Ceramic Vs Steel Bearings Bicycle

They ceramic bearings do run with less friction which offers a significant advantage in industrial applications running at 20 000 rpm.

Ceramic vs steel bearings bicycle.

Fitting ceramic bearings on your bike may be a bit like fitting a formula one gearbox in your ford fiesta and expecting it to perform as well after 100 000 miles. Cost of purchase for ceramic and steel bearings. The material can be polished smoother than any metal reducing friction and wear. This is mostly due to the additional time spent to perfect a quality ceramic ball.

The ceramic balls are often silicon nitride or equivalent. Most sealed ceramic bearings are actually hybrid ceramic bearings which combine a steel race with ceramic ball bearings. Cutting to the chase on ceramic bearings on a bicycle. Geometrically the contact points inner and outer dimensions and thickness between steel and ceramic bearings is the same so they are interchangeable.

The first thing that strikes the eye when looking at bicycle bearings is the difference in price between steel bearings and hybrid ceramic bearings. A tiny percentage reduction in friction here can equate to a worthwhile power saving but when you re only turning at 300 rpm as you do on a bicycle a small percentage increase in efficiency will make a negligible change to your power output. How to get the best performance from ceramic bearings ceramic speed. A ceramic bearing is also harder than steel bearings up to 30 which improves durability and they also don t rust so less maintenance should be required.

On a bicycle which is considered a low speed application compared to a formula 1 car or motorcycle engine for example the ball bearing material itself steel or ceramic has little to no effect on the friction of the bearing assembly.