At Eurobike 2008, several Taiwanese suppliers such as SunRace, Token and Dia-Compe, as well as the renowned German bicycle manufacturer Storck, presented what appeared to be their own groupsets. However, the shifting components of all these suppliers were strikingly similar.
The company behind this is AD-II Engineering Inc. from Taiwan with the "Microshift" brand. The company manufactures rear derailleurs, front derailleurs and the levers of the groupsets and sells them to various interested parties, who label the parts with their own names, sometimes refine them a little and assemble them into a complete groupset. This is entirely intentional - at least on the part of Microshift: the Taiwanese supplier wants to publicise its products more quickly and uses as many different channels as possible to do so. So will Microshift soon be a serious competitor to the big three? To find out, we took a closer look at Microshift's top group "Arsis".
This comes as a Shimano-compatible ten-speed drivetrain with brake levers and outer derailleur plate made of carbon. At first glance, the levers are almost indistinguishable from Shimano levers of the generation currently being phased out: The characteristic shape with the pronounced hump and the shift cables emerging from the side inevitably conjure up thoughts of a plagiarism. The Taiwanese have even copied the access to the fixing screw. So there are no surprises when it comes to assembly and adjustment - if you can do Shimano, you can do Microshift. The shifting logic, on the other hand, is independent: To shift to larger sprockets, the shift lever located behind the brake lever is swivelled inwards, similar to Campagnolo. Up to three gears can be shifted at once. The step to smaller sprockets is triggered by a lever above it.
The Microshift components mastered the course through our test laboratory quite well. The individual weights of 379 grams for the lever pair and 194 and 99 grams for the rear derailleur and front derailleur leave Shimano's mid-range "105" and "Ultegra" ensembles behind. The rear derailleur reveals its first weaknesses: the internal friction is significantly higher than that of the competition. Nevertheless, a high spring tension allows the rear derailleur to work precisely - which, however, results in higher operating forces if the lever travel is to remain short. These are comparable to Campagnolo shifters, the travel of the small lever is negligible and is more like pressing a button.
The TOUR testers were pleasantly surprised by the performance in the wild. The new operating concept is easy and quick to internalise, and with Shimano drivetrain components, the gears worked flawlessly and precisely for a good 500 test kilometres. The slightly higher operating forces are noticeable, but offer an advantage: the shifting works in a very defined manner, shifting operations are not only noticeable by a clear noise, they can also be felt in the fingers - shifting is impossible. The accessibility of the levers is good, only the small lever is a little far away for short fingers in the lower link. The ergonomics are comparable to Shimano's Ultegra, the brake levers are positioned slightly outwards. There is no grip width adjustment. The left lever is compatible with double and triple cranks, and the front derailleur also had no problems with a compact crank.
There is also the price: The German importer Messingschlager estimates 200 euros for the "Arsis" shift brake levers, and 70 and 26 euros for the rear derailleur and front derailleur respectively. That sounds interesting, if not sensational. Even more interesting is the entry into the world of integrated road bike shifters: The aluminium version of the nine-speed lever set is already available for 110 euros, the corresponding rear derailleur/front derailleur for 30/18 euros.
PLUS: good function, favourable price
MINUSProcessing not quite at Shimano level gel
Reference/Info:
Messingschlager GmbH & Co. KG, telephone 09544/944445, www.messingschlager.com
