embankmentlb

I am a fan of vintage Campy but I am certainly no expert. I find that some Nuevo record era pulley wheels are labeled Campagnolo and some apparently are not. Do they differ from model of derailleur or possibly year of manufacture? Help from the experts please!

Portlandjim

NR rear derailleurs came with pulley wheels that are molded in grey MDS nylon, with a co-molded steel insert. 10 teeth. Campagnolo logo is on both sides. Some very late (1985?) NR derailleurs may have slightly different pulleys. The bushing is bronze oil-lite, with a zinc plated steel dust cover on both sides. Mounting hole is suitable for an M5 bolt, and the width is 10.7mm. Later Campagnolo pulley wheels with 10 teeth, C Record etc., in the 10.7mm width, can be used without problem.

I have a few Enduro sealed bearing pulley wheels that I made dust covers to use with NR/SR rear derailleurs. The bearings have ceramic balls, the wheels are Teflon impregnated Delrin. Great shifting and quiet! These are very nice pulleys. $60 a pair plus shipping. $5 in the USA. Jim Merz

Kabuki12

Jim, sure beats what was on the originals! I have a couple of your brake adjusters and they are art and function.

Chombi1 

Many Campy NR RDs out there have non-Campagnolo replacement pulley wheels as they (The original grey ones.) are notorious for cracking where the plastic meets up when injected into their molds in the factory.

repechage

a bummer when a 40+ year old plastic part breaks. It did its duty for Pope and country. Decades ago we bought Bullseye. In the 80’s Suntour brought out a plated plastic pulley with sealed bearings and aluminum debris shields, I last year tossed them.
these are nice looking, there is a custom tooth side profile on one of the two, possibly the upper? enduro does sell their version with red debris shields.

the line in the wheel you are describing is a weld line, where two plastic flow fronts meet, obviously with the plastic a wee bit cooler and under the pressure they “weld” together but are not perfect.
kind of like Truetemper tubing, but without post forming annealing.

chain_whipped

In defending the notoriously cracked Campagnolo pulleys, they certainly last for thousands of miles in that state of condition. Many owners never even aware they're cracked. Of course wear happens, but rarely is one going to explode apart with that single crack.

As for the Bullseye replacements. Yeah, surely they're nifty cool and ahem.... no craplastic for the whiners, but that doesn't necessarily make them better. Prefer the OEM yet I bought into the idea of Bullseye pulleys way back, still use on here and there bikes. Could care less if I sell them off with a bike. But (1) its silly stupid to go out of ones way to purchase, and (2) they're outrageous priced at $80 a set. You can buy the exact made with comparable bearing, Asian sourced for $12 to $15 per pair, shipped.

daka

I bought a set of those $15 items off of ebay and can't recommend them - In fact, they don't even work. The cartridge bearing pressed in to the pulley is narrower than the pulley so washers would have to be added so that the pulley isn't clamped between the derailleur plates when assembled. The inner diameter of the bearing is 7mm and it comes with little flanged bushiings to step the diameter down to 5mm for use with Campy and Shimano hardware. However the bushings are too long and hit each other before clamping the inner race of the bearing and the assembly ends up spinning on these brass bushings rather than functioning as a bearing at all. Messaging the vendor about the shortcomings of their product was met with no response. Junk.

chain_whipped

That sucks, for you. What brand and seller?

Complete contrary to my experience. I don't recall all the brand(s) acquired from the Asian sellers but no complaints, perfect fitment with a variety of bushings and spacers included. Chaser brand includes the machined brass bushings. Nice quality. Other brands included a large assortment of nylon bushing / spacers.

If anything, the Bullseye pulleys were oversize I.D. and sloppy to fit the Campy bolt. Plus, all they supply to make up the diff in spacer width is by stacking washers. $80+ lol

Rick_D

Mine (early '80s SR) implausibly have held up, but would not rule out swapping for something a little higher tech to see if shifting can get crisper.

chain_whipped

Edit: I just opened a package of the Chaser brand (depicted are red anodized). Sampled the brass bushing fitment and its a proper slight press fit. Also like Bullseye, includes washers to stack for width.

I don't recall what brand the silver 11t pulleys are, but they come with nylon spacers.

A well worn and cracked Campy jockey.

Finally, a pair of Shimano 'sealed' bearing pulleys. Reminds me of the 'Oil Lite' bearing from the old days.

spclark 

When my late-last-spring 'clean & rebuild' (some two decades after the last one) revealed my NR RD's idler pulleys were cracked (since...when?) I found direct replacements competently made at Soma Fab Shop.

Once my MB GR was rideable again those Soma pulleys served me well... until I discovered just how ill-suited my OEM 2x5's gearing was for the terrain where I live and ride now.

The NR wasn't up to dealing with the 32t cog I soon fitted to my OEM Maeda FW. Fortunately I sourced an immaculate 'donor' Suntour V-GT Luxe off a Fuji being sold locally (w/ other bits I like having aboard) that works great.