New ceramic bearing player -JTEKT and ONI bearings

[Buzz Killington]

Full disclosure: I'm an employee of JTEKT, but handle their Aero, Auto, and Industrial products. Moderators, if this should be moved to Vendors please do. This is not an official Product Announcement, but just me sharing the news.

JTEKT (formerly went to market as Koyo) has introduced their ONI bearings specifically for the cycling market. We are making ceramic hybrid bearings for hubs and bottom brackets. We invented the ceramic hybrid bearing back in 1984 and applying everything we know to make these. I know plenty of skeptics for ceramic bearings, marginal gains and all that. Here's a link for more info:
https://jtekt-na.com/products/koyobe...times%20longer

If anyone wants to nerd out on the details, they can PM me and I'll share. I'm purposely leaving out the if/where/how to buy because I don't want this to sound too much like an ad.

[wallymann]

No campy UT compatible options yet?

[Buzz Killington]

I believe PT and UT bearings are the same.

[David Benson]

Originally Posted by Buzz Killington

I believe PT and UT bearings are the same.

Nope
The width of the bearings is different

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Buzz Killington

I believe PT and UT bearings are the same.

No..The PowerTap ones are 7mm, the UT ones are 6mm, width.

6805..37x25x7mm...6805'N'-37x25x6

Not to wee in your wheaties but ceramic are great for very high speed, very high temp, very high pressure..particularly when they can't easily get contaminated..Some pure ceramics, where magnetivity or when electricity may be involved, are a great idea...

Not much of the above with a bicycle...IMHO..

[KrispyK]

Excited to see Jtek entering the market. I have some experience with the bearings in Arya Track Discs and they were the nicest bearings ive ever used.

Where will they be available?

[Caballero]

These, if as good as KOYOs regular bearings will be far better than ceramic speeds to be sure.

[lexlion]

No 6806? Doesn't Visma use Sram and thus Dub bottom brackets?

[bikemanhb]

Ceramic bearings are great but maybe not for bicycles.

I worked for the machine tool division of JTEKT for 20 years. Their main product is CNC horizontal machining centers. The cutting tool is powered by a large motor called a spindle. Our spindle speeds ranged from 6,000 to 25,000 RPM (from memory). We only used ceramic bearings for 15,000 RPM and above.

Yes, you can feel a difference when spun by hand. How much of that disappears when you add drivetrain friction?

[bikemanhb]

At JTEKT we did not use ceramic bearings in low speed applications for another reason. Low speed milling tends to be for bigger/deeper cutting, to remove more metal per pass. This puts increased loads on the bearings. Ceramic bearings proved to be "brittle" under very high loads.

[Buzz Killington]

JTEKT will be at the Hincapie Fondo this weekend in South Carolina with their bearing demo unit. Come spin the wheels and see the difference. Is there a difference, can you feel the difference, is the extra cost worth it, am I going to win the Tour next year? All good questions I'm not going to answer for you. Well, I will say you won't win the tour next year. Enjoy the ride to all the participants and stop by the booth if you'd like.