gaucho777 

I am running a 1st generation Campy Chorus RD (short cage) which is going to need new pulleys soon. Teeth are a bit worn and I've noticed a crack in one of the plastic wheels.

My questions:
How essential is it that I replace the pulleys with Campy pulleys?
If not essential, will there be significant performance loss (or even incompatibility) with other non-Campy pulleys?
Even within Campy pulleys, I notice some are labeled 8-speed, 10-speed, some are white, some are black, etc. Is there a specific model of Campy pulleys I should look for? (For instance, I notice these NOS C-Record pulleys on ebay, but the description doesn't mention compatibility with Chorus deraileurs: https://cgi.ebay.com/CAMPAGNOLO-VINTA...item25594c02fe).

Lastly, if this makes a difference, I'm currently running it with Simplex friction shifters, 6-speed, but may want the flexibility to convert to a 7-speed synchro system (for which I have a chain & freewheel, but would need to buy some synchro shifters). Not in any hurry to make that transition, though...just keeping my options open.

Thanks in advance for you advice!

AndyK 

I went through this recently when looking for new pulleys on my old SR derailleur. I wound up buying NOS Bullseye aluminum pulleys, which worked great! I refused to pay a fortune for original plastic parts that would probably be brittle from sitting around. I was told you can buy ANY SRAM or Shimano pulley that fits. As long as they are not 10 speed, they should work fine with older (fatter) chains.

gaucho777 

Cool. Thanks, Andy.

Pars 

I've run Bullseyes on my NR/SR for years and have never had a problem with them.

gaucho777 

Thanks, just bought a pair of NOS Bullseye pulleys. Was trying to keep my mid-80s LOOK all French & Italian, but now that I've sullied that aspiration, perhaps one of those ballyhooed Shimano HG freewheels is in the offing...

coloneluw

If you stay with friction shifting, any set of pulleys will work. If you want to use syncho (indexed) shifting, your upper pulley should have float in it. C-Record pulleys do not have this feature as they use a cup/cone setup. Very cool but do not play well with index shifting. Bullseye pulleys use seal bearing which I do not believe have the required float in the upper pulley. The float is for the necessary play needed in order to avoid chain noise and wear. The older 6-7-8 speed index shifters used an over shift to throw the chain up and then it settles back to the cog. (very small over shift but it's was designed that way) The float in the pulley is part of it. Otherwise you will never get a quiet, smooth running bike in all gears. You may get a few gears working nicely, but you will get annoying chain/cog chatter in a few.

sailorbenjamin

I really like my HG freewheel.