my XT shadow rear mech is about a year and a half old, it seems to be fine except for the shark tooth jockey wheels. had a look on crc, wiggle etc and they are about 22 – 23 quid for new ones! a new mech is only another 20! how come? anyone know if cheaper wheels are good enough?

Just buy the cheapest. IME the cheaper jockey wheels last the longest.

Like chainrings,and cleats there`s no rhyme nor reason why they are so expensive.Shimano obviously just expect you to scrap otherwise perfectly serviceable components to buy new…

I agree, they're a crazy price. Only matched by the craziness of rotors – £47ish for a 203mm Avid G3? Christ.

because you need them.

because they're the same as everything else in cycling – a bl00dy rip off for what they are!

Other examples include Camelbaks, grips, cable end ferrules.

It is just pricing strategy.
Big car manufacturers rarely make any money from the making and selling of the cars themselves, they make all their money in the spares and credit sections of the business…

shimano will price in a similar manner, headline grabbing prices for the kit, and then slightly too expensive spares, that have a big mark up.. besides they want you to buy a new mech, it keeps their volumes up (which is waht the shareholder value and buying power over their tier-1 suppliers is based on, and it fits their manufacturing systems better.

Being a japanese company, the spares section will simply cost more to run, it is harder to judge demand for spares and so the Just in time systems and pull manufacturing lines systems they will employ will be geared to producing complete components, and 'extra' jockey wheels throws that, and may well be sold to them under a separate contract for supply at a higher cost due to the irregular nature of the demand.

Tis all about large 'lean – manufacturing' systems and pricing strategy.

ramble over…

back to sleep

I bought some very expensive and shiny aluminium jockey wheels. I think they were something like £9 each (but this was before Quantitative Easing, when £9 was actually worth something).

They'd seized solid within 2 weeks of fairly gently but slightly damp riding. Shortly after this I switched pretty much to full-time single-speeding.

andyfb78 – that as maybe, but it's a dull reason and probably correct so has no place in a STW forum!

If thats the case for Shimano, then fair enough – but what about if a company set up only making aftermarket jockeywheels? There's obviously a demand, so wouldn't they be able to make and sell them cheap?

It's Spagetti marketing. Pick a price*, throw it at the wall and see if it sticks 😀

*We are mug enough to pay 🙄

wormhole – I'm in the same boat. Took my xt apart (12 months old) as bottom wheel is looking like 11 thick hairs sticking out of a tiddlywink. Seems like the tooth part is plasticy. And the usual places seem sold out! at £24 a pair.

So dumb question time – anyone know of any aftermarket ones or other shimano ones that'll work on a xt?

I brought some of these when my XTR versions wore out.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KCNC-11t-Jockey-Wheels-fit-Shimano-XTR-Dura-ace-etc_W0QQitemZ250570303567QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR?hash=item3a5727684f

Still going strong a year later. In nice bling red too 🙂

Don't the regular bushing type work?…do for me, but my mech is 6 years old.

£2.99 CRC

Get some BBB RollerBoys. Cheaper than Shimano/SRAM and the bearings make a big difference.

Cheers guys! I'll pick one of these.

Looking at the pics of the new ones makes realise how completely shagged the current ones are!

Anyone know why the originals (and some 3rd party) are plastic/resin and some are metal – does it make a difference?

You don't need any strength in the teeth (unless the bearings seize), so plastic is cheaper, lighter and quieter.

Tempted to get a new mech just for ease!!! But now want to see if a set of bbb ones will
do the job!! Not sure I am going to save money in the long run.

I once bought some 'normal' Shimano ones rather than springing for the XT ones and they didn't fit- they seemed to be ever so slightly too fat to go in. But I've never seen anyone else mention the same problem so maybe I was just unlucky.

You don't need any strength in the teeth (unless the bearings seize), so plastic is cheaper, lighter and quieter.

But as they do get worn more strength would be nice.

Do you even know how many jockeys it takes to make one wheel?