Oversized pulley cages have become common in road cycling on pro and amateur bikes alike in the last five years. They are offered for curly-barred bikes by everyone from
Ceramic Speed to
Muc Off but haven't become a popular choice for mountain bikers just yet. Hoping to change all that is Kogel, who are bringing their Kolossos cage to SRAM's Eagle ecosystem.
So, why go supersize? Well, the theory is that larger pulley wheels mean the chain has to articulate less therefore reducing unwanted drag. Larger jockey wheels also have a lower rotational speed at the same chain speed, which in turn means less drag in the bearings. These small amounts of drag in the drivetrain probably aren't a huge worry for most mountain bikers but for XC racers and long-distance riders, those little bits of resistance are worth reducing wherever possible.
The current SRAM Eagle derailleurs use 12T top and 14T bottom jockey wheels but the Kolossos increases that to 14T top and 19T bottom. This, combined with ABEC 5 Kogel bearings with silicon nitride ceramic balls, is claimed to translate to a 2.5 normalised watt saving over a standard Eagle set up.
The cages are made from 7075 aluminium in El Paso Texas and Kogel claims their assembly "provides maximum strength and stiffness, improved shifting efficiency, precise shifting and improved chain retention". The cage length is the same as an Eagle set up so ground clearance remains unchanged and there is no need to resize your chain. The Kolossos plus the anchor bolt weighs 87 grams, a 9-gram penalty over SRAM's own system.
The Kogel Kolossos cage is compatible with the mechanical and electronic versions of SRAM Eagle, specifically with the following models: SRAM XX1 Eagle AXS, SRAM XX1 Eagle, SRAM X01 Eagle AXS, SRAM X01 Eagle and GX Eagle. The cage comes in gold, black and red while the pulleys and bolts are available in black, red, gold, silver and blue. The Kolossos is available now for $399. More info,
here.
CS doesn't have an AXS/Eagle or Shimano 12s one yet but they do have the non-titanium wheeled one for $550 USD.
I'd argue the Kogel ones look cooler though.
CeramicSpeed Eagle and Shimano 12sp here
www.ceramicspeed.com/en/cycling/shop/oversized-pulley-wheel-systems/ospw-x-for-sram-eagle-mechanical-
www.ceramicspeed.com/en/cycling/shop/oversized-pulley-wheel-systems/ospwx-for-shimano-xtxtr-1x12
Ceramic speed products come with a 4 year warranty minimum also and yes they are a lot of money but at the top end of racing every little helps.
after you talk to your bank manager of course.
PT Barnum said it best a fool born every minute, and a fool and his money are soon parted.
2.5 watts Fuk its not even close to April.
All my years as a mechanic(12) and these things are always a pain in the ass.
Customers always expect more then the stupid donk pulleys provide.
Shifting goes out the window as well.
Stick with the stock set ups kids. Shimano and sram spend lots of money and time making things work properly.
The aftermarket pulley guys are all about bling and 2watts. They care less about the shift quality. Seriously 2 watts means f$%k all on mountain bikes
As a shop pseudo-tech myself I'm with you, would want no part of dismantling a perfectly fine derailleur to put this on. No matter how simple the directions. Undoing bolts and springy doodads never go well together.
Best advice for getting more power? Clean your bike.
Take a bigger dump before your ride and thank me later. Wipe your ass with the money you saved.
www.garbaruk.com/rear-derailleur-cage-pulleys-kit-for-sram-11-12-speed.html?category=25
bit bigger pulley wheels, too though.
www.instagram.com/p/CLJkOP1szCdJ5FNmELwNuItCK7T3Gf-muVIQ5A0
Every time I look at my NX, I think to myself "Dang! That thing's kinda funny!"
I came here to comment on the 1% increase, but your point about not being able to even substantiate the claimed increase in efficiency is much better.
Or maybe he noticed the hat straight away and was just f*cking with me...
1. Spend money you don't have
2. Wallet is now lighter than air
3. ????
4. Fly
Kidding. I actually had that as a dream. Or was it a nightmare?
that's the market. Once you get those guys on board, the people one tier down in wealth start seeing it on their club rides and start wanting it. it's advertisement via conspicuous consumption. Capitalism is f*cking badass.
This smells a lot like bullshit to me.
All I see is a drivetrain that is probably gonna shift crap. And you will have to add a couple of links to the chain that totally won't increase chain slap and other chain issues.
Modern drivetrains are incredibly efficient already. If you are looking for an edge, the drivetrain aint it. To each their own, i suppose.
I took the chain off and #ONLYRIDEPARK
There is also loss from the small rotation between links and the friction from that..
Just by using a clutch mechanism in the RD you're losing more than 2.5W, these OSP trend is another BS invention that brings no advantages and several disadvantages.
www.adventurecomponents.com
If I had to guess, I'd guess b)......but if you religiously clean & lube your drivetrain, I would expect you'll be saving some watts, and some $$......but, full disclosure, I didn't do any testing to back up with these claims
Plus I think I would look cooler gluing dollar bills all over my frame
These look nice
may as well just buy chinese and forget all your problems.
Lots of interesting assumptions.
Nearly 1% efficiency improvement from redesigned jockey wheels and pulley arm seems interesting and worth some amount of money fo the right people..if claims are accurate and if precisions manufacturing required to gain those improvements, it has a high value.
additionally, what shifting product doesn't claim to "provide maximum strength and stiffness, improved shifting efficiency"?
@badbadleroybrown: aero helmets are common in road cycling. will they have any effect on the trail? if we're talking about equipment for pros then price doesn't even matter. they'll get it for free and their teams will verify the claims. for you and me, there is no gain.
If you're putting out 400 watts and losing 5% in your drivetrain, why wouldn't you want to reduce that to 4% or 3% if it's possible? If this is out of your budget or just doesn't interest you, cool... don't buy it. But to pretend the claims are dubious when they're well know to be factually sound just because you don't personally see a value in it is stupid. This isn't a mass market item meant for every rider, and the cost reflects that low volume production and sales. If you're a racer who's looking for every advantage, then looking to eliminate drivetrain losses is absolutely a viable upgrade.
The most bang for one's buck out of this $400 part is going to be a placebo effect.
Really can't figure out why it's so hard for so many of y'all to understand this isn't an "everyman" product meant to be slapped onto your clapped out GX derailleur. This is a halo piece, something for the bike that's already got feathery carbon hoops on ceramic bearings, ceramic bottom bracket, one piece carbon cockpit, every unnecessary chain link removed, carbon cranks with power meter, carbon railed saddle, and every other gram saving or efficiency improving upgrade you can find, that's washed and tuned after every ride and runs a number plate on weekends.
What's makes someone look like a "mean clown" is angrily pretending that there's serious racers lining up with bent cages and derailleurs clogged with dirt or that there's no market for this type of product. It's a precision machined, high quality, low volume product with a very niche market and that's why it's so costly... not my cup of tea, especially when you get a good deal of the benefit from just replacing the jockey wheels in the stock cage for 1/3 the cost, but for some this is definitely one more advantage to add to their toolbox.
Why not make it out of carbon? Because carbon has its advantages and disadvantages.. In this case cnc'd 7k series aluminum is improving the rigidity compared to the flimsy carbon/stamped aluminum hybrids...at a small weight gain. adding the same weight in carbon wont necessarily bring the rigidity of a carbon part to that of an expertly cnc'd part, and if so the bulk required to match it may be ridiculous.
I'm guessing, deep down, you love this stuff, but deeply hate that you can't afford it..
It's your baseless assumption that mud negates the benefit.
Enjoy the red nose and giant shoes, they look great on you.
Honk, honk... Clown.
. If the larger jockey wheels save watt's, how many watts are being wasted if you have a 1X and you use your 10th or in some cases a 9th, and in a 2X your 11th? Should you never go lower than the 12th on your rear cassette since their lowest tooth count for the jockey wheels is a 12 tooth?
Since these jockey wheels use ball bearings instead of bushings, according to Habmini for maximum efficiency racers remove the dust shields and grease, and replace with a lightweight oil. Not a good idea on dusty trails.
I could take it on a tarmac rally stage... It'd be bloody good at that!
2.5 watts is an increase of nearly 1% efficiency for high output riders.
youtu.be/ZkQXv9tTRGc
Controlled humidity, no dust and so on
Increased INTERTIA???
It does not happen while climbing when the chain is completely tight but when descending, which is when you're using the highest 4 cogs cogs in the cassette. At that point the amount of chain wrapped around the lower pulley is significantly more than with a 12-14t pulley and it freaking sucks.
Nothing against people who like to throw money away and there's a reason why even a marketing driven brand like Sram is not putting s**t like this to the market.
"Podium grade"
yeah
Righto.