Affordable Ceramic Wheel Bearings

Back by popular demand, the general all-things Road forum!

Moderator: robbosmans

Post Reply
photocycler
Posts: 108
Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2013 6:19 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon

by photocycler

Purchased a set of Roval CL32 which has the Roval hubs and DT Swiss 350 internals. Any recommendations on inexpeeinvce ceraamic bearing upgrades?

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



User avatar
atakaoka
Posts: 99
Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2012 2:29 am
Location: Ibiuna-SP-Brazil

by atakaoka

It Will be better You look for some high end stainless steel bearings then Go cheap on ceramic.
cycling,a great individual sport,were you can't reach anything,whithout group effort.

User avatar
TonyM
Posts: 3376
Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:11 pm

by TonyM

There are lot of cheap ceramic bearings in the market!
An excellent steel bearing (like the Campy USB bearings for example) is however much better than an average ceramic bearing.
A high end ceramic bearing (like CeramicSpeed) may be better than those but then they are quite expensive and the advantage is not really noticeable on the road.
I can't tell the difference between my Bora One (USB) and my Bora Ultra (CULT) on the road.

Spend the $$$ only CeramicSpeed etc...or save the money and "invest" it somewhere else.
Last edited by TonyM on Tue Jul 10, 2018 4:41 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
TonyM
Posts: 3376
Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:11 pm

by TonyM

They sponsor among others the US team Aquablue
http://www.cyclingceramic.fr/en

alcatraz
Posts: 4064
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2016 11:19 am

by alcatraz

I've spent so much time testing affordable ceramic bearings. I was convinced that here in China something must be ok.

Problem is that ceramic bearings have on average more play than average steel. Your wheels and whole bike will start to clunk and rattle when you move it around. Annoying as hell.

Seals on affordable ceramic bearings are usually garbage. Either they are open and you'll quickly make the bearings gritty and harsh, or they too tight/bent and spin worse than steel bearings.

It comes down to precision and hardness. The steel bearings for like 1-2usd perform better than affordable ceramic bearings 10-times the price. They work longer, they keep contaminants out.

Here is the kicker. If you want a smooth spinning bearing just add a few drops of thin oil inside a steel bearing and you have the same friction as a ceramic bearing. (Problem is the oil will over time leak out, so you'll need to service again like in a month or something).

After spending ages and lots of money on bearings I will always use steel unless it's a big bb30 bearing. There it's ok to run hybrid ceramic. Benefit is minimal though.

I like SKF 2RS bearings the most so far. Tried NSK/Enduro/NTI/NTN

/a

Jengaback
Posts: 105
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2015 9:17 pm

by Jengaback

Most hybrid ceramic bearing will only be better than a good steel bearing for a few hundred kilometres as the ceramic balls quickly wear a groove into the steel races which increases the friction massively. Get some of the NTN low friction swap bearings. As they are they'll last forever and be just as quick as the cheap ceramic crap. If you want faster just pull the seals off strip them with degreaser and run them with a dribble of mineral oil

ohjinguh9
Posts: 113
Joined: Thu Jun 28, 2018 8:41 pm

by ohjinguh9

i bought ACER ceramic bearings on the cheap off their site, and as far as i can tell, the wheels spin pretty well
that and they were cheaper than the equivalent steel bearings at the time
ive probably done close to 1k miles on them, and so far no issues, but 95% of my rides are dry and flat

Noctiluxx
Posts: 1333
Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2017 7:17 pm
Location: Southern California

by Noctiluxx

I would look into Kogel.
Bianchi Oltre XR4, De Rosa SK Pininfarina, Trek Madone SLR, Giant TCR Advanced SL, Cervelo R5 Disk, Giant Revolt

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



User avatar
Beaver
Posts: 796
Joined: Wed Aug 18, 2004 6:06 pm

by Beaver

http://road.cc/content/feature/175644-c ... s-and-cons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7iZVfSDbiA

Sealing and grease define how easy a bearing spins - the balls are the last few percent and only if they are new.

Post Reply