Building My Bike with AliExpress Parts - FIRST RIDE
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 พ.ค. 2022
- You can get some unusual bike parts from AliExpress. Lets put it on my bike and see what the deal is with the Sensah Empire Pro Groupset.
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Nice one dude!! I'll be interested to hear what you think of shifting at the rear. In my experience the shifting is great when first installed, but once the cables get a bit of grease and dirt on them from everyday use, the indexing on the back can get a bit less predictable. But good on you for giving these parts a fair shakedown!!!
I'd be really interested to see a comparison between the Sensah front & rear mechs and SRAM Force or Rival 22 ones to see if any of the cable stickshon issues remain.
Also it would be ace if either of you could test the jagwire elite link housing to see if that improves the effectiveness of the gears and or brakes.
Mr VELO... ecscuse you luke... it was you that started all these shenanigans personally not had an issue yet, 6 months in
@@rustymac83 I've used the jagwire housings for years there ace mate.. paired with proper green shimano cables though... some things can be slacked on not all tho
we would like to see you 2 do a big wheelie bike ride
The good thing about Sensah company is that they listen to their customer to further improve the groupset.
I sort of have issues with that approach. Ok the group is cheap but it's not the usual practise in product manufacturing to sell a product then ask the paying customer to evaluate a product is it?
@@glennoc8585 that is in fact the norm. Test all you want in a lab but if the customers aren’t happy then revisions happen.
@@glennoc8585 haha, what's wrong with that?
Years since you installed cables! Welcome back to the world of the common man…….😉
When you are building a bike, and you are thinking, man, this is boring ! Well, REJOICE!!!! It is not boring. I grew up building and watching people build cars, bikes whatever and some of my best memories are exactly this. Me watching you build a bike. Talking about all the things that go wrong and how they were dealt with.
Sensah is the best price to performance.
When you can ignore the prestige, choice Sensah groupset it's won't make you lose.
There are a few Continental UCI teams using Sensah Empire Pro rim brake. Once its set up its really reliable, so much so that I know guys that have continued to use it after a team change. As with any groups, setup is key. The YBN Chains are also superb, they last ages along with the low friction, low price and high availability! Loads of availability of Sensah parts if something goes on. I'm really looking forward to the next get of this. (The SRAM comparison is accurate, since the engineers on the mechanical side moved to work for Sensah in Taiwan. Hope this gives some background from a racing perspective!
I'm seriously impressed with your mechanical skills.
1000k on the sensah srx, did a 170k road ride with a group the other day, still performing flawlessly, it's been abused and I've rarely tinkered with it, I think you'll like how it goes 👌
Although I'm using the Ferrino Fantasy 1x11 groupset (pretty much a rebrand of the SRX), I agree with this. Been using mine everyday for the past 3 months and I only had to tune it once. It shifts real smooth.
If you want a cleaner looking SRX, or if you dont want red, then I highly recommend this
sounds better than my sram rival build
Hey Luke I hope its still running well, any news?
300lbs!!! bro that is so heavy!
I've been using Sensah Empire for about a year now. they've been working fine. Not one time there's a drop chain. Can't say the same about my 105 though😅😅😅
Great video!. Really good to see cheaper parts tested for a change!. Well done and Really looking forward to seeing how things hold up!!. Many thanks.
Nice to see. I have one bike with 105, and one with Sensah. I love the single lever on the Sensah, with click to shift up, swing to shift down. I always find it a pain to remember the second paddle when I go back to the 105 bike. Ironically I put 105 on my self-built Aliexpress bike, and replaced the shimano 8x on my Specialized one with Sensah. If I were building from scratch I would definitely choose Sensah from the ground up, purely on cost grounds and because at my basic level I can't tell any difference in performance or quality.
State Bicycle Co. is spec-ing Sensah as OEM parts on a lot of their entry-mid level bikes! I'm not fully sold on it, but great to see disruption to the groupset market (particularly at this price point, where Shimano has a monopoly).
Bro's stepping into Trace Velo's territory
we've scheduled a boxing match
The Sensah Empire Pro worked for my Eddy Merckx EM525 and the mechanical shifting was spot on with correct tuning. However I opted for TRP Spyre SLCs with improved braking though I believed that the Juin-Tech Hybrid Disc calipers are premium.
I have gone through 2 seasons and still worked well.
Oh nooooo - the _last_ thing I expected was that you'd put the Sensah groupset on your Foil. I'm very glad it's working well this far.
I've just finished a bike build using almost 100% AliExpress parts, including Sensah Empire group set and carbon aero frame. I took it for it's first ride today. I'm just recovering from COVID, and my resting heart rate is currently 10 bpm above normal, so I couldn't go too hard, but it all seems to work okay.
Link to the bike frame ?
@@The3xclusiv3 I wouldn't recommend the frame because of a couple of problems, that I have, sort of, resolved. The manufacturer took down the comments that were originally on their advert, and I think that's unethical.
This channel makes cycling accessible to all♥️
This is a perfect groupset for a dedicated indoor bike, Zwift racing. I have this Empire Pro 12s for 18 months now. My 1x setup is 46 x 11-32 which is really nice. I did about 400 hours until I needed to change cassette and chain. I'm about 75 hours on the new set. Some wear parameters. I'm upper half of cat B and sprint power is 1000 to 1300 Watt max. Chainline is optimized for tempo to threshold. I don't shift much under full load.
If I was building a carbon fast commuter bike, I would definitely consider getting this groupset. However, for commuting I would choose a hydraulic brake system.
I feel like that groupset part from the braking issue, would be perfect for winter riding save destroying a top spec groupset , look forward to the first proper test ride video , thanks for the great content Francis 🤙🤙🤙🤙🤙
Hi Frances… thanks again for your vlogs, informative & entertaining as always! Know you occasionally highlight cycling events & personalities which adds a really nice variety to your content. Was wondering if you had ever considered covering more of the UK’s grass root events / series? You have a fantastic platform to lift the lid on many less known series which (I believe) would make great coverage & which could benefit from good quality exposure. Hill climbing, Iron Man, Masters racing all spring to mind. Maybe even an opportunity for Tony F & your Scott connections to get involved? Just a passing thought over this morning’s porridge!! Happy Trails!! 🍻 J
"i'm not a wax guy yet..." poor wend 😢 - loving the videos! Looking forward to moving to Devon to get some gravel !
I have Sensah 2x11 on two bikes. Works a treat.
This was interesting enough to me to want to try these parts. Thanks!
I think you're going to put Juin Tec Hybrid brakes on the Bike. I saw the packaging of the disc rotors. I Run them myself and i'm more than happy. For the price there are a bargain.
I have been looking at sensah rb parts for half a year. I'm convinced that thisnwou be my go to gs whenever I would build a roadbike.
I would have never gone through the hassle of using the perfectly fine Scott Foil. Probably I would have gotten a 2nd hand frameset and seen that as a project in itself
Like, a new gravel frame 😉
But, you’ve benchmarked the frame and group set, so any changes will be more apparent.
So many 'I don't know' while watching and even visited local bike shop for advice........ stripped a Scott bike naked and installed something cheaper in the hope of getting a Shimano 105 experience ? I be heart broken to even start dismantling... but we have decades of OEMs history, you expect more than one casual safe ride and many more to come,...
Having just watched & enjoyed your trip to Vietnam I can't help thinking you need a bike packing trip to fully test it.
For me and many others, waxing chains is about significantly increasing longevity of the drivetrain and having a cleaner bike. Not having an oily chain keeps the rear wheel a lot cleaner and not having to ever degrease a chain and cassette does wonders for the freehub!
Exactly. I wax my road chain (not my touring bike) and it's great... I have two chains, change them every 300km or so or after a wet ride. Doesn't take any longer than lubing the chain and waxing is pretty quick ans easy as well.
I prefer using oil to wax because I believe that oil being a liquid will 'flow' about the moving parts much better than wax. I mean, wax will be eventually wiped off of the critical friction 'contact' points with repeated passes and it won't flow back. Oil will do that because it is a liquid and it will re-lube automatically. Oil is more messy, granted that.
@@radiocontrolled9181 that's incorrect, wax in most circumstances remains within the chain much longer than a traditional dry or wet lube and greatly reduces friction when compared to those lubes. Even Squirt lube can increases a chain's lifespan by 3 times from my experience.
Dry or wet lube also attract dirt which can effectively turn them into a grinding paste.
@@kpizzle1985 I see your point too. But try waxing two bits of metal, even two screwdrivers will do. Wax the front metal bits, say the top 2 or 3 inches. Then rub them together for say 500 or 1000 times at the same angle and at the same contact point. Then check the contact points and tell me if there is any wax left there. I'm sure it will have been displaced and there is no wax left at the contact area, i.e. the most important part. Oil on the other hand will flow back and cover the contact points. About the grinding paste, I don't let my chain get that dirty because I wipe it clean frequently enough and then re-oil it lightly. A 3 or 4 minute job. My last MTB chain lasted 12k km but I ride 90% paved and gravel roads and 10% off-road. Mostly dry weather.
@@radiocontrolled9181 what wax are you using? Bike chain wax is specially formulated, it's not just candle wax. I'm not giving my opinion, it's fact, waxed chains last longer than wet or dry lubed chains. I've used many wet and dry lubes and none come close to wax in terms of drive train longevity. There have been many independent tests that show a waxed chain can easily last 10 times longer than a typically lubed chain. The guy at Zero Friction Cycling can easily get 12k out of an MTB chain and that's from hard training/racing in all conditions and with no cleaning other than a quick rinse with water
Been waiting for this review and first impressions! Now the question is , how you're experience will vary from others, which I'm more excited about (if you shoot the video for the long term review). Always 'preciate the videos Francis
Brave Francis-the term ‘crash test dummy’ sprung to mind when I saw what you were doing……😂
Francis putting them on the Foil! OMG lol comedy!
First legit cycling channel/brand that got their hands and willing to do a proper shakedown of this groupset. Thank you for this Francis!
I'm planning on building a gravel bike with this or the 1X11 Sensah grouppo. Interested to see how this lasts.
Great Vid
Canny bike re- build FC 👍The backyard has competition ? 😅Front chain ring looks mint! & £££££ looking. Looking forward to the long term tests. Nice one FC 👏
Thinking of putting the groupset on my training donkey (aka Zwift mule)
Francis: "These cable brakes are not the best."
Me: *laughs in rod-brake*
thanks for the review.. ill wait for the result of your long ride :)
I have the 11s sensah shifters+FD+RD set. The FD is the similar as Shimano 6700/7900 10 speed. The RD is SRAM design. The steel parts are not that well coated and will have surface rust. Same goes with the screws. Mechanically, the sensah drivetrain works pretty good.. the YBN chain is pretty ok too.
Nice product review Francis. You’re turn into the bike version of Martin Lewis before our very eyes!! I’ll be interested to see how they hold up over time.
How on earth could you be arsed swapping out the groupset on your good bike? Fair play for that even if its essentially your job 👏
Welcome to the dark side. 😂
1200 KM with Sensah SRX Pro and Juintech brakes on my gravel bike with few crashes. Worth the money and also a beater, just paired them with compressionless cable and you're good to go
Those brakes are "NUTT" good 😁😁
I cant wait to see the upgraded brakes, I am assuming they will be Juintechs (GTs) hybrid brakes which people have been raving about at least here in Asia,
after seeing the video i really do think many other brands do not get enough insight so it hard to know about them. it good that you were able to give us a different pov on that brand
I have about 600miles with my Sensah bike (now on my winter/gravel bike) and still working great - a good chunk of those miles in shitty conditions over the winter. RD shifting has always been good and is still great. Front shifting took a lot longer to dial in but that could be because I had the earlier revision where the FD had crazy strong spring / action (by the looks of it you have a newer revision where that's been fixed). Now that I've figured it out, and switched to an old SRAM FD it works flawlessly - one of the things was like you said to use the outer channel and use the longer curve of the bars to make the shift smoother.
My friend Harry who has the groupset mentioned the front mech tension - mine is just pulled gently and bolt fastened, so perhaps you're right maybe it is a newer version 🤔
I had the same problem with my FD my front shifter broke immediately. Luckily the seller sent a replacement and I bought a second hand SRAM FD. Works perfectly now
@@Cade_Media the lack of technical / version info is the only downside so far. You only find out about this stuff on random forums or TraceVelo or Chinacycling channels.
Front mech, gear outer allllll the way to the front mech it’s self, job done. Will be the best front shifting you’ll ever do, cable stops are for 1980s
you have to have a cable stop with this style of front mech
The Sensah stuff is compatible with Shimano and so you get Empire = 105 (2 x 11 speed), Quantum = Tiagra (2 x 10 speed) and there's one for Sora too (2 x 9 speed - I forget the name!) So you can replace broken shifters and mechs on Shimano groupsets. I replaced my busted Tiagra shifters with Sensah Quantum as they were about a third the price but they're actually great. It's just a matter of getting used to the SRAM style double tap system shifting...(apparently the guys who set up Sensah used to work at SRAM). Shifting is crisp and the shifters seem well made and feel pretty premium.
I wonder how long it is before we start seeing something like a sensah groupset on big brand entry level bikes. Publications like Road CC and Bike Radar will have to feature it then and no doubt give it a glowing review.
Advent, mtb groupset was at first Nah, Chinese crap. Now Advent is a legitimate OEM for lower end mtb-s. Few of my buddys did hardtail chinese bikes with Advent, haven’t heard anything bad. 300.- today is a steal. 105 is around 900.- nowadays…
State already specs sensah
"what is your liability insurance?" Oh Shimano and campaq love people like you.
With that group set I would go with the Juin Tech semi hydraulic brakes.
0:04 added a 300 Lbs groupset to a perfect frame? Come on Francis!
This is super interesting. I bought my road bike when I didn't know enough about bikes, so got the basic Shimano Tiagra + Tektro mechanical discs (I didn't even know there was different kind of disc brakes...discs are discs right??), and have been learning and upgrading since. The sea change in how safe I felt when I added hydro disc brakes and my stopping power was eye-opening for me...interesting to see it in reverse!
Tiagra is still nice though!
@@johndef5075 oh yeah totally! I just regret not having a group set I can upgrade piecemeal to be ultegra, tiagra parts are only compatible with itself.
Just meet you a a pub in Newcastle …awesome 👍
enjoy the stag do 😂
Sensah Groupset is bang for the buck if you're saving a bit. Used that for a year and it performs good.
Great video.
Keep an eye on the chain wear.
Just ordered 2 sets of these to see what's up with the hype. It's been really popular here too which makes sense if at that ridiculous low price and the crank length options you get the same performance as at least the 105.
groupset jumps ✅
I'm intrigued. The fact your Gateshead based caught my attention more
if i aint on Shimano 105 R7000 groupset now, i ampretty sure i will be riding on Sensah 12 speed as well. the newer ones look fairly reliable for its price, similar to what Shimano looks like back in the day. just my 10 cents worth though
Use the 11sp on my training bike - great value. Only downside is the chain which wears fast.
If you don't ride in wet use chain wax doped with tungsten disulfide nanoparticles
Newcastle, Tyne bridge~!
sensah sti's are commonly installed in cheap and semi expensive roadbikes here in the philippines
Bought carbon drop bars, integrated drops, seat posts, saddles, bottle cages, full carbon forks and rims from AliExpress and been pleased with all of it. Never bought any drivetrain stuff though. The one thing I bought that was/is a complete disaster are those carbon rim brakes that are too narrow and so spongy I'm surprised they had the nerve to actually put them on sale. Nothing has snapped on me though, which is nice 👍
Nice to see this, there are so few ' proper ' vids on Sensah, just Trace Velo and China cycling. I've just fitted this 12 X 2 to my Merckx San Remo, using my existing Rotor cranks and TRP rim brakes. The Sensah parts have a real quality feel to them. Even with 11/34 on the back for the hills, the jumps between gears are fine.
I loved the look so much that I ordered another rear derailleur for my TT bike, this is 1 by 12..11/32 (11/28 on the way) and I have ' bodged ' an Archer Components electronic shifting unit which is designed for MTB use, instead of mounting on the chain stay, it's mounted between the aero bars, it works really well (once cables settled) although in the 32 my chain is at quite an extreme angle and is noisy....I got the calipers on the cassette, 12 speed is about 1.5mm wider than a standard 11 speed cassette.
Can I ask what is the chainline measurement for you Rotor 1 X 13?
Thanks Mick.
Unfortunately I never measured the chainline, although it was a 1x12 setup so no rotor hub.
@@Cade_Media thanks for the reply, when my 11/28 and 58 tooth chainring arrives, I may take the 2mm spacer out of the BB (ISIS gigapipe, 2 mm spacer if no chain guide is used) to straighten it up a bit.
For me is PERFECT that the chain is completely dry. I don't have to clean it just lube it with wax and done
Counting the minutes until you are at the backyard bike shop
its a popular groupset outside the mainstream, it will be fine.
Mate try the xtech brakes I've been using foe months there great 50 quid for both and rotors off of amazon!!! Also been using the cheaper version of the sensah groupset small cage.. bulletproof pal 180 quid
Spoke too soon 100k ride over the dales today , right shifter ratchet has broke 💔 🤣 35km in. absolute knightmare
I like videos like this, but you should have tried a carbon frameset or a Chitanium (Chinese Ti) road frameset with Ali carbon wheels and road tires as well. The gruppo is probably a safer bet, but I do know guys who have had decent results with full rigid 29er frames from Ali.
Pssstttt: Gravel Bike build? Soon please….
One of the few Aliexpress born bike brands that truly give a shit about customer feedback. Trace Velo has basically been QA for them for free and they have made all the fixes he has recommended so far. I have this groupset on my partner's bike, and so far it has been running great.
Thanks Francis..nic needs a balaclava for testing ....Peace
The mitochondria is the power house of the cell
Cool. Looks like decent stuff..well made and let’s face it..most bike parts are another version of something else! Not been impressed by the number of Shimano Cranks that have been breaking recently ( poor design/engineering) plus have come across several Ultegra 11 speed rear mechs that feel pretty flexi after a years use,resulting in poor indexing. So this stuff looks excellent value to me. Be interested to see how you get on over time. ( confess to being a Campag. Record person myself) although have SRAM on the gravel bike....
I've been riding Sensah Empire Pro since December 2021. However, my bike is a rim brake. Rear mech shifts very good. Front mech is not so good especially when you're going from the small to the big chainring. For brakes I just use my Ultegra 6700 and everything is perfect. The whole bike is 7.5 kg (Rim brake privilege).
I’ve had the Juintech brakes and they were…ok better than spyres but nowhere near as good as real hydro. All my downhills Strava segments are slower because I no longer use juintech brakes :)
I think it just comes down to QC. Thats the biggest dif
Well it'll be interesting long term test. Certainly would fill the gap on the unavailable Shimano parts.
You mean the high standard QC that Shimano has with their cranks ? 🙃
this will probably be my next groupset as soon as they upgrade to hydraulic braking
i recommend you to buy cable actuated hydraulic brakes
i did livestream my bike build.. all of it.. it was really hard
Seems like the brakes are the weak point of that setup - splurge on the Juin Tech R1/F1 hybrid calipers. For the price, they really can't be beat. And they will work with those levers.
Hoping for good reviews, I'd like to see Sensah get a good reputation and cause some downwards price pressure on Shimano, especially in the 105 level groupsets.
Shimano / SRAM / Campy groupset prices really are a joke these days.
Or Sensah will most likely jack up the prices if they prove to be just as good as pricier options
Sensah is not a bad group set I'm actually happy is so affordable
Iv'e always said bike parts would evolve so fast, so far beyond the average to mid level rider that even the cheap stuff will be good, of course there are some weak points in this group but with the money saved you can pick and choose what premium parts you want to add to the mix.
I have made many bicycle related purchases on the "ALIEXPRESS " marketplace and careful discretion and plenty of careful checks and seller profiling are a good idea . Price research is also strongly recommended . Also know the compatibility criteria before conducting your search .
You should go all-in and get a Chinese carbon fiber frame! Make your own super bike!
Recommend Trifox frames, few builds in my neighbourhood. Look and ride well enough for ppl to fully enjoy riding.
@@jevgeniardassov Thanks for the 411. Just spent the last 20 minutes looking at their frames. May have a new project for myself after I get my Sram Rival eTap update taken care of.
Watch out for the rear mech. It is too close To the spokes when your on the 12 gear.
A notable thing about Sensah is that their factory was Sram's factory before Sram moved in another factory, so you can guess the people working at Sensah know what they're doing !
Nice
What' your opinion on Basso bikes? btw love the vids!
Sensah > rotor 😊 just saying while riding Shimano and Sram on my bikes 😄
And you didn't have Jimmy there filming an ASMR bike build video?!
Verry nnice viddeo!!!
Please try L-TWOO for mtb. I want to see your reaction.
What do you mean nutt breaks are descent and are used on many high power e scooters for riding at over 60kmh