New Jockey Wheels

Lagrange

I got some new jockey wheel. On one of them there is slight but evident lateral play on the bearings but not on the other. When you hold them and rock them with the bearing fixed you get about 0.5mm movement at the outer edge. My instinct is that there should be no play as play in a cartridge bearing compromises the seal - or at least accelerates ageing.

The response from the manufacturer is that the play is normal and 'is there to aid with shifting'. That suggests it is designed in which means the one I have without play is out of spec.

Should a new Jockey Wheel have bearing play?

monkimark

I seem to remember that some jockey wheels have a bit of play in the top wheel but not in the bottom one. I'm sure that is the case on my CX bike (and possibly on the road bike and mtb but I've never checked), i think there are markings to distinguish the wheels from each other.

Lagrange

No distinction between the wheels - or direction arrows as I saw that come up once..
I can accept the notion of sideways movement parallel to the axis of rotation but not being able to rock them.

billycool

My jockey wheels have some sideways movement, even when new.

Some versions do differentiate between top and bottom and they are labelled accordingly.