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[This article was originally published in November 2015 and updated in November 2019]

Despite the latest developments in road bike design and technology, your bike still relies on humble ball bearings to ensure everything goes smoothly. There are bearings in the hubs, earphones, bottom brackets, pedals, and racing wheels, which are usually made of steel. In recent years, ceramic bearings have been hyped up, and many people claim that they provide performance upgrades. But what is a ceramic bearing, and what are its advantages and disadvantages?

Ordinary bearings are made of stainless steel, while ceramic bearings are made of ceramic silicon nitride (Si2N4). Rolling resistance is the key trump card for the promotion of ceramic bearing fans. Because ceramic bearings are rounder, have a smoother surface, more uniform size, and reduce friction, this helps reduce the energy required to turn a crank or spin a wheel. Ceramic bearings are also harder (up to 30%) than steel bearings, which improves durability, and they will not rust, so they require less maintenance. 

Most sealed ceramic bearings are actually hybrid ceramic bearings, which combine steel races and ceramic ball bearings. All ceramic bearings use ceramic races, which can be lighter and provide the lowest friction, but at the cost of durability. Unsealed ceramic bearings can be used to upgrade components that do not use cylindrical bearings, such as cup and tapered hubs.

It is in the professional field, a place obsessed with marginal revenue, that ceramic bearings have become popular in the past few years. Naturally, where professional players are leading, amateur racers and sports cyclists follow closely behind and are keen to take advantage. So should you follow in the footsteps of professional racers and upgrade your bike with ceramic bearings?

CeramicSpeed ​​is a Danish company established in 2007 that specializes in providing high-quality ceramic bearings for the bicycle industry. It is the favorite of many professional bicycle teams-you don't have to go far to find the company label on any license plate. A frame or hub with a bearing. Great changes have taken place in the past two years, and more and more customers are keen to take advantage of ceramics. According to the company, the use of CeramicSpeed ​​bearings in the hub, guide wheels, and bottom bracket saves up to 9 watts of power compared to a set of standard bearings

"Compared with ordinary bearings, CeramicSpeed ​​bearings have two main advantages," explains Martin Banke, Managing Director of CeramicSpeed. "In many cases, the service life of well-built high-quality ceramic bearings is 10 times longer than commonly used stock bearings. The "rule of thumb", as we call it when it is well made, is made of high-quality materials. Ceramic bearings should It can always be more durable and perform better than steel bearings.

"The second advantage of ceramic bearings over steel bearings is their ability to reduce resistance under load. Performance cyclists are performance-driven, and all data shows that the best performance in reducing resistance is ceramic bearings. "

In theory, this should mean that less energy is required to turn the wheel or crank. Coupled with lighter weight and higher durability, why not use ceramic bearings? But are all ceramic bearings the same? Of course not. CeramicSpeed ​​keenly pointed out that not all ceramic bearings are the same. It tells us that ceramic bearings made of inferior materials will have a poor life.

"A lot of bearings can spin well in the hand, but this is not enough by itself," Bank said. "This is actually about the performance of the bearing under load, including drag reduction performance and service life performance. We are now beginning to see the'transition in the ocean'. This is a common understanding that ceramics are indeed durable, if the quality is sufficient High is very advantageous."

When the benefits sound so good, you would think that all component manufacturers will use ceramic bearings, right? Hope Technology, a highly regarded British component manufacturer, believes that efficiency savings are simply insignificant and not worth the cost increase.

“We have studied ceramic bearings in the past and discussed with our bearing suppliers,” explains Alan Weatherill of Hope. "They do run with less friction, which is a significant advantage in industrial applications running at 20,000 rpm. The small percentage reduction in friction here can equate to worthwhile energy savings, but when you only spin at 300 rpm At times, just as you do when riding a bicycle, a small increase in efficiency has a negligible impact on your power output. Of course it’s not worth the substantial increase in cost.”

Paul Lew, a leading industry wheel dynamics expert and CEO of Edco Wheels, supports this and believes that this makes ceramic bearings a poor choice for wheels and earphones. ) The environment is beneficial every minute) is required.

"For bottom bracket applications, the maximum continuous speed may be 130," Lew explained. "For wheel hub applications, the maximum speed may be 500-600 revolutions per kilometer (depending on the wheel/tyre diameter). The maximum rpm value in the cycle is much lower than the typical ideal rating of ceramic bearings of 10,000 rpm+."

Obviously, Allen and Paul agree on the factors that make ceramic bearings very suitable for industrial and medical equipment applications, as well as drone motors running at high altitudes (Paul did a lot of designing drones) at high speeds and low loads. And the operating conditions are clean, these factors mean that they are not suitable for cycling.

"Ceramic bearings are very useful in environments where grease lubrication is not required," Lew said. However, bicycles need to deal with various conditions, rain and dirt, and maintenance schedules that may not be ideal, and the last thing you want is to ride the bearings without grease. According to Paul Lew, it is this requirement that responds to conditions common to cyclists and offsets the lower rolling resistance promised by ceramic bearings.

"Compared with ABEC 3, 5 or 7 steel ball bearings, the rolling resistance of ceramic bearings is offset by the resistance of grease," he said. "In order to make ceramic ball bearings perform better than steel ball bearings, grease is not an option. Does this mean that I should run my ceramic ball bearings dry or use light oil? Yes, but you would not like the bearings may be The result in a contaminated environment. If you dry the bearings, they will feel rough and rough."

Alan Weatherill of Hope agrees with Paul Lew's conclusion that ceramic bearings are not suitable for the needs of cycling, and stated that their suitability for industrial machinery does not necessarily provide cyclists with the performance advantages that many people and companies claim.

"Another problem with using them [ceramic bearings] on bicycles is their hardness," Wessel said. "While this is once again an advantage in many industrial applications, it is a major disadvantage of bicycles. Impact from potholes and other road imperfections can impact hard ceramic balls into commonly used softer steel raceways. When the bearing rotates, you will feel this kind of dent in the race, making the bearing rough."

Weatherilll and Lew are skeptical about the overall advantages of ceramic bearings. Even more blunt is Sachin Hanbini of Hanbini Project. An aerospace engineer has built a fanatical following for his harsh criticism of the manufacturing quality of the bicycle industry, especially when it comes to press-in bottom brackets.

The following are his views on ceramic bearings. Warning: adult language.

There is also the fact that ceramic bearings are not cheap. CeramicSpeed's BSA Road outer bottom bracket for threaded frames is priced at £298. The bottom bracket of Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 costs £39.99, which is much cheaper if you shop around. The CeramicSpeed ​​bearing upgrade kit for Campagnolo and Fulcrum wheels will cost £120, while Zipp charges £194 for the CeramicSpeed ​​bearing kit for its wheels. This makes upgrading to ceramic bearings an important investment, which is great for professional cycling teams, but not for private racers.

The premium of ceramic bearings is high. Although their advantages look promising in an ideal world, they seem to be much less in the harsh environment where bicycles are expected to operate and survive. So should you choose ceramic bearings? We will let Paul Lue have the final say.

"Although the resale markup/profit of ceramic bearings is significant to manufacturers such as Reynolds, and they may represent the profit center of the brand, we chose not to provide them because they do not improve performance, and they represent that we cannot The cost of proof to consumers, which runs counter to our value system," he concluded.

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David worked on the road.cc technical team from 2012-2020. Prior to this, he was the editor of Bikemagic.com and previously a staff writer for RCUK. He is an experienced cyclist in all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, from traveling to off-road, he just hopes he has time to ride all of them. Although he will never admit, he is slightly more competitive and often participates in road racing, but he is too lazy to do a good job. He currently lives in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him on his own YouTube channel David Arthur-Just Ride Bikes. 

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