Pulleys with bearings....non XTR

[Banatean]

Do you guys have any experience with BBB (www.BBBparts.com) rear deraileur pulleys bearings ?,i just installed a set on my bike and one on my wifes and the deraileur feels butter smooth,on my Trek i got LX and on wifes bike Deore,i was told that only XTR comes with pulleys that have bearings in them,too bad because now you can install bearing pulleys even in Shimano Tourney .
Dan

 

[Banatean]

Do you guys have any experience with BBB (www.BBBparts.com) rear deraileur pulleys bearings ?,i just installed a set on my bike and one on my wifes and the deraileur feels butter smooth,on my Trek i got LX and on wifes bike Deore,i was told that only XTR comes with pulleys that have bearings in them,too bad because now you can install bearing pulleys even in Shimano Tourney .
Dan

Hmmm,this is a performance upgrade that i thought most would find this interesting,maybe i'm wrong .
Dan

 

[Marx SS]

Hmmm,this is a performance upgrade that i thought most would find this interesting,maybe i'm wrong .
Dan

I'll keep this in mind when my rear derailuer needs new cogs.
Most of my derailuer have met their end with sloppy pivot points before the cogs went.
I don't think the advantage would be enough to replace (upgrade) below XTR to bearing cogs for a MTB.

Smoother rolling tyres would be the big gain if smoothness is sort after.

 

[Juba]

I spend a fair share of my time in mud, and have replaced my fair share of pulley wheels. I even had a pair of the hot-new Carmichael(sp) full-alloy pulley wheels with the sealed bearings from a few years back.

Simply put, the hands down, most durable, most consistently reliable pulley wheel ever made was the Shimano ceramic bushing top pulley wheels found on the older model XT and XTR derailleurs.

Pulley wheels seem to be one of those bike parts that grit always seems to find a way to work into the bearing/bushing. Sealed bearings, especially ones that small, can often have a tough time coping with grit. And let’s face it, how often does a normal rider actually take the time to actually clean and re-lubricate his/her pulley wheels?

My bet is they will function much like the Carmichael’s I had. Seemed decent when they were new, and increasingly finicky as they aged. Overall performance was kind of a push. Mind you, running a steel chain on an alloy pulley wheel was obnoxiously loud, so I ended up pitching them at the end of the season.

Cheers,
Juba