bobbyl1966

What improvements i go see if i put on my bike ceramic bearings. What sizes i need for the crank and the wheels? Where i can found that bearings?

Shimagnolo

Post 14: https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-me...ick-steel.html

Homebrew01

Waste of $$.

FBinNY 

Changing good condition bearings for ceramic, is comparable to finding a quarter on the ground and thinking you're on the way to making this month's mortgage payment.

bobbyl1966

thank you for the answers. I will stay with the steel bearings.

alcjphil

Funny. I would say that you will save some weight, 99% of it from your wallet

Homebrew01

True, but that only helps if you typically bring your wallet on rides.

fietsbob

Other than in lab tests they showerd an ~ 0.0002% decrease in rolling resistance ( isolated not the whole Bike)

You Wont, Now if there was a Sponsor of your race team and they wanted to sell more ceramic bearings
and you were already really a Fast racer , You would Be useful to them to have people think
it was their stuff that gave you the advantage .. causing this question to be asked ..

bobbyl1966

thank you for the answers. i read about that bearings online i never used them. that is means sponsors go with bikes too? I mean race riders ride bikes the sponsors give.

alcjphil

Right. I usually carry my wallet so I guess that ceramic bearings are a real plus for me

Homebrew01

Buy the ceramic bearing with loose change, and you could save a few pounds !

eja_ bottecchia

I like ceramic bearings. They came standad on my Fulcrum wheels and on many of my other components.

Not everyone shares my enthusiasm.

c'est la vie.

avidone1

I don't know how they would work in bicycles, but I put ceramic bearings in a daiwa bait casting reel and the improvement was substantial.
Reel was much smoother and cast father with less effort. It isn't my most expensive reel, but became my favorite after the switch.

CliffordK

I've been experimenting with Si[SUB]3[/SUB]N[SUB]4[/SUB] Ceramic Silicon Nitride bearings from E-Bay. For enough to build a couple of hubs, they aren't too expensive.

So far I've been happy with them, but I won't really be able to judge for another year or two.

One of the problems with steel bearings is the quality is so variable. I periodically find bearings where it apears as if a thin chrome layer has just pealed off from the bearings, leaving a mess behind

kickstart

Counterfeit bearings are a big issue these days for manufacturers. Bearings off of e-bay? good luck.

Anti-counterfeiting
https://www.skf.com/binary/98-252392/..._12-252392.pdf

CliffordK

Counterfeit implies marking a brand with another trademark. For example selling Timken knockoffs.

I'm not representing the LOOSE Chinese E-Bay bearings as anything other than Chinese E-Bay bearings.

I suppose there is also a quality or materials counterfeit, selling grade X when it is really grade Y.

As far as coefficient of expansion. I'm seeing Silicon Nitride listed as (2.8 to 3.3) x 10[SUP]-6[/SUP]/°C
Stainless steel is listed as (10 to 17) x 10[SUP]-6[/SUP]/°C

Or MUCH HIGHER. I doubt heat will make a big difference at the speeds I'm riding my bike, but perhaps it will affect cold vs warm days.

So, then the question is whether my Silicone Nitride bearings are as good as the Campy Super Record Stainless bearings. And that I don't know.

I find some companies like Shimano disappointing due to the huge range of product quality.

I've seen too many problems apparently due to poor quality chrome bearings. I suppose I should go to bearing stores (not just bike stores) and insist on single batch quality stainless bearings.

kickstart

The problem is there's a high probability they are the bearings being used for the counterfeits, and not what they're claimed to be.

CliffordK

I can tell you they're not steel.

As far as the quality of the ceramic, I don't know. I suppose I could try a hammer test on a couple. But, for riding, time will tell.

Of course, I'm doing a hybrid. Steel races/cones, and ceramic balls.