Ceramic bearings from China

stubs

I have been looking on ebay for some bearings and came across these full Ceramic bearings from China. They seem a reasonable price but has anyone used them, I know the skateboard and inline skate folks use them because they are theoretically lower resistance but will they stand up to Pennine grit.

njee20

The whole point is that they're designed to be much tougher than steel (and the grit) so they will theoretically last longer than any steel/hybrid bearing, whilst also rolling faster. They're quite brittle - and can chip or crack if you're not careful.

They are very cheap for full ceramics. I'm almost tempted to try them!

BigLee1

Will they really make much difference? I`d just get some good quality steel sealed bearings and give them a service every so often

njee20

They're lighter, roll better, last longer and need less maintenance. Much difference? Subjective, won't be life changing.

At £50+ each I'd not bother, but those are cheaper than many steel bearings. Which makes me suspect they're pants, but you never know.

stubs

njee20 wrote:

At £50+ each I'd not bother, but those are cheaper than many steel bearings. Which makes me suspect they're pants, but you never know.

My thoughts exactly but for the price of a takeaway it has to be worth a punt so I think I might order a pair and give it a go.

njee20

Interested to hear how you get on!

rockmonkeysc

No reason to suspect the quality. The ceramic bearings I use at work come from China and cost bugger all. The shortest life we have had from one in wet, horrible low speed installation is around 8000 hours.
Delivery can be very slow though, dont be surprised if its 6 weeks or more.

njee20

Full ceramics though, or hybrids? Plenty of cheap hybrids out there, but those are the first full ceramics I've seen cheap.

rockmonkeysc

Im using full ceramic double row bearings and paying less than most stainless.

njee20

Happy days!