moppeddler

I'm thinking about ordering some new wheels today, and have a question about hubs. It's a $100 upgrade for ceramic bearings. The steel ones are Japanese EZO, which are supposed to be pretty good. They didn't provide info that I saw about the ceramics. Is there a big difference in performance? What about durability? Is it worth the cash? $100 is not a big deal to me as long as I'll get some benefit from it and it isn't a maintenance issue. Thanks in advance for any help someone can give me.

Homebrew01

placebo as applied to bicycles. They have real benefits in heavy industry.

SirHustlerEsq

I bet you're buying Flos, lol. I have 30s with the standard bearings and I'm happy I guess, I don't know what a bad bearing rides like. It's highly likely the ceramic bearing will last longer just by the nature of the materials though, if ceramics are used on the ball bearings, both races, and cage material if a cage is utilized (I did not open mine up yet and don't plan to).

muzpuf

Ceramic bearings were developed for high temperature high rpms which would destroy grease and oil. Bicycles don`t operate in excess of 10,000rpm or at 100`s of degrees C............ also if the races are not full ceramic races you will still need to service them anyways to prevent the races from pitting 100.00 buys a lot of bearings



100 7/32"inch Steel BB Bearing Balls Dia/Diameter G25 7.99
https://www.ebay.com/itm/100-7-32-inc...item19b35aaa23

100 1/4" inch Diameter Chrome Steel Bearing Balls G25 Ball Bearings 8593 4.95
https://www.ebay.com/itm/100-1-4-inch...item1e7fa12487

NEW PHIL WOOD GREASE 3OZ WATER PROOF GREASE BICYCLE BIKE 9.39
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-PHIL-WOO...item43bbbe1deb

Park Tool DCW-4C Bike Bicycle Double-Ended Cone Wrench 13/15mm qty 2 11.98
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Park-Tool-DC...item53fc24a2b8

..................................................................and that still leaves 62.00 for a case of Guinness............................................................................................ ...........

rpenmanparker 

Ceramic bearings for bicycles are a fugaboo, hoax, etc. No practical value whatsoever. Stainless steel is your best value compromise.

muzpuf

unless you live near costal areas where
Galvanic Corrosion will eat stainless steel bearings due to the salt in sea air ....stainless steel + salt= galvanic corrosion

Psimet2001 

The ceramic bearings used are usually hybrid bearings that are actually of a lower grade than the typical steel bearings. Marketing purposes only - in reality.

rpenmanparker 

Actually SS + salt + moisture + an anodic metal = galvanic corrosion. Galvanic corrosion only occurs between two metals of differing electro-chemical potential.
Most stainless steels resist corrosion, even galvanic corrosion in the presence of salts better than mild steel or CrMo steel. What chloride ion does to stainless steel is cause chloride stress cracking in parts subjected to high tensile stresses. With today's sealed cartridges and liberal greasing, I wouldn't worry about stainless bearings in a salt environment any more than other steels. However, if you think that ceramic bearings are worth the difference for this one advantage, I wouldn't try to dissuade you. That is one application where it might make some sense. See this discussion: https://www.estainlesssteel.com/corrosion.shtml

soma5

In my experience the hybrid ceramic bearings don't last as long and are much more expensive to replace. I replaced mine with stainless steel bearings after two bad bearings (freehub and another rear hub bearing) and was much happier. The first time it was only after about 5,000 miles so I figured it was a fluke. The second time I realized this was going to be the pattern and went with stainless.