Some more of those BBB Components for ya here! This time it’s the “RollerBoys”. No, it’s not some roller derby squad, these are bike parts!

The RollerBoys are jockey wheels for your derailluer. I decided to check these out and see just what the deal was with them. Here are some specifications and features.

* Made of Grivery-4H (40% glass fiber) from EMS Swiss. Extremely high wear resistance and unmatched stiffness.

* Equipped with ceramic bearings for ultra-smooth gliding and almost no resistance.

* Maintenance free

So, the claims are pretty heady! Why would one want to replace the lowly jockey wheel in the first place? Well, that’s a great question, and if you have ever really looked at one, especially an old one, you might figure that out pretty quickly. Usually derailluer jockey wheels are pretty low tech affairs. A simple bushing with a bolt passing through for an axle make for pretty high resistance to movement, especially in a dirty environment such as you might experience with mountain biking. So, sealed bearing jockey wheels have had their fans over the years. Running on actual ball bearings, these jockey wheels tend to have a freer movement and with the sealed bearings, the thought was that you’d keep them spinning freely. Add in aluminum construction and anodized colors and you had a major hit in the 90’s.

Well, these are not alloy, nor anodized, but they are pretty light. They have those new fangled ceramic bearings that some folks are all “ga-ga” about too. So, will they make a difference? I thought they spun about the same as a new sealed bearing aluminum pulley and that they were well sealed. Perhaps they will break in and loosen up over time, we’ll see later.

Installation was a breeze, which was a pleasant surprise, as I’ve had nightmarish experiences with aftermarket jockey wheels in the past. (Shims! Tiny shims! Ahhhh!) The BBB RollerBoys went in with no fuss with the provided plastic spacers. I decided to revive an older Ultegra derailluer with these and I will be putting in some grueling dirt miles on it over the coming weeks. Stay tuned for further updates.

You can check this product out and more at www.bbbparts.com BBB Components are distributed to fine bike shops by Bike Mine.