Ceramic Bicycle Wheel Bearings Worth It

Ceramic bearings are not cheap.

Ceramic bicycle wheel bearings worth it.

Full ceramic bearings use ceramic races which can be lighter and provide the lowest friction but come at a durability cost. After all since there are no chance for parts to oxidize there is also no need for grease. They are also under constant load and there are six of them which means twelve seals. Some people still believe the durability of ceramic bearings is bad some don t want to spend any money and some just want things to stay the way they always have been.

Ceramic bicycle wheel bearings kogel bearings offers ceramic wheel bearings for any wheelset. A full set of cyclingceramic bearings starts at 80 and ceramicspeed wheel bearings cost from 240. Let s analyze the pros cons and applications. Think of your wheel bearings.

For the simplicity of this article we only look at hybrid ceramic bearings with steel races. To make things easy we have made a flat fee pricing for a set of four front and rear hub but without freehub or six a complete wheelset including the freehub. Built for lowest friction ceramic wheel bearings wheel bearings are among the fastest rotating parts on a bicycle. 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.

In most bearings the grease is the main source of friction. Most sealed ceramic bearings are actually hybrid ceramic bearings which combine a steel race with ceramic ball bearings. The problem here is that wheels take hard impacts from potholes. If there is one thing we see a lot in comments sections about ceramic bearings it is people claiming ceramic bearings do not offer benefits and are not worth their cost.

Ceramic bearings are not for everyone. They ceramic bearings do run with less friction which offers a significant advantage in industrial applications running at 20 000 rpm. They are always under load and always moving. You can find cheaper examples but cheaper types offer minimal.

To give you some baggage in understanding the benefits of ceramic bearings we will list the positives and warn for a few potholes in selecting the best bearings for your.