Ceramic Bearing Vs Steel Cycling

However the reality of why some bearing designs are faster than others doesn t always align with what is presented.

Ceramic bearing vs steel cycling. I albeit lighter at 160 lbs use standard bearing in both my rain and training bike and haven t had any problems. Cost of purchase for ceramic and steel bearings. Hybrid ceramic vs steel bearings. The ceramic balls are often silicon nitride or equivalent.

Steel bearings are commodity items that are composed of hardened steel balls and a steel inner and outer. Ceramic bearings are in actual fact hybrid. On the one hand much of the cycling public associates bearing upgrades with going ceramic and on the other hand there is a healthy chunk of cyclists from all demographics who believe ceramic bearings are just marketing hype and a waste of money. The influx of ceramic bearing development into the bike industry sparked needed focus on reducing rolling friction in bearings.

Next there is the lubricant. This article to try to assist with this fun little area. I have around 8k miles on one set and over twice that on the other. Internal bearing construction ceramic bearings are not 100 ceramic.

Ceramic bearings are often represented as the ultimate way to minimize rolling friction on your bike. The first thing that strikes the eye when looking at bicycle bearings is the difference in price between steel bearings and hybrid ceramic bearings. Most cycling bearings feature a steel race though some do use a ceramic race which we will briefly touch on later. Is this the first time it s happened or is this a reoccurring problem.

This is mostly due to the additional time spent to perfect a quality ceramic ball.