Sensah Team Pro + Shimano 105 - The ultimate budget groupset???

Sensah shifters and Shimano derailleurs. Is this combination the ultimate budget groupset?

SIROKO CLOTHING – 10% off (automatically applied via link below):

I buy A LOT of cheap bike parts from AliExpress, so have tons of experience with Sensah, specifically their Empire and SRX Pro 11 speed groupsets. These both use the same cable pull ratios as SRAM, which means the shifters are not compatible with Shimano derailleurs. However recently Sensah released their Team Pro shifters. They use the same cable pull ratios as Shimano gear, so for the first time you can now mix Sensah shifters with Shimano derailleurs.

On my Chinese carbon rim brake road bike, I’m currently running an 11 speed Shimano drivetrain, so I took the opportunity to mix the Team pro shifters with a 105 R7000 rear derailleur, and a Tiagra 4700 front derailleur.
It works surprisingly well, and once you get it dialled in the shifting is smooth, reliable, and responsive. Even the shifting at the front between the big and small chainrings is fantastic. However, there were a few issues after the first ride, and a pretty loud ratting noise came from both team pro shifters.

So in this episode, I’ll install the shifters, fix the rattling issue, show the changes Sensah have made to the design, and tell you whether these are worth buying.

Official Sensah Store:

Also just FYI, Sensah did supply the shifters for free, but they haven't paid me anything, nor did they have any input on this review.

Timestamps:
00:00 – Start
00:47 – Sponsor segment
02:23 – Intro
04:35 – Current bike setup
06:57 – Team Pro installation
13:23 – First ride & rattling sound
17:42 – Shifting performance
19:34 – Sensah shifter design updates
21:38 – Final thoughts & cost
24:03 – Should you buy?
27:13 – Total bike weight

Intro roll:

About Trace Velo:
I love cycling, and I love getting pro cycling kit for less. If it’s cheap, from China, and made of carbon fibre, I’m interested!

Please note:
With the exception of Siroko & Sensah, other products demonstrated in this video have been purchased by me, and I have no affiliation to any of the sellers or vendors shown.

In addition, I am not a professionally trained bike mechanic. There can be risks associated with using products that are unbranded, untested, or come from sources where the provenance is unknown. Please talk to a qualified bike mechanic if you are in any doubt.

In essence, be careful, do your research, and cycle safe!!!

[TraceVelo]

So one quick correction, I mentioned at the start the cable pull ratio for 11 Speed Shimano road stuff was 1.7, but it's actually 1.4. Once again the comment section keeping me on my toes! Shoutout to 666Gothicgirl for pointing it out! 👊

[coffeepot]

The amount of times this guy has disassembled and reassembled his bike he'd be the ultimate tour de France mechanic

[iane]

With major bike brands like shimano basically killing mechanical groupsets I am happy sensah exist. I hope they continue to improve their products and hopefully a fully hydraulic groupset soon!

[MrLeftshoenick]

I'm running something similar: 11 speed Team pro shifters, 11 speed 105 RD, (old) 10 speed Ultegra FD. Super budget setup with mixed and matched parts, but everything works perfectly. I took the plunge with Sensah shifters based on Luke's earlier review of the Empire group set. I was pretty nervous ordering the "Team Pro" which I hadn't heard much about at the time. I quadruple checked that the internal shifting levers were aluminum, not plastic.

Overall, I'm super happy with these shifters. I've put about 2400 km on them and shifting feels more precise and crisper than any other shifters I've used, which include Sora (2016), Ultegra (2001) and Sram Rival (2008). I don't think I've had a single missed shift. Despite (or maybe because of) the 10 speed FD, the chainring shifting is amazing and the trim positions are perfect, unlike every other setup I've ever had. And yes, I'm a dirty cross-chainer!

On a separate note, I love road cycling and racing but it can be prohibitively expensive and the bike culture can be very snobbish. It's great to see this content which allows people to get into the sport or upgrade their setup without spending thousands, or feeling bad about mixed groupsets. I'm so unimpressed by $10, 000 bikes that get ridden 250 km a year.

Also, major props for the vaporwave aesthetics!

[andrei-desu]

I find that mixing shimano and sensah is the ultimate budget groupset. Shimano's shifters are extremely expensive compared to other parts in the groupset. Used to run sora with sensah ignite shifters, now using 105 mechs and sensah team pro shifters. Budget friendly and extremely good shifting!

[doesitgame]

Gorilla Tape works as a substitute for vinyl packaging, for anyone interested.

Also worth pointing out that this works with Tiagra 4700 as well — 4700 uses the same pull ratio as 11s. Even cheaper mix-n-match 11s!

[AlexeyDyachenko]

What I really want is hydraulic Sensah. Really tired of quality and housing problems of mechanical/hybrid brakes. A set of MT200 is about 60$, but a set of cheapest Shimano shifters and calipers is over 1k$, it's crazy.

[jedkoh]

Man what a great Fri-yay evening over with uploads from my favorite channels, especially yours! Good to know they have improved shifter hoods, really facing loose hoods after quite some time of use

[Velo]

Love the channel and your 100% honesty and transparency with everything so thank you for being real and looking forward for more videos!!! Cheers mate

[iegklmp]

Just came across your channel. Thanks for the reviews and insights on products that don't get enough mainstream press. Well done!

[brianmccallum]

solid tip about lightly greasing the cables for less friction. Thanks . Will try soon.

[boyacki]

Even with criticism and skepticism, you're so humble and unbiased in your response. Thank you for making my week! 😊 Always love the material, depth and obviously, the funnies!👍👍👍👌🏾

[enuazeal]

so now we are waiting for Sensah electronic groupset :)

[stephenbetley]

I'm increasingly hearing just how good Sensah are now, from Francis Cade as well as you and others. Shimano had better either continue the R7000 and lower the cost, or bring out a mechanical 12spd 7100 group set. It's only going to take companies such as Ribble to start using them on budget bikes before they go really mainstream. If Sensah decide to go 12spd mechanical +/- hydraulic which they will do eventually, then Shimano have an issue.

[robinrai]

Very cool that they offer both pull ratios, nice video as always

[lauriebarr]

Another great review, with feedback on flaws that may occur from the factory and how to fix them.

Just scored a set of shifter, plus an Empire FD to upgrade a bike build, in part due to all of your videos on Sensah and Bike builds.

Thanks for all your vids, very informative and helpful. Goes to show anyone can build a pretty impressive bike for not a lot of $$$ or prior knowledge. Great choice on the music too, awesome album! Keep doing what your doing.

[guandasin]

Man Luke, for all the effort you took into letting them know about specific built problems they had before, you deserve some real credit from them as well. Luke Trace Velo as an Ambassador for

Hate to see the MicroNew leave the staple though. Its been a good ride seeing them.

Oh by the way, you could just post a video of you riding your bike for 30mins to an Hour, we'd be happy to see something like that

[koli]

Very underrated contents 💯 it really helps us people who dont have that much budget in building bikes. Nice contents keep it up 😁

[affordabletechsolutions]

I picked up a classic Schwinn Roadster frame for ~$40, and wanted to do a budget build on it. I assembled a groupset that is nearly identical to your bike: 2x11 TeamPro brifters, Tiagra front mech, used 105 (5800) rear from ebay, an old 105 11-28t cassette ...and a new FSA crankset. The whole setup works great together. I have not put many miles on it but the initial impressions are great. So good to see more viable alternatives hitting the market.

[jaredlash]

One thing that has really impressed me about Sensah is that they seem to take feedback and iterative improve their products.