While testing some different rear derailleur jockey/pulley wheels for a client, a flyer came across my desk advertising a titanium rear derailleur pulley wheel set. At first these parts looked intriguing, but, looking into it further, I started asking why?
First off, any metal pulley wheel will be a lot noisier than a standard plastic OEM pulley wheel.
Second, metal pulley wheels just don’t run as smooth or shift as well as the standard OEM plastic ones from the same manufacturer that makes the rear derailleur.
Third, look at the MSRP of the titanium set. 3x that of a Shimano RD-9000/9070 and 5x the price of a RD-6800/6870 pulley wheel set.
Fourth, look at the weights. The titanium set is 56.25% heavier than the RD-9000 set and 39% heavier than the RD-6800 set.
A typical OEM plastic pulley set is quieter, shifts better, is lighter and costs far less than the titanium model, I again ask why would anyone buy this?
I have always enjoyed bicycling and, through a series of coincidences, became a Bicycle Industry Consultant and Product Tester. I test prototype products for companies and have published only off the shelf production products on biketestreviews.com.
