ceramic bearings

[Chris Barnes]

I know that top of the line professional bicycles use ceramic bearings. The general consensus is that they are worth it if you must keep up with the Joneses with a big budget but that there are generally a few better ways to spend money for regular folks.

Chris Barnes
Wagons of Steel
Stock 6621

[Jeff Lee]

Originally Posted by Chris Barnes

I know that top of the line professional bicycles use ceramic bearings. The general consensus is that they are worth it if you must keep up with the Joneses with a big budget but that there are generally a few better ways to spend money for regular folks.

Chris Barnes
Wagons of Steel
Stock 6621

I got on this kick when I took apart my son's fancy looking bike purchased from Wal-Mart. I wanted to see if I could make it faster. So I looked at the bearings and I was going to put synthetic grease in crank. The bearings and cage looked like sand cast bearings and the cage was a folded over piece of junk. Then I went to a bike shop and saw what the more expensive bikes used. And we're talking the $350 kids bikes over the $79 Wal-Mart bikes; not the high end race bikes. Night and day difference. Now I know why I get on my Wal-Mart Mtn. bike I'm huffing and puffing in a few blocks but when I try the other guys $800 bikes it's enjoyable.
But yes, I'm sure $$ can be spent elsewhere for better gains and if it's not in the budget, then that takes care of that. But then again I see people spend $20K on an engine and cry like a baby over spending $2,000 to $3,000 on a clutch that will actually let the car perform like it should.

[Chris Barnes]

It's just one more example of how a race car or bike is the some of it's parts.

Jumping on a nice bike after a crappy one is impressive. I think the biggest gain on a bike is the light wheels. If you could fit Lance Armstrong's wheels on your Huffy you would be amazed. Hold a heavy wheel in your hand and spin it, it will pull you around the room. Do the same with a light wheel and feel the difference. Of course you would also notice the better bearings during this experiment.

Speaking of bearings, wouldn't changing over to ball bearings and lighter lube accomplish much of what we're trying to get from the ceramics?

Chris Barnes
Wagons of Steel
Stock 6621

[Jeff Lee]

Originally Posted by Chris Barnes

It's just one more example of how a race car or bike is the some of it's parts.

Jumping on a nice bike after a crappy one is impressive. I think the biggest gain on a bike is the light wheels. If you could fit Lance Armstrong's wheels on your Huffy you would be amazed. Hold a heavy wheel in your hand and spin it, it will pull you around the room. Do the same with a light wheel and feel the difference. Of course you would also notice the better bearings during this experiment.

Speaking of bearings, wouldn't changing over to ball bearings and lighter lube accomplish much of what we're trying to get from the ceramics?

Chris Barnes
Wagons of Steel
Stock 6621

Back to my kids bike. I used synthetic grease and because the bearings and cages looked like they were pounded out in a sand pit in China, I saw no difference.
I've used Torco rear lube in my Dana and as I've said, it always looks new. I've also used Lubrication Engineering (?) sold by Lamb. It's good, it's very expensive and I saw a MPH increase. Not much but is was definitely there. I did go as high as 126 in D/S.
Something worked!