How to get the best performance from ceramic bearings ceramic speed.
Ceramic bearings vs steel bearings bicycle wheels.
The ceramic balls are often silicon nitride or equivalent.
Steel rings and ceramic balls are the gold standard for bicycle wheel bearings.
You choose your adventure we build the bearings to match.
Quite a few wheel manufacturers state that the use of aftermarket bearings in their wheels voids the warranty.
This is mostly due to the additional time spent to perfect a quality ceramic ball.
A ceramic bearing is also harder than steel bearings up to 30 which improves durability and they also don t rust so less maintenance should be.
Cost of purchase for ceramic and steel bearings.
Cracking a race could stop a wheel from turning instantly and no good comes of wheels permanently locking up on a bicycle.
Because ceramic races are more brittle than steel.
Built specifically for road or off road use.
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.
Steel bearings are commodity items that are composed of hardened steel balls and a steel inner and outer race.
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.
How to get the best performance from ceramic bearings ceramic speed.
Geometrically the contact points inner and outer dimensions and thickness between steel and ceramic bearings is the same so they are interchangeable.
So for safety reasons ceramic wheel bearings on bicycles are in fact almost always hybrid design meaning ceramic balls on steel races.
They ceramic bearings do run with less friction which offers a significant advantage in industrial applications running at 20 000 rpm.
The advantages of steel are not the only argument against ceramic bearings.