Cycling Ceramic showed us a new set of completely made-in-France carbon and aluminum Oversized Derailleur Pulley System that they have been working on to shave even more Watts off your bike. The lightweight carbon replacement cage houses a pair of machined aluminum 16 tooth derailleur pulleys that spin on ceramic bearings to drop 2-3W from your stock drivetrain.
Oversized Pulley Wheel System
At their release in just over a months time, Cycling Ceramic will have cages available to fit previous generation Shimano and current SRAM mechanical 11 speed rear derailleurs. R9100/R8000 Shimano, eTap & Campagnolo compatibility are all currently in development and should be ready early in 2018.
Beyond just increasing drivetrain efficiency thanks to the larger diameter pulleys and smooth spinning ceramic bearings, Cycling Ceramic tells us that their carbon cage construction will significantly improve derailleur stiffness for more precise shifting across the full cassette. It also has the added benefit of bringing 32T cassette compatibility to any derailleur you start with, due to the need for a slightly longer cage to accommodate those huge 16T pulleys.
The Oversized Pulley Wheel System cage will sell for 330€ as a direct bolt on replacement for your stock cage. The kit will be available with black, red or silver pulleys from October 2017.
We already covered Cycling Ceramic’s new low friction blue road & white TT grease and ceramic bottom brackets this spring, but they had them all out in a nice display case at the show with their standard 1.4W saving ceramic pulleys as well.
Racing Chain
Plus there was another bit of new tech to show, a new Cycling Ceramic coated racing Chain. Designed for race-only applications, Cycling Ceramic strips down a KMC chain in house and treats it with a teflon-based wax coating that they claim drops 5 Watts off a standard lubed chain – compatible with Shimano, SRAM & Campagnolo drivetrains.
The downside is that the white waxed coating lasts only for about 700km (less if raced in wet conditions), after which it will need to be lubed, losing the watt-savings benefit. All in it could still be worth it though. The 10 speed KMC X10 based chain sells for 89€ and the 11 speed KMC X11 chain for 95€. Then once the fast coating wears off you can still relube it for the rest of its regular life. Cycling Ceramic even has their own fast, traditional lube in the works.
