What is the reason for using steel race ceramic ball bearings in the bike industry?

[zmalwo]

What are the reasons behind the usage of only steel race + steel ball and steel race + ceramic ball bearings in the bike industry? would there be any disadvantage if I for say use a ceramic race + ceramic ball bearing instead of the former 2 such as this?

https://www.dhgate.com/store/product...48412314394630

[zmalwo]

Wrong section please move to General discussions thanks

[kramnnim]

I always heard that hybrid bearings were used because they are cheaper, but are pointless because the ceramic balls wear out the softer races?

[zmalwo]

From what I read, ceramic balls on steel race does not offer wattage savings unless both race and balls are ceramic... It makes me curious on why ceramic race + ceramic balls bearings aren't used in the bike industry.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by zmalwo

From what I read, ceramic balls on steel race does not offer wattage savings unless both race and balls are ceramic... It makes me curious on why ceramic race + ceramic balls bearings aren't used in the bike industry.

Ahhh, the annual discussion about the silliness of ceramic on bikes..along wth tubular, Campagnolo, and frame material discussions(altho Tubular, Campagnolo and steel are the correct choices..ceramic is not..)

Ceramic bearings are designed for high pressure, high temperature, hi speed applications..Or places where it needs to be either non magnetic or non conductive(electricity)..None of this exists on a bicycle. The 'wattage' saved is teeny tiny and lost in the noise.

So, why do they exist? As a guy at the shimano booth at interbike said, as I pointed to an odd widget on a bike, 'it's for selling'..and so it is.

So many better places to put your "$LOT$ of money" than ceramic anything.
Yup, even ceramic bearing headsets...yee gads.

[Matthew]

That's so your bars slam your top tube much faster in a crash. Forcing you to buy another frame.

[-dustin]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

As a guy at the shimano booth at interbike said, as I pointed to an odd widget on a bike, 'it's for selling'..and so it is.

for the record, Shimano also publically state that they would "never produce a 700c mountain bike wheel."

but yeah....it's for selling.

[dem]

Ceramic-on-ceramic are fragile and can shatter under shock.

There are full ceramic jockey wheel bearings (Tiso) and bottom bracket bearings for track use.

The main advantage would be not requiring seals. Much of the drag of a good steel bearing is actually the dust/water shields. Allegedly, the ceramic is hard enough it just grinds up dirt/dust and spits it out.

[NHAero]

Piggybacking here - what about bottom brackets (like from Wheels Manufacturing) that offer either angular contact or regular contact bearings? Why would we want angular contact (more $) in a bike BB?

[zap]

Is there anything superior (lasting smoothness ) than Phil Wood bb, Campy Record or Shimano DA bearings?

[bigbill]

The freehub on my Record hub rear wheel has ceramic bearings. QBP accidentally sent the ceramics (6803 maybe) instead of the standard ones I ordered. I was .0001% faster after that. They've been in there since 2008.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Piggybacking here - what about bottom brackets (like from Wheels Manufacturing) that offer either angular contact or regular contact bearings? Why would we want angular contact (more $) in a bike BB?

Angular contact bearings are better at supporting combined axial and radial loads, and they are more tolerant of bearing misalignments. This often makes them more suitable for BB bearings, which can experience high radial and axial loads, and which often depend on the tolerances of the BB shell for their alignment (or misalignment, as is sometimes the case).