Ceramic bearings

ravenvrider
ravenvrider Posts: 198
edited June 2014 in Road general
Need to change my bearings, wanted to know if ceramic bearings are worth the money...or has anyone used cheap ceramic bearings on ebay, found these last night and was curious.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BB30-B-Bright-Bottom-Bracket-Bearings-Chrome-Stainless-Ceramic-FSA-SRAM-/151275130942?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&var=&hash=item2338b3503e a lot cheaper at £26 a pair, but if they're crap waste of money.

Interested in views, experience.

Comments

  • sigorman85
    sigorman85 Posts: 2,536
    Buy cheap buy twice
    When i die I just hope the wife doesn't sell my stuff for what I told her I paid for it other wise someone will be getting a mega deal!!!


    De rosa superking 888 di2
  • DavidJB
    DavidJB Posts: 2,019
    sigorman85 wrote:
    Buy cheap buy twice

    Not always true.
  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 17,386
    i'd be wary, there's no mention of tolerance or quality of these bearings, they might be fine, they might not

    bb30 is sensitive to poor tolerance, effects could range from creaking, to shell/spindle damage due to fretting, to rapid bearing wear due to race distortion

    fwiw i once tried some cheap full ceramic bearings just out of interest, after just a few minutes they were clearly not doing well, and i put my old sram red bearings back (which are still running fine at c. 30,000km)

    i then did what i should've done before trying them and measured the cheap ones... yep, the outer races were out of tolerance
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    sungod wrote:
    ... after just a few minutes they were clearly not doing well,

    You bought a set of bearings and in "...just a few minutes...." they went bad????
    Sounds like operator error to me. :roll:
  • iPete
    iPete Posts: 6,076
    sigorman85 wrote:
    Buy cheap buy twice

    Would you like some snake oil with your ceramics? :wink:
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    ravenvrider wrote:
    Need to change my bearings, wanted to know if ceramic bearings are worth the money...or has anyone used cheap ceramic bearings on ebay, found these last night and was curious.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BB30-B-Bright-Bottom-Bracket-Bearings-Chrome-Stainless-Ceramic-FSA-SRAM-/151275130942?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&var=&hash=item2338b3503e a lot cheaper at £26 a pair, but if they're crap waste of money.

    Interested in views, experience.

    Sounds like you're looking to try and buy performance. Not gonna happen. Stick with steel and you'll be just fine. Plus you'll have a bit more money in your pocket. Now, if this is for showoff / bling value, well, that's another story.
  • drlodge
    drlodge Posts: 4,826
    I've got ceramic bearings on my BB (Campag Super Record Ultra torque), Campag suggest to use oil on these bearings rather than grease else the benefits of ceramic are negated. After some "ticking" which I reckon was caused by a bit of dirt in the bearings, I got some Campag Lithium grease and covered the bearings in it thereby protecting them better from dirt and debris.

    I have now certainly lost the benefits of noisy cermic bearings :lol:

    Ceramic bearings - just a bunch of small, hard bollox
    WyndyMilla Massive Attack | Rourke 953 | Condor Italia 531 Pro | Boardman CX Pro | DT Swiss RR440 Tubeless Wheels
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  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    I'm sure I've seen studies that showed ceramic bearings had no noticeable effect. I'd just go metal and save the cash.
  • mr_evil
    mr_evil Posts: 234
    I bought a BB with cheap ceramic bearings last year as an experiment after the previous BB with stainless bearings was damaged by being soaked in water one too many times. The ceramic bearings also got wet quite a few times, but were undamaged and worked fine again after regreasing. Maybe better quality steel bearings would also have survived, but ceramic has worked for me there.
    sungod wrote:
    ...fwiw i once tried some cheap full ceramic bearings just out of interest, after just a few minutes they were clearly not doing well, and i put my old sram red bearings back (which are still running fine at c. 30,000km)...
    If they really were full ceramic then they probably cracked. Ceramic races are too brittle to withstand the forces a bicycle puts on them, so usually only hybrid ceramic bearings (ceramic balls and steel races) are used.
    https://mrevil.asvachin.eu/
  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 17,386
    dennisn wrote:
    sungod wrote:
    ... after just a few minutes they were clearly not doing well,

    You bought a set of bearings and in "...just a few minutes...." they went bad????
    Sounds like operator error to me. :roll:

    no, it sounds like bad quality

    which you'd know if you understood the subject

    as it is, your ignorance leads you into mere trolling
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny
  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 17,386
    Mr Evil wrote:
    I bought a BB with cheap ceramic bearings last year as an experiment after the previous BB with stainless bearings was damaged by being soaked in water one too many times. The ceramic bearings also got wet quite a few times, but were undamaged and worked fine again after regreasing. Maybe better quality steel bearings would also have survived, but ceramic has worked for me there.
    sungod wrote:
    ...fwiw i once tried some cheap full ceramic bearings just out of interest, after just a few minutes they were clearly not doing well, and i put my old sram red bearings back (which are still running fine at c. 30,000km)...
    If they really were full ceramic then they probably cracked. Ceramic races are too brittle to withstand the forces a bicycle puts on them, so usually only hybrid ceramic bearings (ceramic balls and steel races) are used.

    no, not cracked, still got them as amusing paperweights

    nor are ceramics too brittle for the trivial forces of a bicycle, but in this case bad tolerance resulted in the races distorting, which leads to extremely rapid wear with such hard materials, so now one bearing will spin for only a fraction of the time that the other will

    both inner races also seemed out of tolerance judging by the ease of fitting to the spindle - which measures fine
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    sungod wrote:
    dennisn wrote:
    sungod wrote:
    ... after just a few minutes they were clearly not doing well,

    You bought a set of bearings and in "...just a few minutes...." they went bad????
    Sounds like operator error to me. :roll:

    no, it sounds like bad quality
    which you'd know if you understood the subject

    So you understand the subject, yet you still bought them? That makes sense. Then you put them in and they went bad "...in just a few minutes..."? What you're saying screams operator error, wrong bearing, bad installation, etc. Even the worst of bearings will last more than your couple of minutes. You made a mistake if what you're claiming is true. :?
  • mr_evil
    mr_evil Posts: 234
    sungod wrote:
    ...nor are ceramics too brittle for the trivial forces of a bicycle...
    Just look at the specs for full ceramic bearings - their impact load ratings are only a small fraction of what a steel bearing can take, so even the "trivial forces of a bicycle" can crack them.
    https://mrevil.asvachin.eu/

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