My Campy Nouvo Record rear derailleur pulleys are shot. Does anyone know a good replacement option? I thought Soma used to make reproduction Campy NR pulleys, but I can not find any on the web. Seems like the NR pulleys are thicker than newer style (?).

Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated.

You can find NOS Campagnolo pulleys on eBay occasionally but if you're not looking to go totally period correct you can get Bullseye pulleys and you won't need to replace them again.

Shimano's work fine. It all depends on your intent...see post #2.

My NR I bought came recently on Ebay came with Suntour pulleys and spin quite nicely and don't stick out too much because they have that same shade of grey. Plus they mostly likely won't split later on. I don't think it's a matter of if but when the Campy NR pulleys will crack. I was looking at some of the newer CNC'd jockey wheels on Ebay. I'm always up for some eye candy and free some weight up. Not like those things weigh much but every little bit helps. lol.

I have been eyeballing those too and wondered if they are decent replacements. They are plentiful and relatively affordable. Do many have 10 teeth?

Yeah, I like the CNC'ed ones, especially if they're anodized in a funky cool color. The good ones have sealed cartridge bearings, so they're pretty low-maintenance too. Those Suntours sound interesting. I've been watching for some of their good pulleys, but no luck yet.

or check the last listing on this page. thirty bucks.
https://00eda5d.netsolhost.com/derailleur.html

Thanks everyone for the tips. I did just find a set of Suntour old school pulleys on eBay for $18.50. If these do not work I will order the Soma repros from Vintage cycle. I have three vintage bikes all with NR rear derailleurs that will eventually need replacements. Good to know about the options.

thanks again.

T-C, if you need a set of the Shimano pulleys to get by on, I have some sets you can have, P.M, me if you need them.

Bill

you can often buy a valentino or 980 series derailleur for less than the price of a set of pulley, they are campy and the same dimensions though they do not always say campagnolo on them. I have several sets of pulleys which I saved from valentinos and old 980 junkers, which I tossed.

Soma doesn't say whether these are sealed bearing or not - anyone know?
I've managed to wear the teeth right off my Bullseyes that I installed on my NR thirty years ago.

I don't see the point of "sealed" pulleys other then they may go longer before sqeaking... it's not like the bushings are going to wear out before the teeth do. Once a year you clean and re-grease them and they are all good.

This is a previous thread on the subject. https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...-SR-RD-pulleys I have used the Soma pulleys 1) they are not cnc'd; the aluminum side plate is cnc'd aluminum; the body is molded plastic. The Soma pulleys have a similar setup to Campy with a brass insert and steel sleeve. The problem with the Somas' is, while the body is bullet proof, the innards tend to wear quickly, while the Campy innards last seemingly forever but the bodies wear and/or split over time; but I have come up with an unorthodox (if not work intensive) way of making the two work together. From my blog;

07.07.2012
I have two pairs of the Soma pulleys on two different bikes and I'm finding they seem to have a weak point. I have one set on a bike with a NR derailleur and another with a GS derailleur; the GS I ride most the time. Recently I noticed the shifting of the GS had gotten sloppy and there was a lot of friction in the drivetrain. I removed the pulleys and found both had bushings so worn that the steel sleeve was rattling around; I probably had 4000 miles on them. I checked the bike with the NR derailleur and found the jockey pulley innards was worn but the tension pulley was not. I'm not sure what the problem is and it may be my fault for not servicing them enough (I've never had this problem with Campy pulleys). I do have one theory however. When I first installed the Soma pulleys on the GS derailleur I was surprised to see some green corrosion inside the bushing and outside the sleeve. I'm thinking the manufacturer may has used a grade of brass with too much copper or too soft (or something like that).

I do have a fix however that is still in the experimental stage. I have a number of worn Campy pulleys where I pounded out the bushing (these bushing seem to never wear out of spec) and did the same for the worn Soma pulleys. The GS/NR/SR bushings are 12mm outside diameter, where the Soma pulleys are 10.1mm (the difference is the thickness of the brass;I first tried to drill out a Soma pulley which crack it). So I ground down the OD of tht Campy bushing to fit the Soma body using a simple tool; I slid the bushing onto a 1/4"x 6" drive extension some black tape underneath so it would say put. I then attached the extension to a drill motor and clamped the drill motor in a vice. I then took a file and ground the Campy bushing to about 10.1+; slightly narrowing on one side so it could be easily inserted into Soma bodies; the bushings were then pounded into the Soma bodies with no problem. In regards to which sleeve to use, the Campy sleeve OD is 9.3 mm while the Soma are 9mm. The Campy sleeve is also about .2-.3 longer, so you either need to grind down the Campy bushing or use the Campy sleeve (I used the Campy sleeve). I have installed the Campy bushings in two Soma pulleys and road tested them for about 6 month and the innards show no sign of wear.

I also tried some older Dura Ace pulleys with a steel bushing and sleeve that showed to excessive wear; I also bought a big box of the cheap Shimano pulley with no bushings that seemed to work fine also; if you want a set of these I will send them to you for postage.

Edit: I have not used Suntour pulleys as the axle/bolt is 1mm larger than Campy; Campy- 5mm and Suntour- 6mm

Very interesting OneSpeed. Sounds like SOMA used brass or one of the softer bronzes rather than Silicon or phosphor bronze for their bushings.
I could be wrong but I think Campagnolo used phosphor bronze.

Tacx are Ok come in 10 &11 tooth, now.. have some even older steel pulleys stashed around here..

might try adapting those to my R'off chain tensioner ..

The Tacx 10t are a good replacement, but I haven't seen them for a while. Do you have a source?

https://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...ey-wheels.html
ten bucks plus shipping, worked great for my NR RD.

Posted this last year, but might still be useful:

One on the right is OEM Campy jockey wheel from my Pat. 72 NR RD, resplendent with the typical molding pattern radial crack....as all of them eventually do from age and use. The one on the left is a no-name CNC'd Delrin(?) replacement wheel I got from American Cyclery in SF. It has a very slightly thicker profile, but it works pretty good with the NR RD. One might still be able to buy a pair from American Cyclery if you email them. They are not a bad deal for a little bit less than half of what one might pay for NOS OEM Campy items on eBay.....that will crack again anyway....
As installed on my NR RD:


Chombi

I don't know when the change over, but some of our more esteemed forum members (CV-6, Citoyen Du Moyne etc...) may know, occured, but I think the first plastic pulleys from campagnolo had a brass sleeve and steel innards. Not that this has any relevance to the thread, but I have never read anything about the variations in campagnolo pulleys. I think I have some and will try to photograph and post at some point in its own thread.

See my pic above of original Pat. 72 jockey wheel with brass sleeve and steel "innard"...Interesting enough, the no-name copy have similar "innards", except for the grease retaining groove on the sleeve which is missing on the replacement wheels...... I think you are correct about a change after a couple of generations later. IIRC, my Pat. 83 NR RD Jockey wheels do not have the same stuff in it..... I'll take a look at it when I get home this evening to confirm...

https://shop.americancyclery.com/coll...a-pullies-pair

Edit: thanks for the tip.

I'm not sure all Campi pulleys will crack I have a pair that have been worn out so that the pulley tracks have been worn to points with no sign of cracking

The later ones (at least 2nd gen NR) did seem to last longer/crack less, but they do still tend to crack.
I just checked my Pat. 83 NR RD that I owned and used since new and although it has not cracked at the mould line yet. I still see some radial cracks starting inside, under the dust caps near the pressed-in bronze bushing. I think it's still 50/50 odds that it might eventually crack at the moulding line, given time and more miles.
BTW, the innards of the Pat. 83 jockey wheels is identical to the ones in my Pat. 72 NR, down to the grease groove on the center of the steel bushing....

Chombi

I meant to ask, are the white Campagnolo pulleys any better? Like what came on a Victory or Triomphe? I'm not real sure which one I have, LOL, but the white pulleys "look" to be in good shape, and I actually put one on the N.R. awhile back. I think I need to just break down & find some more.

The definition of sleeve and "innards" is not clear, at least I am not sure which is which. A better way to say it is sleeve and busing I guess.

I always presumed the pulley with a steel sleeve and a brass busing to be the early ones...



What you have pictured is what I presume is the later version... a brass sleeve and steel busing. I have always wondered what year this change occurred and always been somewhat surprised that there is little discussion about it. With people going to great pains to have period correctness I would imagine having the bass busing type pulley on a "patent" derailleur to be an important detail.

The other possibility is that one is record and the other is not. I don't know the answer.