheap gravel bike with a 2nd hand marin Gestalt frame and Sensah groupset.. the whole groupset was £136 delivered.. and it works superbly. Also I find the app is way, way better for search than the desktop version.
Not Aliexpress but Light Bicycle were really good to deal with. I had an issue with a lost parcel and the communication was spot on.
So ready for the Cade x Trace Velo crossover episode
Prowheel is another great company, makes decent replacement chainrings for 10/11 speed for shimano road 4 bolt cranksets and the prices doesn't break the bank. Lastly their a well known OEM brand.
Ybn chains are great. I kinda like some stuff from rockbros and West biking too.
Prowheel is the stock option on lots of Chinese bike brands. I'm currently using a Sava Warwinds 3 with Prowheel Ounce crankset. Not the lightest, but I'd say it's on par with Sora.
Great concise video on shopping on AliExpress. Probably the most even-keeled and factual one I've seen to date.
thanks for watching 👍
YES! I wanted to see your opinions on the SRX Pro. I'm currently using a different branded one called the Ferrino Fantasy and it honestly is a beast for me
All of this was spot on, I really like Ali Express, I’ve used it a number of times to Canada, and am seriously considering doing a road build with all Ali Express Frameset and groupset. There is allot of quality items there to be had. 👌🏼
I'm too cheap to upgrade my flatbar bike.. but now.. hmmm. This looks pretty good!
been buying a lot of bike things before tax went super high. the last thing bought and well spent was superteam wheelset..
Cracking video. It will be good to know if any of the stuff is cross compatible. Like brifters that work with Tiagra 10 speed.
I just used Aliexpress to find a hollow crankset for my kid’s bike. There are limited options and almost no hollow spindle cranks in the right size. I figure with his weight and ride style it will be more than fine provided everything is square.
Have had good experience with Spexcel clothing. Decent quality and great prices.
Absolutely spot on as an AliExpress review.
Banging track between each section!
Good overall summary and advice! Yup, of the stuff I ordered (over 10 orders) I've had only had one item not turn up and although got the run around from the company, Ali Ex came to the party and refunded my purchase cost.
I've been ordering stuff from aliexpress for years and only packages that I haven't received were the ones during the start of pandemic chaos. They refunded everything...
Ordered shimano ltwoo zrace and magicshine products. All arrived in 6 days time
I’ve had good experiences with Ali Express…from P/S 100% sunglasses to an S-Works Aerofly handlebar that’s been on my Venge for 50,000+ miles.
Hey Francis, I have that 1x groupset. It's bloody great however there is one small thing that is super annoying. There is no mechanism to stop shifting and braking at the same time, so i find if you do a bumpy technical decent you are in your hardest gear at the bottom !
Same with the sensah one, unusual feeling!
@@Cade_Media also... I know people talk about cable slip with the SRX rear dérailleurs due to lack of aluminium notches, I've never had this problem. I wonder if a few different revisions of this groupo are knocking around.
@@abedfo88 one of the annoying things with Sensah is that they tend to implement running changes with no way of determining whether what you're buying is updated or not. For example, with the Empire line, there's been updates to internal parts of the shifters, shifter hoods, and a revised FD design but there doesn't seem to be any way to find out what you're getting as the end customer.
My srx rear derailleur straight up snapped in half yesterday:) Destroyed the derailleur hanger, scratched and bent the frame
A carbon groupset, meaning that cassette is carbon? I recall a certain carbon expert interviewed on this channel who said some things should never be carbon, one of which are gears.
Elita One and OG Evkin are both good. Most stuff takes 10 days or so
Thx for the tips...and you are right, sending stuff from, or to GB from EU...not fun at the moment 😥
Regarding shipping times, on occasion you may find the Chinese seller also has an Amazon or eBay store. In such cases, also on occasion, they make actually have product already in-country stored in a warehouse. This has been my experience in America anyways.
Totally agree with the advice!!! Nice, short, clear and concise!!
The barrel adjuster on the gravel rear mech doesn’t have any notches in the aluminium mech body. That means that it unwinds while riding and changes the cable tension. I fixed mine by making some small marks in the aluminium with a dremel. Fixed the problem and it’s been perfect.👌
THIS IS GENIUS 🧠🧠🧠
I nearly did this with mine before fitting it but thought I'd give it a go "as is" currently have 2000km on it with no rear mech issues. I think it could just be down to quality control of the thread that's tapped in there
@@TraceVelo Thanks. 5min job and it fixed the issue 👍
@@lukesanders551 you could be correct with quality control 🤣. Otherwise they are a decent groupset for the $$
@@brettdonaghy8718 agreed, I've absolutely abused mine and it's still going strong
Bought some zrace hrd cable actuated brakes based on these videos and love them
Very much looking forward to you testing the Sensah shifter on a gravel bike cause I've been having my eye on it for a few days now. :-} Top video and very balanced review of pros and cons of aliexpress, thanks!
Nice video. One issue i see though is that trust within many of these "established" brands has been eroded by themselves. In a market where every company is just trying to grow and make profit they'll happily undercut other brands, 'enshiterficate' products, and give poor after service (warranties), it's a race to the bottom. I say support your local store IF they support you in return, but certainly these big companies we don't owe anything to. The latest/fastest/lightest/strongest product isn't a requirement for enjoyment, so their R&D isn't a requirement, and their media channels is also not a requirement for my enjoyment, in fact i don't bother with the over produced cinematic media now, so a middle finger to the cycle industry from me.
I also don't doubt if a small manufacturer came forward doing well for themselves that the evil corporate overlords would use their idea and/or happily demonise them. Their excuse is a free market, the same reasoning for shopping at Ali Express.
Support local, screw corporates.
Just to add my agreement with the general comments. I started by buying cheap Chinese "stuff" - it was mostly crap - but got me in the game. I worked my way up to a Sensah Empire (11speed) groupset. It has been great from the start - so good it reminded me that my Ulterga kit needed re-cabling. I am happy to buy well-reviewed mid-range Chinese kit (Elite Wheels is next on the list) - but would I buy a Sensah electronic groupset? ..... not before the wise people on the internet convince me
I would buy, though, a mechanical, fully hydraulic 2x12 Sensah groupset without much convincing :)
2 lots of 12 speed Sensah shifters and derailleurs direct from Sensah, absolutely perfect, a Sensah rear derailer for my TT bike to use with SRAM shifters, from a different seller, slightly misprinted Sensah logo, I wonder if they pass on their sub standard stuff ?
Nice one Francis, made me a little more confident in having a butchers on the website now, will do as you advise.
Hi Francis, good to have you back at HQ in the Toon 👍. Sound advice today 👍
How did the Ali express groupset hold up with the toon 2 verbier trip? .....any long term report in the coming weeks? Carbon 1x looks really nice 👍RCA's cam Nicholls ( Australia 🇦🇺) has tested, review a couple of chinese carbon road frames, Winspace and Seku. Both impressive build quality. I think one or both frames have been x rayed by a specialist. Overall, well built frame (s).
Ahhh Ali express. Typically a month or three to Aussie. But I did get some bars quickly once. Ordered Thursday, arrived Monday. In a beat up box too. Cheers.
With Shimano seemingly ditching mechanical 105, the demand for these alternative groupsets will skyrocket. (I’d rather invest in good wheels then electronics)
Agreed, but I also think people are overlooking how good the mid range groupsets (Sora and Tiagra) are from Shimano.
@@Cade_Media Sora is junk and tiagra is hit and miss
@@DanTuberi disagree.
@@DanTuber I disagree also. My mate got a Tiagra groupset a few years back and its been awesome. It feels great and looks the part these days
I’d suggest a name change for Sora & Tiagra, something that feels a bit more aspirational, the current names don’t ooze the quality or speed. 105 and Ultegra are racy and solid in my mind.
I avoid the fake stuff always. But if there is any consolation, buy the original Chinese branded stuff. The ONE handlebars are a good example. They started out with an integrated stem carbon handlebar and it is well reviewed by Joe (China Cycling). Now, The ONE comes in traditional aero handlebar option without the integrated stem. I am very pleased with it.
I tried 4 dealers was polite and told them I still love them when I was turned away from 3 of them needing help for the insurance after being knocked off my aliracer by an automobile. Took hours of walking because my bike was knackered.
Biggest problem with Ali Express is warranty returns. You have to send it back to China at your expense which is often more than the item is worth.
I think you just accept that if anything goes wrong your money is gone. No risk, no reward.
As ever, to the point and very informative...
I actually bought a r7000 fd off ali. Wasn't cheaper but I couldn't get one anywhere else. It was the real deal but in a plastic bag rather then usual packaging
100% agree do your research and by from the supplier if possible and don't buy fake stuff. Now we need a review of the groupset now you have a good few Kms on it 😁😁😁😁😁
coming up as soon as my bike gets home - Scott are posting it back to me because of airport problems!
@@Cade_Media the joys of airports 🙄
I’ve heard amazing things about Carbonda and their gravel frames.
one tip to get frames cheaper, don't buy it on aliexpress but directly at the factory by email
problem with that is that you need to make sure the thing is legit, and ali express in theory has customer support that can (maybe?) return you the money, etc.
@@endianAphones all known brands have super service, have ordered 2 frames from dengfu, 1 from hongfu and 2 from lightcarbon. First frame was 10 years ago, never had a problem with service or when I needed spareparts.
About the poor Aliexpress search feature. You're right - it does indeed a lousy job, but the explanation is different.
They have algorithms. Aliexpress lives (among other things) from sellers paying for their products to show up higher in searches.
And that, completely screws up the searches.... not to mention that it's you the customer, who pays this as well.
Also, about the reviews: I'm pretty confident that lately bot, fake reviews have flooded some sellers. They're tipically-5star reviews with a very brief and quite irrelevant comment .... that's how one might recognize them...
Great advices Francis! How's your 90's MTB bike?
I bought a Shimano Acera drivetrain, unboxed but looks totally legit.
great video. i'm curious if anyone has mixed the sensah stuff with shimano or sram and how it preforms. like mixing shifters and rear derailleur etc.
I had two Sensah "groupsets" before: Sensah Empire 11s road and Sensah Phi 10s road shifters. Very important note: You have to look from product to product! You can not say brand x is compatible with brand y. It is completly up to the specific products you want to mix from Shimano, Sram and Sensah.
But this is a deep rabbit hole of information and takes time. The easier way: Just install shifters and deraillers from the same brand.
Trace Velo has tested some chinese 11s road groupsets on his channel and tried some of them with Shimano shifters and rear deraillers. Highly recommended to start with his videos - even if you don't want to buy 11s.
Sensah Empire 11s road
I use "Sensah Empire 11s road" shifters with an old "Sram X7 10s MTB" rear derailler (RD) on my bike with an 11s cassette. (It is an old X7-RD with no clutch; I already had it at home.) The combination works well! With the original Sensah Empire 11s RD it worked a tiny bit better in my case (the reason can be the long-used and beaten up Sram X7-RD I used. Sensah Empire 11s uses the same cable pull ratio (or nearly the same?) as Srams "Exact Actuation". Sram used this cable pull ratio with their "road 11s", "road 10s" and "mtb 10s" rear deraillers ("Exact Actuation" written on the derailler cage).
Sensah PHI 10s road
I installed "Sensah PHI 10s road" shifters on a road bike for a friend - together with an "Shimano 9s MTB" rear derailler and with a 10s cassette. Worked well after installing and adjusting and I am not aware of specific problems that came later. MTB-derailler because it can handle a cassette with lager sprockets (more teeth). 🙂
The cable pull ratio of "Sensah PHI 10s road" shifters is the same as Shimano "standard/old 10s road", also used by old 10s groupsets e.g. Ultegra 6600, 105 5600, ...
This is often called the "standard-shimano-pull ratio" because it is also used by "6s, 7s, 8s, 9s road and MTB" rear deraillers (more exceptions for DuraAce 6-8s - according to the Internet; and perhaps exceptions for older 6s stuff...)
Be carful: Sensah QUANTUM 10s road shifters have different cable pull than Sensah PHI 10s road shifters.
With 11s road groupsets Shimano changed the cable pull ratio. Also with MTB 10s but newer MTB groupsets are another story...
Shimano Tiagra 10s has the old and new ratio. That's why there is Sensah Phi and Sensah Quantum.
- Tiagra 4600 series (until 2015): "standard/old 10s road" cable pull ratio. Sensah Phi 10s compatible.
- Tiagra 4700 series (2015+newer): "new 10s road" cable pull ratio, the same as Shimano 11s road. Sensah Quantum 10s shifters compatible.
All I wrote above is about mixing rear deraillers and their shifters. Mixing FRONT deraillers (FD) and their shifters is a little bit different, but in 2x-systems you often can make a weird combination work - ok-ish. But you have to invest time and you have to be able to withstand a high level of frustration.
MTB and road FD are normally not compatible. The FD should be build for the chainring sizes - at least it should not be too many teeth different. I used the Sensah Empire 2x11 speed shifters (+ 11s chain) in combination with a Shimano MTB 8s front derailler for at least 1,5 years. It worked ok-ish but it was difficult to setup, I had to re-adjust more often and I would not recommend it because the precision and shifting speed was not so good. Only ok-ish. I don't know about Sram FDs, but as far as I remember: Trace Velo used a Shimano 11s road front derailler with success.
Recommendations:
- Watch Trace Velo's videos.
- Highly recommended articles about drivetrain compatibility in general: "Science behind the magic - drivetrain compatibility" (Article on artscyclery blog), "A guide to rear shifting" (Article on cyclinguk) and of course Sheldon Brown's website!
- For information about Sensah products etc.: Check the internet, read forum posts, search youtube.
- Read the description of the Sensah groupsets you want to buy on AliExpress. Also read the description in only-shifters-offers to get the compatibility information that you might not get when buying a complete groupset.
- Also read from different sellers because descriptions can vary in quality.
- But be careful: sometimes they claim compatibility but they only talk about the cassettes and not about mixing shifters and deraillers.
That said: Sensah Empire 11s shifters should work well with Sram road 11s rear deraillers as long as 1. "Exact Actuation" is written on them and 2. all other specifications are no problem, e.g. clutch, 1x, 2x, capacity of the derailler and cassette size...
@@gs78798 Hey, I'm buying a Sensah Empire 11 speed set. I've heard from many people that the front derailleur is too tough. Did you encounter this problem, and if so what replacement would you suggest?
Great stuff Francis
Thanks for this summary
Having looked on aliexpress after your last vid on it, yes search function is a bit off listed lots of shimano stuff, though unsure if fake or genuine. Also that rear mech is it really that big or trick of the camera.🤔
Olá! Estou montando uma Gravel e tenho dúvida entre comprar o pé de vela Zeroing ou o Senicx GR2, também não sei qual freio mecânico escolher post mount o restante já tenho.
Thank you for this and other videos. They're very nice. But wait, Shimano is not a Western brand. Haha. Keep up the good work.
In UE we have VAT include in the price.
You don't receive package, in protected time you can open dispute and most of the time they return money to you, wender can ask you wait more, but if you don't receive extended of protection time just ignor him and you get youre mony.
I ordered Assioma pedals direct from Italy. The tax bill for those was a shock.
Trifox and Yoeleo are also awesome
Awesome mate :D are we going to get a longer-term review of the group set that you bought after your road to Switzerland on it ?:D
absolutely
@@Cade_Media amazing mate can't wait 😁
I dont know about delivery but i live in croatia and everything arrived to me within 2 weeks
Second point isn't necessarily true. I've got bike parts in under 10 days shipping on many occasions.
great video! wondering if you've tried out any power meters from aliexpress ?
I'd like to purchase a ceramic cache for my Shimano 105, which brand do you recommend? Thanks.
I've seen XT 12 speed rear derailleur and shifter combos for £70 could they be fake?
Need another video on your retro MTB. what are you doing with it…..
I hope Sensah will make electronic groupset someday. The price of 105 di2 isn’t “affordable”.
Correct, but 105 has always been a high end groupset.
On the delivery note, I had an issue when ordering parts to build my keyboard with my address and it was difficult to sort. At one point they wanted me to fill an address form but it was all written in Chinese, so I obvs couldn't fill it out. We got there in the end though.
I can't help but envisioning an all Chinese bike crumpling to the floor on it's first ride 🤣👍
I'm thinking about a new 1x groupset for my CX bike, but I'm worried that if I break something in a crash (the crashing bit is inevitable), the season would be over before a new part arrives. Is cross compatibility with more instantly available brands a thing?
The sensah parts have the same pull ratios as SRAM, as far as I know. Chains/cassettes will work fine as long as they are the same speed
@@Cade_Media Thank you so much for answering - I guess I'll have to start the search (and eagerly await your review). :)
@@duncanmartin2626 no probs. Should probably add, mixing chains and cassettes from different brands usually won't be quite as good as sticking to one brand - for example a full Shimano system works best with a Shimano chain because of the little shifting ramps and stuff on the cassettes and chainrings, but it will still work!
I believe it's pronounced L2 not L twoo....living here in asia we mostly use Shopee or Lazada
This is a good point, why does my brain pronounce the W when an extra O is added...?
@@Cade_Media we all do it. I heard the pronunciation from Ger victor, a filipino youtuber that reviewed some of their stuff.
I've had an LTWOO rear mech before that was just horrible when it came to manufacturing tolerance. It basically wiggled so much it was not functional, should never have left the factory, and then should never have left the retailer.
It will be interesting to see a long term review on these components.. Just to know how they perform over time versus the mainstay companies (Shimano, SRAM, etc…).. great video!!
As Francis mentionned have look on Luke's youtube 'Trace Velo'. He has done lot of long term reviews of those products and even discuss their issues with manufacturer
👍
The review system doesn't let you leave a review after 30 days. Its pretty rough for that.
Is there a review coming on the updates Parcours wheels please?
The new gravel ones? I don't have them yet!
What’s the weight capacity?
The most important thing you need to know:
AliExpress gave up buyer protection, instead they protecting the scammers. I had intentions to buy a few ohter things on Ali, but after this I won't buy a thing there anymore.
I bought 3 pieces of an item, paid for all the three, and got a single one. Ali closed the dispute in the favor of the scammer.
He's back!
👀
Caution: AliExpress reviews are pretty much useless. The review window is so short that by the time you've collected all the parts to build up your bike, the review window is over. So 99% of reviews are first impressions, not based on any actual usage. My assumption is that this is deliberate, to get more 4-5 star reviews.
it's a shame really, as the retailers don't have a choice to change this and the bigger brands in particular are quite confident in their product
the most important reviews as those with tagged "additional feedback" which can be given up to six months later. So if something goes wrong in that time and the retailer does not fix it, expect savage "additional feedback"
Love this!!
great vid
The worst part with AliExpress is, everytime the package arrives in a new country, you get a mail, that your package has arrived in destination country and you will receive it soon.
Does sensah make a Di2 groupset, if so have you tried it?
Not yet
@@Cade_Media if you were building a bike today (non race purposes), would you go with carbon or titanium? Also, mechanical or electrical groupset? Thank you in advance
@@terrillford7784 definitely electric - depends on the quality of the frame to choose between those materials
@@Cade_Media thank you for responding
They don't even make a hydraulic brake set
I've been buying Chinese parts for a few years and never really had any major issue, but recently I bought a fake Redshift Shockstop stem on Aliexpress, I received it, it was so shity that it was unusable, so I wrote a detailed complaint about why it was shit and asked the money back, and they gave me the money back without saying anything, in less than 24 hours. Their customer support for fakes can be better than the support of some original stuff.
Stick with long established sellers and read the reviews, you can filter by country. Don't rely on the dispute process if your bits don't arrive, it's garbage.
How do you go about finding the individual manufacturers' stores on there? Any search I do seems to just bring up a totally random selection of items.
I use Google, "sensah official store" and it comes up
Indeed
I totally agree that buying fake stuff isn't a good idea because it's unfair to other companies. However, I would t go as far to say they would be dangerous. I would bet a lot of that stuff is made in the same factory to the same spec. Saying it's dangerous is just adding to the myth that Chinese brands (knockoff or otherwise) can't make good carbon parts. It's just not true.
Ali express or ebay same items
Would love a wild T - 👀
Time to buy a new cap...AliExpress?:-)
Anyone able to list more legit brands on AliExpress? Eg. West Biking come up a lot. Are they ok?
I lost money with Ali Express, I purchased a groupset from a Resisted seller, What happened the Seller had his account hacked and someone else pretended to be legit. I lost my money from Ali because they said it was not their fault? After 2 months I got an email from them telling me that the sale failed AliExpress ethics and the case is closed. So don’t trust them.
Biggest advice is, be prepared to write off your investment. I shop on there a lot and get nearly all my gear and parts from them, and am very happy as a customer. But There's always a risk and it's hard to return. My attitude if I spend a small amount I'm not that upset if it's not quite perfect or have to write it off.
Other one is shipping options - you can upgrade the shipping option which can reduce delivery times, but they still can be highly variable.
Spexcel official store for some good kit
I found the bibs thin and the padding not adding any comfort. (Other brands seem to carry the same padding in their bibs)
Prendi has good quality bibs +- 40 euro’s and really comfy padding + fabric.
I bought fake Shimano chain and it shifts horrible. I wrote them and they gave me most of the money back.