Ceramic Bearings Vs Steel Bearings Bicycle Wheels

Steel bearings are commodity items that are composed of hardened steel balls and a steel inner and outer race.

Ceramic bearings vs steel bearings bicycle wheels.

Ceramic bearings are in actual fact hybrid. The folks at enduro bearings argue that for bicycles the materials are far more important than abec ratings and that for most applications abec 3 and 5 are appropriate for all things bicycle. The first thing that strikes the eye when looking at bicycle bearings is the difference in price between steel bearings and hybrid ceramic bearings. Second well made high quality ceramic bearings can have a significantly longer lifespan than the commonly used stock steel bearings that come installed on most production bikes.

The ceramic balls are often silicon nitride or equivalent. So for safety reasons ceramic wheel bearings on bicycles are in fact almost always hybrid design meaning ceramic balls on steel races. The material can be polished smoother than any metal reducing friction and wear. The other apparent advantage of ceramic is that it is a harder material.

This is due to the hardness of the bearings. They use ceramic balls and usually a steel inner and outer race. How to get the best performance from ceramic bearings ceramic speed. Cracking a race could stop a wheel from turning instantly and no good comes of wheels permanently locking up on a bicycle.

This is mostly due to the additional time spent to perfect a quality ceramic ball. It takes weeks for a kogel ball to sit in a tumbler and be perfectly polished. They are also lighter than equivalent steel bearings so swapping to ceramic bearings will reduce the weight of your bike. Steel bearings the silicon nitride used in kogel ceramic bearing balls has a set of material properties making them perfect for bicycle wheel bearings.