Are Enduro Bearings just complete crap??

[Berg]

Has anyone else been disappointed by Enduro bearings??

I have used them on two occasions, and both with very poor results:

First try:
I installed ceramic hybrid BB on my MTB:
ENDURO® "CERAMIC HYBRID" OUTBOARD BOTTOM BRACKETS
It was installed following the manual to the letter, and using plenty of the correct type grease.
Result: After about 2 months riding (maybe only 10 rides altogether), the bearings were rough and noisy, and upon inspection brown rusty water was seeping out! Complete junk.

Second try:
Grade 5 ceramic hybrid bearings in Hope rear MTB hub
Again, sealing the hub well with the sticky type white bearing grease.
Result: After just 1 month the bearings were rusted out and useless - same as above, it just went even faster!

And no, the bike has never been pressure cleaned or the like, and the trails ridden were not particulaly wet.
So lots of time and money wasted on apparently very poor (but expensive) bearings - very very disappointing really

Have I just had (impossibly) bad luck, or are Enduro Bearings highly overrated?

[yetimatt]

I too have had bad luck with Enduro. I bought their bottom bracket with their "Zero" Grade 3 Ceramic Hybrid Bearings for my road bike and in less than 1000 miles the non drive side bearing was shot. I tried to get it warrantied or at least figure out why it went bad, but Enduro's customer service was terrible. I as a result will never consciously buy Enduro products again.

[sl]

you were quite lucky. Two races on semi-dry/moist conditions and after that new bearings in rear dt hub. It happened several times during season.

[jb]

Me too bad experience with Enduro.
I bought the ceramic bearings for a bb.
Wthin 1000km the beraings were rusty and stuck.
I contacted Enduro and they said: We had some problems with the grease but it is solved and you can try the new ones.
But i still had to pay for the new ones.No way, never Enduro for me again.
It is 2 years ago but when i read the posts above the new grease is no solution.
Garbage!

[Tiffster]

Yup same here, bought an Enduro Ceramic BB. Non driveside bearing didn't last 1 ride in the Scottish Highlands, thing was installed perfectly but the bearing was rough as hell after 1 ride. Replacement bearing had a crack right through the inner race - at which point i asked for a refund.

They might work OK in bone dry Western America conditions but not anywhere it's wet.

[cwdzoot]

I have done quite a few installations for customers and never had a good response, often had to explain that it was actually a ceramic bearing. I say NO GO for Enduro.

[Berg]

Wow! If Enduro really is just overhyped crap, they sure are doing a good job of hushing it up:
Before ordering from them, I searched the net a few times to get a feel for user feedback etc, and nothing negative showed up - on the contrary.
But judging from the replies here, it sure seems there must be a lot of unhappy Enduro customers out there!!

I have emailed Enduro to report of the failure of their products, but not really expecting too much from them...

Even with my own very negative experiences though, I somehow find it hard to believe that their products are completely worthless. I mean, are they just flat out dishonest about the specs on these bearings? - or could it be that the race and balls are actually good, but the low-friction sealings they use are just useless for real-world cycling??
Well I guess it doesn't really matter in any case - just a bit mysterious to me...

[Gran Sport]

sorry to hear grumbles

Chris @ RWC (Real World Cycling) has always been really nice, chatty emails, plenty of time to problem shoot on the phone, he even sent over some DT 190 fit Zero Ceramic bearings for free when he sent the wrong size & it was my mistake!

i have to follow Tiffster's prompt & chime in and say that Enduro Zero Ceramic bearings seem to last infinitely out here in dusty dry SoCal (touch wood)

i kitted my last build with Enduro Zero Ceramic bearings: DT XR wheelset + BB, no probs 1300 miles on, however i rarely wash my bikes, especially near the hubs - just use a damp sponge + small brush, bikes usually just get dusty here.

2 years ago i replaced the bearings in a Crossmax SLR wheelset for Enduro (regular) ceramic bearings - 2,000 miles later the front wheel is still spinning for about a mile on the workstand, back is doing great also but needs a freehub re-build (argh Mavic)

my Enduro races are always cocooned in Phil Woods waterproof grease, its adds drag apparently (hardly noticeable) but it seems to help keep all the muck owt.

[Berg]

Yes I have also recevied a reply from Chris at RWC, and there is now some communication back and forth on the issues I reported to them. I will let you know how it turns out...

Gran sport>> As you say, the Enduro bearings do seem to be very smooth and spin well. I was also very excited about them, untill it turned out the only lasted a very short time in normal MTB use. Hence my idea that perhaps the problem lies in the low-friction sealings, and not the balls/races themselves, which apparently comes with very high specs. But I am just speculating here.

I still have a complete set new Enduro Abec5 for DT 240 hubs. These hubs will likely be used for a set of road wheels, so I hope the bearings will last a bit better here than for MTB. Only time will tell...

[raceer]

Chris @ RWC (Real World Cycling) has always been really nice, chatty emails, plenty of time to problem shoot on the phone, he even sent over some DT 190 fit Zero Ceramic bearings for free when he sent the wrong size & it was my mistake!

Chris sent me the wrong size. I purchased bearings which turned out to be the wrong size. Several emails later I have not had a response. So I am stuck with several bearings which are the wrong size for my application ! Worse still as I had the entire bike in pieces when I found out, so had to refit the old bearings. Its the LAST time I go with a sellers recommendation on size You woud think they know what they are selling.

I cannnot comment on longevity cos I have not used my ones.

If Chris is reading this he knows where to find me....check your emails.

Another unhappy customer !

[Bandanelli]

I can recommend Chris Kings BB. Heavy use for a year, in the danish shitty weather, and stil runing as new!

[kolarzyk]

What about Boca Bearings with yellow seals? Anyone use them?

[CCE]

Just coming in on this thread that someone has posted about Enduro Bearings. We have very few problems, but any time someone does have an issue, we always resolve it by either repairing or replacing the bearing or parts. I cannot think of an instance where we have not, and our warranty policy is very liberal compared to the rest of the industry. Even cases where the parts have been improperly installed, powerwashed, or whatever. Sometimes, Enduro is confused with a distributor or shop, and it's hard for us to control everything that happens in those cases. Bottom line, if someone has a problem, they can call our 800 number (800 678-8111) and talk to Cory or Matt about the problem. Or email if you want at info@endurobearings.com. We answer every call or email. Even if it is an old one like a couple of these sound like.

[kroe]

Feedback should be segmented into steel and ceramic Enduro bearings.

I have never used ceramic hybrids of any type due to general feedback on ceramics not lasting at all.

I have used Enduro steel bearings in a race face BB, GXP BB, and a few other random locations (avid ultimate v-brakes, etc). No issues at all and in the case of the BB bearings they have already run for 10x what the factory bearings did.

Perhaps ceramic hybrids just suck?

[Phill P]

Ceramic bearings get a lot of negative press when they go wrong, but how many people are using them perfectly happily but not making as big a noise about it? There are now MANY wheelsets sold standard with ceramic bearings, if they all failed as quickly as people are complaining about in this thread and others then you can be sure the big OEM wheel brands would not use them.

If you don't like Enduro bearings there are other better options. No bearing should fail from corrosion after one or two rides even if they had no seals!! That said the lighter seals on most hybrid bearings will need more attension to get excellent life out of them as the grit will get inside more easily. Most bearing with lighter seals you can lift the seal and clean out the old grease and repack. But if they only last 2 rides there is something wrong no level of maintainance will help there!