Replacement pulley/jockey wheel recommendations

[jlok]

I use SRAM Eagle XX1 replacements on mine, they're 12/14th, narrow wide and the bottom one is ceramic. Use older XX1 if you cant fit a 14t. They're available very cheap and are OEM quality.

Just wonder if the 14T tension pulley is able to be installed on Red eTap AXS RD and works with the AXS chain, would it provide any benefit over the orginal 12T?

[TobinHatesYou]

The Kogel 14t pulley wheel only barely cleared the "chain keeper" on the bottom of my eTap WiFli cage. Less than .5mm of clearance, if that. Also with 14t pulleys, the chain sits completely outside the bottom of the cage plate.

[JoO]

Check if your rd uses a floating upper pulley. The have a bushing with some play into them. My campagnolo Rd shifted worse with an upper pulley with bearing.

[Kayrehn]

14t J&L pulley at the bottom, works fine.

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[rlanger]

Thought I'd chime in to update this thread after putting about 1000+ km on my J&L pulley wheels.

I use the 12t/14t combo. It's made of delryn, a hard plastic material and comes with cheap ceramic bearings. I think I paid about $15 for the pair.

After suffering with a slightly noisy drivetrain, since I installed my DA9150 group about 18 months ago, I'm happy to report that I now have a silent system. Quite pleased about that for $15!

Not sure if they are any more efficient than the old wheels, but I definitely prefer the way the J&L jockey wheels look. Much nicer than the standard DA wheels.

I applied a little bit of lube before I installed them and they've been running perfectly since day one.

They also make a version with a carbon derailleur cage for something like $70, and it looks really nice too. https://www.ebay.com/itm/J-L-Ceramic-Ov ... 0005.m1851

[LewisK]

J&L look like a good option, thanks for the feedback!

[NiFTY]

Different groupset but i am running extralite pulleys on my sram red 22 wifli rd w good results. Shifting seems slicker than stock (maybe due to smaller top jockey wheel. I am running 10T top, 12T narrow wide at the bottom. Nice and quiet running.

[1415chris]

I haven't installed it yet, so no much on the performance subject. First impression, the big jockey wheels is humongous! It does not give an impression of being a premium product, especially lack of any packaging, however it arrived in very secure, thick bubble wrap. Raw carbon finish, without any paint or clear coat. Despite its size, minimalistic look. Well built, stiff, at least in the hands. Wheels do speen quite freelly, not as goog as the oryginal Sram's. I am going to take it apart to see what type of bearings are used there.

[rlanger]

I am going to take it apart to see what type of bearings are used there.

That's the J&L, right? I think it looks great. And those jockey wheels are the same as the ones I bought separately, so I'm pretty sure they are ceramic bearings, like I said.

Wouldn't hurt to open them up though and apply some lube. Not sure if that's done at the factory. At least my wheels didn't have any lube.

[1415chris]

Yeap, J&L. These are hybrid HCH 689 2rs. I am going to play with them a bit to see what difference, if any, I can achieve.
Even it is a gimmick only, it would be nice to have one of those endlessly spinning bearings

For the rifference couple of pictures.

[Nautiboy]

Well, I'm sharing a personal opinion here vs FFT's usefulness of an OSPW with the caveat "To each his own".

I've been using OSPW from 13/16T Speedcage 6 years ago to almost all different models/brands on the market (the better ones, not those flimsy cheap type). I've tried them all. To me, it really works regardless of brand or model or teeth ratio. It is simply a mechanical advantage, and the ceramic bearings made it spins almost non-stop, thus improving the drivetrain efficiency.

I still remember when eTap Red 11 speed was launched, there isn't a single OSPW in the market and I felt so weak and harder to pedal for at least the first 2 months till Ridea launched the 1st OSPW for eTap then. Is the same story now for eTap AXS, Ridea is already doing their Version 3 AXS when Ceramicspeed just started.

I've no scientific proof or a wind tunnel at home, but my simple heart-rate and garmin statistics is enough to tell me there is almost a 20-30% of lesser effort when I go on a ride with an OSPW. Thus, I never leave home without it . . .

So, go as Big as you can.....16/20T is what lurks below.

[Kayrehn]

The mechanics always say that stock wheels are better, but the original sram once I had can hardly spin with a finger flick. The mechanical advantage of larger pulleys are definitely there though it might be slight. I find the J&L narrow wide versions helps in shifting personally. For crisper shifting smaller top pulley is better, but having both pulleys larger looks cooler

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[addictR1]

Too bad J&L only makes it for the etap. Would love to have one for my mechanical SRAM RD.


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[1415chris]

So I did degrees the bearings, there was some tiny residue of solid grease inside. After applying a bit of light lube bearnigs spin significantly better. Not like those spinning endlessly but now better than oryginal sram ones.

https://youtu.be/9WTSxPapnCs

[iamraymond]

Thought I'd chime in to update this thread after putting about 1000+ km on my J&L pulley wheels.

I use the 12t/14t combo. It's made of delryn
After suffering with a slightly noisy drivetrain, since I installed my DA9150 group about 18 months ago, I'm happy to report that I now have a silent system. Quite pleased about that for $15

Did you have to change your cages or did the standard ones fit? I'm really interested to quiet down my 8050 drivetrain.