Recommend 7 speed groupset or parts

[amacal1]

A Fuji Ace 20 came up for sale near me recently and I'm likely going to snag it this weekend and set it up for my son.

It's a "road" bike, but comes with a flat bar and twist shift for young riders. My son already has a mountain bike, so this whole project is really just so he can have something to ride on the roads with me and feel included. A vanity project, as much for me as for him, lol.

As such, I'd like to spend a few bucks and set it up like a "real" road bike. I see I can get a really narrow road bar on Ali for about $20. Since it's a 7 speed with Shimano tourney revo-shift, it probably has a freewheel rather than a freehub. I don't want to bother with swapping wheel/hub to do a whole group set change. Are there any 7 speed brifters I can get to just throw on and replace a revo-shifter? Alternatively, who makes a good 7 speed brifter/derailleur combo I can get on Ali to swap together? Is there another alternative that I'm not considering, to a better (8 speed, 9 speed, etc) setup that I can switch to without replacing wheel?

[zyxtc748]

iirc Sensah/Ltwoo/Microshift all have 7 speed brifters. Shimano Claris groupset is quite worth it too. (8 speed).

[amacal1]

iirc Sensah/Ltwoo/Microshift all have 7 speed brifters. Shimano Claris groupset is quite worth it too. (8 speed).

Can I swap to an 8 speed cassette with a freewheel? I'm not that familiar with those so I don't know what's involved. All I've ever touched has been HG cassettes on freehubs.

[00Garza]

I've seen 6-9 speed freewheels on amazon for pretty cheap.
https://a.co/d/7iX4rmZ
Sunrace makes some as well.

You could pair that with a super cheap mechanical 9 speed ltwoo or sensah group.
Sensah does make a hydraulic 9 speed. Don't think Ltwoo does.

Or get an 8 speed freewheel and get some claris shifters on ali for pretty cheap as well.

[amacal1]

I've seen 6-9 speed freewheels on amazon for pretty cheap.
https://a.co/d/7iX4rmZ
Sunrace makes some as well.

You could pair that with a super cheap mechanical 9 speed ltwoo or sensah group.
Sensah does make a hydraulic 9 speed. Don't think Ltwoo does.

Or get an 8 speed freewheel and get some claris shifters on ali for pretty cheap as well.

Ok, I didn't realize it was that easy. I may look into that.

I guess what throws me the most is that with the 10-11-12 speed stuff, everyone makes such a big deal about pull ratios and differences between SRAM standard stuff verses Shimano Road stuff verses Shimano MTB stuff and you have to make sure all of that matches. But for the 7-8-9 speed stuff I see that talked about much less, or no specs given at all.