The President and VP of Microshift were on hand from Taiwan at Eurobike to show a few new key pieces of tech they have recently developed. The 15 year old company isn’t really known to truly challenge the Big 3 component manufactures (Shimano, Campagnolo, and SRAM), but they do offer a good quality line of products at what are usually much more down to earth pricing. Although the bulk of road (and some mountain) drivetrains have moved on to 11 speed at the high-end, Microshift just introduced a new set of 10 speed levers at the show. The new shifters, which will be available in their top, carbon Arsis group, as well their third-tier Centos group, finally make the jump to cable routing beneath your bar tape.
The shape and function of the levers looks to borrow a bit from each of the Big 3, with a lever shape reminiscent of the previous generation of Campy, hoods that look a bit SRAM-ish and shifting that feels like a combo of Shimano and Campy. Take a look at the pics above, and if you like the looks of what they mash up, maybe they would make good replacements when you look to upgrade a lower-level group set.
Jump past the break for a look at their carbon road derailleurs and MTB thumbies…
The full Arsis group is designed to be direct replacements for Shimano groups, and are therefore compatible with Shimano 10 speed systems, letting you mix-and-match or get the whole group. Microshift targets Arsis at the Ultegra 6700 / Dura-Ace 7900 level and offers both front and rear derailleurs in options with either more or less carbon bits.
An interesting addition from Microshift this year are new 10 speed cassettes in 11-28, 11-32, and 11-36 configurations. The 11-28 is available with the 5 big cogs on an aluminum carrier, or loose cogs as with the wider range. They will also offer a 9 speed 11-32. They might just be a much more affordable replacement option for keeping those older, but otherwise functional Shimano/SRAM groups running for another couple of years.
Another little bit that Microshift was quite proud of showing at the show were a set of bar end shifters indexed for Shimano 10 speed mountain groups. With a lot of alternative bikes being setup, for example drop bar bikes with Shadow rear derailleur and wide gear ratios, the bar ends offer more flexibility. Also offered with a bar top mount the shifters provide an interesting option for those building bikes outside the box. The rear shifters can be set to either 10 speed indexed or friction, and the front are friction only and can control a double or triple.
We didn’t get pricing details, but outside of the new road shifters everything is already available from Microshift’s distributors with more info on their website. As for the road stuff, we might try to get a set in to review as an upgrade to an old drivetrain.
