Tested
MICROSHIFT ADVENT X DRIVETRAIN
£134.97
SPECIFICATION Cassette range: 11-48t (spread: 11-13-15-18-21-24-28-34-40-48t) • Weight: 869g (cassette: 427g, shifter: 132g, derailleur: 310g) • Freehub body: HG-splined only • Contact: hotlines-uk.com
Shimano and SRAM do for drivetrains what Apple and Samsung do for smartphones – namely deliver the most innovative and reliable products out there for consumers. In fact you need a good reason to step away from this duopoly given just how dominant the two brands have become, and how good their products are. Now though, Microshift has a compelling alternative in its Advent X drivetrain. It’s the brand’s premium off-road groupset, boasting plenty of mod cons – clutch mech, single-ring setup, wide range cassette – but a tiny price tag.
CASSETTE
What’s the catch then? The backbone of Microshift’s Advent X drivetrain is the cassette. It’s called Advent X because it has 10 gears, the smallest is 11t and the largest 48t. This means it’s out-gunned compared with SRAM, with the NX Eagle cassette sporting 12 gears and a bigger 50t bail-out sprocket to Advent X’s 48t. There’s really not much in it though, both NX and Advent X start with an 11t sprocket, so really it’s only that big crawler gear you’re missing out on in terms of range (you can offset this with a smaller chainring).
The Advent X sprockets are mounted on an alloy spider to reduce wear on aluminium cassette bodies, although you can get £15 off the price going for a spiderless cassette. Eight of those sprockets are made from steel, while the two largest ones are aluminium – NX uses steel throughout.
Microshift also argues that its 11-48t range is actually better for performance, because there’s a tighter spread between the gears with fewer big jumps, resulting in a smoother ride and improved reliability too.
DERAILLEUR
The Advent X mech costs £59.99 and weighs 310g, it uses an aluminium cage and big jockey wheels with tall teeth just as SRAM and Shimano do. Naturally, you get high and low limit adjustment – they’re helpfully marked H and L to avoid confusion, and accessed with an Allen key, as is the B-tension.
Microshift had the good sense to design its own
