Ceramic Bearing Vs Steel Cycling

The influx of ceramic bearing development into the bike industry sparked needed focus on reducing rolling friction in bearings.

Ceramic bearing vs steel cycling.

On the one hand much of the cycling public associates bearing upgrades with going ceramic and on the other hand there is a healthy chunk of cyclists from all demographics who believe ceramic bearings are just marketing hype and a waste of money. Next there is the lubricant. Ceramic bearings are in actual fact hybrid. I albeit lighter at 160 lbs use standard bearing in both my rain and training bike and haven t had any problems.

Hybrid ceramic vs steel bearings. Cost of purchase for ceramic and steel bearings. They use ceramic balls and usually a steel inner and outer race. This is mostly due to the additional time spent to perfect a quality ceramic ball.

Steel bearings are commodity items that are composed of hardened steel balls and a steel inner and outer. However the reality of why some bearing designs are faster than others doesn t always align with what is presented. Ceramic vs steel bearing bb for durability. Is this the first time it s happened or is this a reoccurring problem.

This article to try to assist with this fun little area. Most cycling bearings feature a steel race though some do use a ceramic race which we will briefly touch on later. Internal bearing construction ceramic bearings are not 100 ceramic. Lubricants vary greatly in viscosity thickness finding varying points in a trade off between bearing protection and lower friction.

The ceramic balls are often silicon nitride or equivalent.