Have you ever tried either of these hacks?

If oversized pulleys were of any benefit they would be standard on duraace

Trace Velo have tried out similar pulley wheels, and found that they clog up with dirt almost immediately and are worse than the original after just a few miles. Unsealed bearings are not worth it if you are running them for any real distances between bearing services.

i'll never get over the fact that "OSPW" has exactly as many syllables as "oversized pulley wheel"

One problem with changing the top pulley is it has no side float. This can make setting up and maintaining the indexing a real bore. I have changed my top pulleys back to Shimano just to regain the side to side float and get better shifting and quieter running.

Average Joe you-tuber with 200 subscribers: “ok, these pulley wheels don’t fit, I’m going to order the good ones and retake the video and see how it goes”… GCN: “Nah… let’s assume they fit, who cares, we’re not going to spend another $12 with our tight budget”

The aluminium jockey wheel spins longer mostly because its weight is distributed more around the edge of the wheel than near the centre (it has more rotational inertia).

I didn't think I'd ever side with Hambini, but I have to this time. The fact that a bearing spins fast (especially with no lubrication) has absolutely no bearing on how it will perform under load.

Nice one for those of us who are component pests. I enjoy tinkering with mechanisms in search of marginal performance improvements. But I also have a recurring nightmare about reducing my perfectly functional bike to a pile of dismantled components because I think that I know better than Shimano. 🙂

Bought a set of sealed-ceramic pulleys several years ago. No cares about "marginal gains", but they have survived quite well without developing any binding or grittiness, and have required no disassembly or re-greasing, which is what I was after.

The drag from these tiny pulley wheel stock bearings is pretty much negligible compared the frictional losses from the the loaded chain. Even the bearings from the wheel hubs have far more significant drag. You are not going to see any measureable difference in wattage savings but the bearings will not last nearly as long

Lovely video Johnson 👏👏👏! I can't get the thought out of my mind that if any of these modifications to the original Dura Ace jockey wheels actually improved long and short term performance, Shimano would have made the modifications themselves to their OEM parts. After all, we are talking about Shimano's "price is no factor" component. One thing not mentioned in this video is the extra length of chain needed to accommodate oversized jockey wheels. That means even more grams added beyond the extra weight of the oversized jockey wheels and the larger cage. I'm all for tinkering on my bike, but beyond the bling colors of these replacement jockey wheel assemblies, I just don't feel the love. P.S. It would be cool if Shimano did offer their premium rear derailleurs with color options for the jockey wheels. GOLD jockey wheels with a gold chain!!! 🙌🙌🙌

Shimano altus rear mech £14 comes with large jockey wheels, works a treat on the shopper

Damn was hoping to see Ace try the Amazon pulleys on his brand new pinarello

Ive been using those same pulley wheels on my road bike for 2300 miles they work just fine

If OSPWs are so advantageous, how come Shimano doesn’t just increase the stock sizes to get better chain articulation in the top of the line range where prices are less of a factor. There must be a reason they stick with the smaller pulley wheels.

I’m more concerned with the smallest cogs on the cassette. I’ve never found them smooth to ride on. On my 11-30 GRX I’d gladly loose the smallest cog for a 12-34 (10 speed) arrangement.

This vid should’ve been entitled “The drawer for new bits that turned out not to fit gets two new red pulley wheels” 😅

If this oversize jockey wheel have real benefit, why no manufacturer make product like this in stock? WHy shimano drop this 20 years ago? It's shite

I had bought the alu ones for my xt 12 speed derailleur and ended up messing my shifting so I went back to my oe shimano ones which I had taken off as soon as I had bought the groupset now its working great. i also found out the oe ones have specific way they go on, the top wheels has more slack while the lower one is more stiff to better shifting while the alu chinese ones are all the same(stiff)

I fitted those, worn bearing under 1000 miles, bet they weren’t really ceramic

For me this video again confirms there are so many better marginal upgrades than OSPW! Using bearings that wear significantly faster to save ~1 watt is up there with single use carbon chainrings!

I've used freehub oil on my stock pulley wheels, and I service my bike very frequently. It's become my habit 😅

- How do you know your bike has oversized pulley wheels? - New 126 link chain is too short

If you want to test how freely they spin, put a weight on the end of a chain and loop it over the pulley wheel then drop the weight and see how long it spins for after 🤷‍♂️

I wouldn’t bother taking grease out of the pulley wheel bearings and adding a lighter oil. It may feel faster spinning freely, but with load on it there will be zero gain. The light oil will run and wash out much faster. Dirt will get in easier, especially if you damage the seals when removing or replacing. You’ll have the opposite effect quickly and have to replace the jockey wheels before long.

I did another variant of budget oversized pulley wheels on my winter bike... The original Shimano STX pulley wheels were worn out and instead of buying new ones, I cannibalised a 9-speed Shimano XT derailleur and got two extra teeth on the pulley wheels and better bearings... Just needed some spacers to bring the 9-speed pulley wheels to 7-speed width...

As a former downhill skateboarder, I found that Rex Domestique chain lube was the best bearing lube. When I did downhill skateboarding, bearings and bearing lube became something of a passion of mine, so I've tried lots and lots of different ones.

Just a reminder: single speed drivetrains and internal gear hubs don't require a pulley. Imagine the Watts saved!

I bought pulley wheels with ceramic bearings a long time ago. There was a noticeable difference in performance and they worked much better. However, I don't recommend replacing wheels just to replace them. BTW, the new wheel had more bearings than the original.

Just curious here. Instead of using light oil in the bearings. Could you dip them into hot wax just like you do with your chain??

Marginal losses?

I purchased a circa 1995 Lynsky made Performance frame. Built it with Campy Centaur and Campy aluminum wheels. It rides just as good as my Eddy Merckx carbon frame bike. All for a fraction of the price.

Dura Ace replaced by Amazon 😮

Even if these jockey wheels offer some marginal gains, I’d still prefer the reliability of the original ones.

Helloooo Hambini fans👋🏼

Interesting video, my "old" bike has plain sleeve bearings in the 9 spd jockey wheels and they don't spin freely at all - doesn't feel like much drag, but if you stop turning them they stop dead - for £15 I might try a set of these.

Thanks Timburt!

Math 101 with Alejandro 👌

I ordered a carbon oversized cage from Ali Express for about 30 euros and replaced the pully wheels with ceramic ones that even match my bike color! It's been on my bike for 2 years now, and it still shifts just fine. I didn't order it for any gains, purely for the looks of it. 😎

Already done this to a 1980s Super Record rear Der, marked improvement to the old Jockey wheels which were basically a bush fitting. Also updated a Chorus RD with the same again marked improvement with a sealed bearing over a bush fitting. As for how long they last, few thousand klm on mine so far and no issues. But cheap to replace, and I did get some bling gold ones.

Im glad the video was released even with the Amazon pulleys not working out. I’m a n00b and run into dead ends like this all the time. Good to know even the pros experience this. Granted, it wasn’t his fault, but still.

The Pulley Police👮‍♂: "Bodge!"

Good one there, Sam

I have a question, a 12 speed groupset is not cheap and just the rear mech alone is going to cost a little. So why aren't the original pully wheels actually really good. It does seem strange that you would spend a lot of money on a very expensive group set and a cheap up group would actually improve it. Or does the upgrade just make you think it's better, because you spent some money.

What about using DTswiss special grease used for their hubs in the jockey wheels. That might work if concerned about using oil

I tried out aluminium pulley wheels, but i got back to original Campagnolo... The noise is just annoying and the shifting quality decreases, while the bearing gets worn out...

My xt rear der from 1988 (730) still has its original ceramic bearings. I guess Shimano were ahead of this trend

Mostly those who claimed that they experienced benefits from OSPW, doesn't use Power Meter (they just based of feel?) I wouldn't not compromise my riding just installing these bad cheap upgrades, i do believe Shimano and Sram has their own Research and Development Team (why they don't consider adapting these Tech?). There is one time Shimano put OSPW on Altus Group set but they discontinued it for a reason.

If you're fixing new ceramic bearing pulley wheels, where can you find out the largest size teeth you can get? Was thinking of doing this to my 11T Ultegra pulleys but wanted to know if I could increase the size of them within my same derailleur

Do English speakers realise that 'abbreviations' with a W are rarely shorter than the actual words? It' literally the same amount of syllables in this case.

Can I use the bearing from my old, cheap fidget spinners because those spin for days?! :D

Let us all vote for a Hambini-Seal-of-Approval emoji!

If chain articulation angle is a concern, people shouldn't be running 10, 11, or 12 tooth cassette cogs. Additionally, the chain is under high-tension when pulling on the cassette whereas it is not when wrapped around derailleur pulleys. Alex didn't do a "spin test" of the unmodified pulleys. Maybe they spun more freely before cleaning and oiling. Or maybe the seals got damaged when they were removed (since you're really not supposed to remove them).

Hi, Thank you for the valuable information, but I have a question: Dura Ace is made as the best product for the professional cyclists, and it definitely is the best combination and configuration of the Shimano parts. Why shouldn't they use a bigger jockey wheel on their high-end product? The speed of the chain while pedaling at about 90 RPM and a chain ring of 50 teeth is about 100Cm/sec. and the speed of the jockey wheels are about 7.14 RPS, which throughs most particles on the chain out of the segments regarding the centrifugal force. It makes the chain clean. I have tested it, and now I am using 10t ceramic jockey wheels belonging to my old Deore XT groupset. I do not need to clean the sands and grimes from my chain any more, although I ride long distances on gravel roads too. Apart from the excessive lateral forces on the bigger jockey wheels, extra weights, aerodynamic problems and problems with the rocks on the road, I would be grateful if you please let me know the reason of installing bigger cage and jockey wheels. Best Regards,

After experimenting with Aliexpress OSPWs, I would say you might feel a slight benefit but is probably not worth the hassle. LBS don't like to fit them and sometimes the shifting performance is reduced (when using metal jockey wheels instead of plastic ones). FYI, I went from an Aliepress 13/17t OSPW (that put too much tension on my derailleur spring, so needed a new derailleur) to using 11t ceramic jockey wheels (shifting quality reduced), to high quality stainless steel jockey wheels (Nukeproof).

I only found one pro team using ospw this year. A few years back at least 50% of the teams used ospw. Maybe not that good after all?

Unnecessary, since this gives you almost 0 gains in terms of raw watts. The weight of these pulley wheels are super small so the the power you need to turn them is very miniscule.

In a parallelogram the angle on the same side is 180°. So with an oswp the chain bent more after the upper wheel, so the articulation in summary must be the same.

Nice fidget spinners 😂

Nice. Wait a minute.... Are those jockey wheel designed for a 9-speed derailleur? It looks like it's just as wide as the jockey wheels on the 9-speed rear derailleur. I know this, because I use a 3x9 group on my touring bike.

Could you do a video on single sided chains? The ones that have a flat edge and standard edge. What are they for, any benefit and what they work with? Can’t see any videos on them in the search. Ta!

Nerdy enough to like watching you pull things apart. Not nerdy enough to try. I mean if you get it wrong then that says it all!

Prefer this style of presentation, over regurgitation of unverified "independent" watt data aka Snake oil. Nice segment. Just cleaning the thing and the bearing is marginal gain.

6:23 Daddy, thank you for making me a fidget spinner!

LOL those anodized red pulley wheels would look right at home on my bike, with its red anodized bits on the handgrips and pedals, but seeing its a hybrid 8 speed with an altus derailleur I think I will just leave it alone.

With the large bottom pulley wheel the chain deflection angle at the top pulley increases thus negating the angle reduction from the lower! So marketing BS.?😅

For < 1W, I would much rather keep grease in my pulley wheels and not have to disassemble, clean and re-lube them every few weeks!

Thanks Arndt and crew...it's good to see you making the same mistakes we all do ! I guess Ozzie needs to work on your software ?

Just file the covers for those ceramic pulleys wheels. You will also save a whooping extra gram.

Is there any downside going from grease to oil in the bearings? In literally every service video I've watched here, mechanics have been using some kind of grease instead of oils, at least when you're used to riding pretty much a full season without servicing?

People get OSPW and don't clean their drivetrain for weeks. 2 watts of marginal gains and 10 watts of losses.

Why doesn't Dura Ace come with bigger pulley wheels with ceramic bearing as standard? Is this a patent problem?

Alejandro, did you stop and ask yourself why Shimano, SRAM, and Campagnolo do not offer OSPW’s? If they were of any value, wouldn’t the component manufacturers build them into their group sets?

I don’t change them from standard but I do the maintenance 2X per year.

I wonder if, with some fettling a lower pulley from a Altus rear mech you could actually try and make some improvements in drivetrain efficiency

Why not use the ceramic bearings on your Shimano cage?

Do people really think that Shimano / Sram are stupid enough to exclude OSPW's from their line-up if there was any performance gain from it, whatsoever? They designed the bloody deraileurs, the no. of teeth on the pulley wheels are not random. Not to mention alloy pulley wheels are loud as hell.

Q: Budget Derailleur Jockey Wheel HACK - Does It Work?! Alex from GCN: Dunno mate (after 11 minutes of waffle and 0 testing)

Why not just get some longer screws and try the aftermarket pulley wheels?

Shiny fishing tackle is for catching anglers not fish

What happened to the muc off sponsorship? Could have used their degreaser and oil.

I could’ve done an amateur video like this

I guess you could if you wanted, fit new ones for every important ride.

Abec bearings would make them spin super fast

Aluminium, pulley wheels with ceramic bearings: guaranteed to make your shifting shite.

Cleaning the grease from your headset and lubing it with light oil will make it spin a lot faster.

For campagnolo users they offer ceramic official pulley wheels with traditional play on upper one. Cult

Buyer beware!!! I bought Amazon pulley wheels and my original shimano bolt wouldn’t go through the hole of the pulley wheel. 😡

What would happen if you use wax as a lubricant ( as like chain wax lubricants') instead of the heavy and light lubes he used.

Testing bearing efficiency by feel?🤔🤨 Is Ollie on vacation?

f they were such a big thing Shimano, SRAM and Campagnolo would fit them as standard.

I tried to put on 10 sp variants of these, with no success. They did seem to fit, but somehow the chain didn't spin through the system very well. I didn't dwell on it and regreased and reinstalled the old ones, no matter how knackered they look.

You can get most of the marginal gains? Wow

Please never ever mention CermicSpeed results again. They are nothing more than a bunch of marketing wankateers comparing apples and oranges.😂

Don't use oil on the bearings, you should be using a grease.

Those Meijun jockey wheels are shiite! They've got only a center bearing and unless you were to use them exclusively in a straight (or NEARLY straight) line configuration, they will get all cock-eyed and parts within them will start rubbing against other parts within them. NOT an efficiency upgrade... Edit: Also, the ceramic bearing RACES are made of plastic - so, you probably wouldn't want to use any petroleum-based oil with them anyways...

Snake oil. If bigger pulley wheels were so much better why don’t groupset manufacturers fit them to their high end groupsets? Ceramic Speed’s entire business model is selling way overpriced stuff to people with more money than sense.

Can anyone tell me what bearings are in the rollers of a Shimano Dura-Ace derailleur?

you no need lubricate ceramic bearing. it spin better without lube.