djb

howdy all. Jockey wheel question.
my late 90s era mtb with XT rd has been my winter bike for a number of years. Its in pretty good shape as I wash it pretty much after each ride due to the heavy salt use we have up here in the snowy Great White North.
The original XT rd is still working well, but the jockey wheels have rreally become pointy, like David Carradine flinging weapons pointy. I have been able to remove them to clean out and regrease the inner bearing, so its still very functional, but would any old cheap jockey wheel set or ones from any old busted rd fit in properly?

This is my winter bike, so as long as they work I dont care, and I also realize that I could just buy a new Tourney or Acera, or get any old rd in reasonable condition, but I'm fine with just swapping in any cheap jockey wheels I can get, but I've never had to replace j-wheels before so dont have a clue if they are very specific from rd to rd.

thanks for your advice

Crankycrank

If you have 11 tooth wheels this will work. Velo Orange Sealed Bearing Universal Jockey Wheels (velo-orange.com) Just bought some myself so can't comment on durability yet but look like good quality.

2old

My wife's bike (2009 Superlight) had a nine-speed XT with "Ninja'a). Replaced them with new Alivio's from ebay, but above should work too. Turned out the thickness of the new ones was the same as the XT's.

djb

funny, as soon as I saw "Velo Orange" I figured, heck no , they'll be expensive....but nope, 10 bucks. Would just have to figure out shipping to Canada and balance that out with perhaps other options.
Thanks a lot though, I'll look into what is around here, but at a certain point, it may just end up making more sense to buy a cheap 7/8 complete rd, as it would mean a working part that will very likely outlast this old XT piece.
This really is a "if it works, great" sort of thing, given the harsh environment I use the bike in, even though I do clean it all the time.

djb

thanks too, I'll have to count the teeth numbers and think about thickness etc also.
A quick search seemed to show that just Alivio jockey wheels is almost up there as much as an equivalent new rd, 20 bucks for the pulleys, maybe 30 for a new rd, or even cheaper for a lower one.

djb

to both--funny, I'd never really given any thought to how diff pulleys have diff teeth or diff profiles etc.
We have a sort of modern Alivio bike that has the oversize jockey wheels, and I have wondered if their size would be specific to a given model of rd, ie would it screw things up on a diff rd?

again, thanks for making me think of the diffrences.

2old

Checked my order (didn't worry about the # of teeth, but think they were identical). Only $7.99 plus tax delivered in a week or so.

djb

Thank you very much
Do you mind me asking from where?

2old

Not at all "wneelandsprocket".

alcjphil

Check their website. There are a number of shops in the Montreal area that carry Vero Orange products, mostly in the East end

Numerozero

One of Canada's major LBS wholesaler, Live To Play, sells Sunrace 11T replacement jockey wheels:

https://livetoplaysports.com/en/cata...ils=255437-01g

Your LBS should be able to order them for you.

(I run a bike shop and stock them, but I'm in Vancouver BC).

djb

thanks, are you thinking of the old "Le Yeti", now La Cordee, on St Laurent, or farther east? I'm not familiar with further east bike shops that much, but if you know some, I'd be interested.

djb

thanks a lot numero uno/zero for the reference, this looks like the sort of generic thing that would be appropriate.

We have good friends in Vancouver, and they just showed us photos of all the snow you guys have now. Here, winter riding is a whole different kettle of fish, I've gone studded tires finally, but no matter the tires, the slop and salt mush is often very very abundant, and if you care at all about your winter bike (or just want to avoid corrosion and issues with that) it really helps if you have a space where you can sloppily wash the thing down. I've been doing this fairly religiously and it makes a huge difference.
I've got it down to a real fast "slam, bam, thankyou bike" sort of thing, although I'm sure its the bike thanking me.
I regrease the bearings every year or two, and slather old white grease on areas that habitually begin to rust up, so along with washing, keeps my bike in pretty good condition.