I’ve used KCNC ceramic jockeys for some years and had no issues with them really other than they doubled the price.

Switched to Uberbike ceramic jockeys and performance is the same, but I’m finding if the bike has been caked in mud and washed, despite trying to avoid direct hosing the jockeys, they keep seizing up.

I then have to remove, pull apart, degrease and get them moving again. Re-grease and back on.

Thing is inside they’re not full of crud. Looks relatively clean. Just the ceramic balls are stuck and take some effort to get moving. Yet I can never see what stops them. Race doesn’t look pitted. There’s no rust on the balls as they’re ceramic obviously. Once moving then all smooth. Regrease as advised for ceramic, i.e. light grease, and good to go.

Just rubbish bearings or rubbish seals? They are half the price of KCNC.

What grease are you putting on them when you rebuild them?

Well various things I’ve been reading have said just a light oil is all that’s required for ceramic and others say nothing at all is needed as they are near frictionless and hard wearing, cope with high temperatures etc.

Not convinced so just done them again and shoved in loads of marine grease 😀

Mainly not to grease the things but to keep water out.

Actually I’d also noticed the jockey nearest to the axle has play in it. Doesn’t matter which jockey I fit there. SRAM mech, and their own jockeys have one that is a floating jockey, though I forget which. I don’t think these are supposed to be floating though, but seems more width to the cage. Spins fine but I think the cap seal would be slightly loose and let in water.

I used normal grease on ceramics , without issue and think you are right in just packing with marine grease, although in this cold weather may slow the wheels down. Used to use finish line wet on jockey wheels too as that’s quite gooey , although if you suspect a bit wear, that’s not going to help your issue.

others say nothing at all is needed as they are near frictionless and hard wearing, cope with high temperatures etc.

That’s true with full ceramics, but you have hybrids – ceramic balls in steel races, which as you’re finding are no more resistant to ingress of shit and subsequent seizure than a steel bearing. They obviously are getting contaminated or they wouldn’t seize

Ah, fair point.

It’s only some tiny grit or something in there that stops it running as looks clean, but pulling all apart and wiping everything, putting all the balls back in etc and it works again.

Never had this issue with the KCNCs though. Guess that’s why they’re twice the price 😉 – £45 for jockey wheels is a bit much. Still, SRAM’s posh end jockeys are fairly expensive and yet made of swiss cheese. At least with the Uberbike ones I can service them easily in a few minutes. SRAM’s are just stone dead once they seize.

Mt Zoom are good, cheaper than KCNC I’m sure.

When you say that SRAM are ceramic when in the LBS the other week, their mechanic showed me the inside of a SRAM ceramic jockey wheel and there was only one ceramic bearing in there and the rest were chrome balls. He said it was SRAMs way of saying it had ceramic in there, as you could see the one black ball in there, so actually no better than non ceramic other than the one ball and more costly.

just because you have ceramic balls, it doesn’t mean the steel races don’t need grease to protect them from corrosion, etc.
I’d say treat ‘hybrids’ like normal steel bearings.

We use full ceramic bearings at work in ultra high speed applications (30,000+rpm) they aren’t greased but cooled/lubricated with another liquid.

I had the same with Uberbike jockey wheels. I got fed up of having to strip them down to free them off so have finally replaced with some Hope ones.

Fit bushed jockeys. I don’t have any trouble with shimanos bushed jokeys.

I’ve seen this trouble before for a number of customers and we’ve always refitted stock components which has solved the issue.

fancy pulley wheels look nice but rarely work as well as the stock components?

regarding grease, I use a specific grease supplied by ceramic speed whenever re-lubricating ceramic bearings on hubs or bb’s on road bikes

The main reason I don’t go with stock is a) the SRAM ones wear way too fast, b) SRAM jockeys seize up easily and then only any good for the bin and c) SRAM jockeys are stupidly expensive!

I went for CNC’d jockeys though mainly as they don’t turn into throwing stars within a couple of months, plus KCNC and Uberbike’s have nice venting to shed mud.

But I could be convinced by Shimano style with bushes. Only thing is the wear rate on the teeth.

Would there be drag with bushes?

SRAM XX jockey wheels are £120. I killed my XX ones in a single 4 hour ride. The Mt Zoom ones I fitted afterwards lasted more than 2 years until I sold the mech.