campagnolo jockey wheel bushing to grease or not to grease

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JoO
Posts: 439
Joined: Thu May 04, 2017 7:30 am

by JoO

Title says it all: should I grease the busing in the jockey wheels or not. Does not seem greased from the factory.

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Miller
Posts: 2764
Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2006 8:54 pm
Location: Reading, UK

by Miller

One job I hate is cleaning oily crap off rear derailleurs. If I'm being diligent I take the lower cage off and clean everything individually. When I reassemble, yes I do grease or oil the bushings. Why wouldn't you?

by Weenie


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kervelo
Posts: 866
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2009 6:58 am
Location: Finland

by kervelo

+1

I wonder why Campagnolo is not using real bearings in their jockey wheels.

JoO
Posts: 439
Joined: Thu May 04, 2017 7:30 am

by JoO

Pulley wheels with bearings like tacx don’t shift as good

bikeboy1tr
Posts: 1395
Joined: Thu Mar 21, 2013 3:19 am
Location: Southern Ontario Canada

by bikeboy1tr

I always lube the RD pulleys no matter what RD I am running. I was using a silicone spray lubricant but it didnt last long as the pulleys would start to squeak. Switched over to Loctite Syn Super lube and it seems to get me through the week without the squeaking. As long as you dont spray a huge amount the mess is minimal and I give them a cleaning every so often when it does get gunky.
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LewisK
Posts: 499
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2019 2:11 pm

by LewisK

+1
I still have some of the Ceramic Speed pulley wheel oil left, so I use that which seems to do the trick!

wilwil
Posts: 694
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2010 5:47 pm

by wilwil

I use Purple Extreme lube. Definitely not grease.


rudye9mr
Posts: 498
Joined: Wed May 01, 2019 12:01 pm

by rudye9mr

Had this same dilemna...used oil from silica.

If there is a better recommendation..would be happy to know.

c60rider
Posts: 872
Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2017 11:12 pm

by c60rider

No idea what the issue is, I've just put a bit of normal bearing grease in there, the tolerances are so tight most of it just gets pushed out as you slide the bush in. Then I make sure there's a bit either end as I put the cover on. Worrying about it being grease or oil or nothing is a bit over the top. Any part that moves almost certainly needs some amount of lubricant in there. I put grease in then strip it down and do it again annually for all of my bikes. Never had squeaking jockey wheels or any issue that resulted in me needing to ever replace them or parts of them.

c60rider
Posts: 872
Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2017 11:12 pm

by c60rider

kervelo wrote:
Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:59 pm
+1

I wonder why Campagnolo is not using real bearings in their jockey wheels.
It's cheaper and bearings don't make any difference to the shift performance more than likely. The old C-Record jockey wheels had adjustable bearings in the jockey wheels but that group was massively over engineered just because they could not that it was necessarily needed. The same is true with jockey wheels a simple bush works just as well as bearings. I'm sure you couldn't measure any performance difference at all using bearings or bushes.

rudye9mr
Posts: 498
Joined: Wed May 01, 2019 12:01 pm

by rudye9mr

The bushes on the campy 12s jockey wheels has 2 grooves each. Not sure if to reduce friction or to hold lubricant. Just an observation.

kervelo
Posts: 866
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2009 6:58 am
Location: Finland

by kervelo

c60rider wrote:
Sat Apr 09, 2022 11:05 pm
kervelo wrote:
Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:59 pm
+1

I wonder why Campagnolo is not using real bearings in their jockey wheels.
It's cheaper and bearings don't make any difference to the shift performance more than likely. The old C-Record jockey wheels had adjustable bearings in the jockey wheels but that group was massively over engineered just because they could not that it was necessarily needed. The same is true with jockey wheels a simple bush works just as well as bearings. I'm sure you couldn't measure any performance difference at all using bearings or bushes.
The shift performance for a well lubed Campy jockey wheel may be similar, but there is a huge difference in maintainability. The simple Campagnolo jockey wheels work fine for fair weather weekend riders, but not so much if you ride also (or mostly) in miserable weather conditions. You need to take the Campy jockey wheels apart much more frequently than some better quality jockey wheels with bearings (think Sram Eagle axs xx1 or even Sram Force 1).

ghostinthemachine
Posts: 780
Joined: Thu May 07, 2015 9:18 pm

by ghostinthemachine

Are the Campag bushes that bad? I usually get a couple of years out of the shimano ones (105 or ultegra on the all weather bike, in Scandinavia) then all they need is a clean and some fresh lube. it's almost always the teeth wearing out that kills them.

by Weenie


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joeyb1000
Posts: 488
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2016 8:37 pm

by joeyb1000

Oil (like chain lube)

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