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I have an old Sram 11 speed rear mech with 12T jockey wheels.
1. Can I run any number of teeth 11T, 12T, or 13T and be fine?
2. Does narrow wide matter on jockey wheels?
3. Will purple ones make me faster?
Can't answer the first 2 but purple is slower. It has to be red. Red is the fastest.
Someone may correct me on this but I believe anodized parts are slightly faster, the anodising takes away a very, very thin layer of metal and makes then very, very slightly lighter, but as above, all other things being equal red ones are faster
the anodising takes away a very, very thin layer of metal and makes then very, very slightly lighter
That's round the wrong way unfortunately
1. Not sure
2. No, N-W is just a pain in the arse on jockey wheels. I believe they dropped it for 12sp
3. No
Do easy Chinesey eBay ones work regardless of number of teeth?
I’ll get the same number of teeth if I can. I don’t want to pay lots of cash if it’s the same at £7 or £40 for Hope ones.
Do they need to be narrow wide got them to work properly?
My old SRAM ones are making funny noises with the new cassette and chain...
Make sure your jockey wheels haven't just rotated out of sync,mine do this occasionally and the result is a horrible noisy rumble/growl through the drivetrain.
I bought some cheapo alloy ones from eBay which rumbled so loudly I thought the mech was self destructing. I gave up and put some Shimano rubber ones back on which solved the problem
Can you run any number of teeth 🦷 from 11/12/13 and it will work on an 11 speed chain?
Or just source a job lot of cheap bearings (the Sram ones, typically, are a weird size). You can then tap the bearings in and out as they wear. They are easy to replace. The plastic bits don't wear that quickly but kosher replacement jockey wheels are ludicrously expensive.
Can you run any number of teeth 🦷 from 11/12/13 and it will work on an 11 speed chain?
I've never tried but always assumed the issue with running bigger or smaller wheels will be the design of the mech cage. if it was designed around 11T then there may not be space to fit larger 12/13T wheels, likewise if it's designed around larger wheels the smaller wheel could move the chain path so it rubs against the cage. No doubt there are some mech/jockey wheel combinations that work fine and some that are a chain grabbing mech destroying nightmare. Personally I'd just stick the same size back in.
The newer sram 12 speed lower jockey wheels have a lip that runs all the way round to stop the chain dropping off and jamming and splitting apart. I had mine jam a few times on the original jockey wheels before replacing with the newer version. Just FYI in case it makes a difference.
I wouldn't get ones with cartridge bearings in. When they wear, the jockey wheel can develop a lot of play. Enough to let the jockey wheel move so much to one side that the chain can fall between the mech cage plate and the jockey wheel where it jams and pulls the mech around ripping the hanger off the frame mid-ride.
I mean yes, you could check for play regularly, but I don't see the value in adding another potentially critical thing to check. And it really didn't take long at all for this much play to develop. It was the top one - possible that the bottom one might be ok with ball bearings due to lower side loads.
Go with original 11 speed 12T Sram ones or are the cheap eBay ones good value for money?