Split Second is the latest company to promise to make your bike faster thanks to a blend of ceramic bearing upgrades and high-performance cleaners & lubes. Their headline product is an EU-made carbon fiber derailleur cage upgrade with oversized alloy pulleys spinning on ceramic bearings. But just as important they say, are a whole suite of cleaners to drive away watt-eating gunk and condition-specific lubes to keep everything spinning smoothly.
Split Second Ceramic Performance Cage derailleur upgrade
It’s hard to deny a comparison to CeramicSpeed’s OverSized Pulley Wheel systems (OSPW) that started the derailleur cage upgrade wars, but Split Second’s Ceramic Performance Cage (CPC) promise similar or better drag reduction, yet at a fraction of the cost.
Split Second claims that with their unique design, decreasing the “chain flexing angle” and reducing rotating friction can save between “4-5W compared to a conventional cage“.
Tech details
The Split Second Ceramic Performance Cage kit includes a CNC-machined carbon cage with CNC-machined 7075 alloy pulleys that spin on fully-sealed ceramic bearings. Composed of a 14T upper pulley & 17T lower pulley, Split Second’s CPC is rated for cassettes with up to a 32-tooth small gear.
The CPC setup is said to require less regular maintenance than a conventional cage thanks to the dry-running ceramic bearings. All you need to do is clean & degrease it at least every 750km to maintain its optimized efficiency.
Installation is said to be quick & easy, but does require a new chain due to the larger than OEM pulley wheels.
Split Second ceramic bearing derailleur pulley upgrade kit – Pricing & options
The assembly has a claimed weight of 72g, and is available with black, silver, gold, or red anodized pulleys. CPC kits are available now to upgrade Shimano Ultegra/Dura-Ace (R8050, R8060, R9100, R9150) and SRAM Force/Red AXS, or SRAM Rival AXS derailleurs, with each kit selling for between 265-280€.
Split Second manufactures the CPC upgrade kits in Europe, and warranties them for four years.
Split Second cleaners & lubes
The German company also has tons of cleaning and lubrication products as well. And for an upstart, they’re already jumping straight into the big time – outfitting UCI WorldTour team Israel-Premier Tech’s team mechanics with “bike lubricants and care products” to keep the team’s Factor road bikes running smoothly for the race season. Although, it looks like the team is still using long-time sponsor CeramicSpeed for derailleur & other bearing upgrades, still.
The whole cleaner line includes tons of bio & non-bio options for every bit of you bike that needs degreasing. They also come in both regular-sized 750ml pump spray bottles from 14€ and 5l ‘shop’ refills from 42€, depending on the application.
The lubrication lineup is just as broad, with all-conditions, all-conditions bio, rain, dry, e-bike, e-bike bio, chain wax & allround lubes. They even offer tint 37ml bottles from 5€, regular 100ml bottles from 10€, and 500ml refills from 36€.
For the full mechanic-ing needs, there are also assembly pastes, greases, and silicon or wax protectors & polish.
