A carbon fibre oversize pulley cage with ceramic bearings - £33 from AliExpress! How bad can it be???

I’m sure we’ve all seen the oversize pulley/derailleur cages from Ceramic Speed that many of the professional riders fit to their bikes. They look pretty awesome and claim to make the drivetrain more efficient by reducing friction. However, I’m also pretty sure that many of us can’t afford to pay the pretty ridiculous prices that Ceramic Speed Charge.

But luckily, AliExpress has it covered with a carbon fibre oversize derailleur cage running ceramic bearings, for £33!!! So for that price, I had to check it out.

After replacing the terrible ceramic bearings, I fitted it to my Shimano 105 R7000 rear derailleur, and honestly, I’m pretty impressed. It looks really cool in my opinion, runs really well, and shifts flawlessly. But is it worth it?

I suspect it makes little to no difference in terms of efficiency, but it’s cheap, adds basically no weight to the bike, and could potentially save you a watt or two… So…