Ceramic Bearings Bicycle Review

The influx of ceramic bearing development into the bike industry sparked needed focus on reducing rolling friction in bearings.

Ceramic bearings bicycle review. Bicycles that have ceramic bearings need ceramic grease or ceramic safe grease to maximize performance as well as protect the bearings from unnecessary wear. Leading industry wheel dynamics expert and ceo of edco wheels paul lew backs this up and reckons it makes ceramic bearings a poor choice for hubs and headsets also adding that they offer no weight savings and are only beneficial in environments where high rpm revolutions per minute are required. The folks at enduro bearings argue that for bicycles the materials are far more important than abec ratings and that for most applications abec 3 and 5 are appropriate for all things bicycle. Ceramic bicycle bearings in all our products at kogel bearings we believe ceramic bearings set the gold standard for your bicycle bottom bracket derailleur pulleys and wheel bearings.

However the reality of why some bearing designs are faster than others doesn t always align with what is presented. This is mostly due to the additional time spent to perfect a quality ceramic ball. Fitting ceramic bearings on your bike may be a bit like fitting a formula one gearbox in your ford fiesta and expecting it to perform as well after 100 000 miles. Do i have a carbon fiber bike.

With the exception of one product the entire line of kogel bearings runs on hybrid ceramic bearings. Cost of purchase for ceramic and steel bearings. They ceramic bearings do run with less friction which offers a significant advantage in industrial applications running at 20 000 rpm. A tiny percentage reduction in friction here can equate to a worthwhile power saving but when you re only turning at 300 rpm as you do on a bicycle a small percentage increase in efficiency will make a negligible change to your power output.

The silicon nitride used to make ceramic bearings combines a set of material properties that makes it perfect for bicycle bearings. For bottom bracket applications the maximum sustained rpm may be 130 explains lew. Ceramic bicycle wheel bearings kogel bearings offers ceramic wheel bearings for any wheelset. Ceramic bearings are often represented as the ultimate way to minimize rolling friction on your bike.

The first thing that strikes the eye when looking at bicycle bearings is the difference in price between steel bearings and hybrid ceramic bearings. Two types of ceramic materials there are two materials that are common. Hybrid means that the balls are made of a ceramic material but the races or rings are made of a hardened steel.