Sensah Phi review - great shifters for repurposing old Shimano parts

[raisinberry777]

Some impressions here on Sensah Phi. Nothing on the forum here yet (and nothing much on the internet generally) so some thoughts below. I've been rebuilding my spare/trainer bike so it's been a good opportunity to try some Aliexpress parts. I had a Shimano 5600 RD and a couple of different FDs about so I thought I'd try Sensah Phi to bring it all together with a variety of other budget 10 speed parts.

As a small-handed rider, I was looking forward to repurposing Shimano's 10 speed parts without having to resort to their shifters. I've always hated the ergonomics of both the 7800/6600/5600 levers (cable out the side) and the 7900/6700/5700 so the idea of having modern ergonomic shifters that worked with older parts was appealing.

The TL;DR is that these shifters pretty much do what they say on the tin. It's a version of the Sensah shifters that works with the Shimano 1.4 actuation ratio (basically everything 8/9/10 speed except Tiagra 4700 / GRX 400)

I had two different front derailleurs on hand to try - 5800 (11-speed 105) and 3500 (9-speed Sora). First I tried the 5800 but it didn't feel quite right to begin with. Noting that the Sensah Phi shifter seems to be a very similar design to the 7900/6700/5700 FD (see below), I decided to try the 9 speed Sora FD - this had a better feeling right from the get-go. I'm not sure if the FD cable pull is the same as other Sensah levers.



Thoughts:

Rear shifting
Excellent - works nicely, easy enough to good feel to make sure you're not shifting the wrong way, action is light, no issues at all. Feels at least as good as mechanical SRAM used to.

Front shifting
Meh to reasonable. The actual shifting performance is okay, but it's just a weird design. The front shifter has 4 spots (so 3 clicks) - assuming it's meant to be like Shimano, there should be two spots for each ring. The difference with Shimano is, particularly for going from big ring back to small ring - you can either to the light press just to trim (one position), or do a normal press to go down to the inner ring. With the Sensah shifter you can only move down one position at a time, so you basically have to do two small taps to drop down to the inner ring. It works fine, but it's just weird. Is there any documentation or guide to what the positions of the FD are meant to be - is it meant to be like Shimano?

Shifter ergonomics
Great, basically the same as current Shimano mechanical. Heaps better than old Shimano levers. Adjustable brake reach is nice for me with small hands. Hoods fit nice and tight.

End result


Chinese parts on this build:
Sensah Phi shifters - as above
Senicx PR3 cranks - needed a 1mm spacer on the NDS (not supplied) when used with a Shimano BBR-60 BSA threaded BB. Seller sent a 165mm instead of the 170mm I ordered. Shifting on the chainrings seems nice though and it's always good to have cranks that are easy to put a power meter on.
YBN 10 speed chain - seems to work just fine - put it through the ultrasonic cleaner and am using Squirt drip wax on it.
Sensah 10 speed cassette, 11-28 - would like to go more but that's the max the 5600 derailleur will allow. Works just fine.
OG-Evkin bar tape - basically a copy of Lizard Skins, not quite as good as the real deal but not far off. The key test will be longevity though.
West Biking SPD-SL pedals - surprisingly good given the price ($14 USD). Haven't tried the included cleats but action with genuine Shimano cleats feels much like Shimano. Had to disassemble to grease the axle (was totally dry) and as a result movement was very slow on unboxing but now it's greased (and the grease has had a chance to move itself around) it's been fine.
Velobuild VBR-016 - bought this back in 2014 and it was my main bike from 2014-2020. Obviously it's been surpassed by many other Chinese frames since but it's still a nice bike, well constructed and easy to work with (threaded BB, easy to find headset bearings). Tyre clearance is typical of the time, 25mm at the rear is the absolute maximum. The pictured version on the site are the original finished pics of my frame.

[raisinberry777]

I'll take back everything I've said, the front shifter has failed and seems to be stuck in the highest gear. On the upside, it's failed within 90 days and it was bought from a choice store (TEMAI factory store), so I get to return it for free and get a full refund. Instead I'll buy some 105 R7000 parts from the upcoming sale.

From my brief experience at least, rear shifting is great, but front shifting has a way to go to be closer to Shimano. It's an odd design choice to have the lever only able to move one position down at a time when there's four positions (as opposed to Shimano / Campag Powershift, both of which use a 4-position system but the downshift goes down two positions at once).

[jonathanf2]

I'll take back everything I've said, the front shifter has failed and seems to be stuck in the highest gear. On the upside, it's failed within 90 days and it was bought from a choice store (TEMAI factory store), so I get to return it for free and get a full refund. Instead I'll buy some 105 R7000 parts from the upcoming sale.

From my brief experience at least, rear shifting is great, but front shifting has a way to go to be closer to Shimano. It's an odd design choice to have the lever only able to move one position down at a time when there's four positions (as opposed to Shimano / Campag Powershift, both of which use a 4-position system but the downshift goes down two positions at once).

I've tried a bunch of mechanical front derailleurs and nothing beats the current crop of mechanical 11/12 speed Shimano FDs. They're practically giving away Shimano 105 R7000 parts on AliEx. With current buyer market prices, I honestly wouldn't touch LTwoo or Sensah mechanical at this point.