Ceramic Bearings Vs Steel Bearings Bicycle Wheels

While regular bearings are made from stainless steel ceramic bearings are made from ceramic silicon nitride si2n4.

Ceramic bearings vs steel bearings bicycle wheels.

This is due to the hardness of the bearings. The material can be polished smoother than any metal reducing friction and wear. Ceramic bearings are in actual fact hybrid. They are also lighter than equivalent steel bearings so swapping to ceramic bearings will reduce the weight of your bike.

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. The first thing that strikes the eye when looking at bicycle bearings is the difference in price between steel bearings and hybrid ceramic bearings. Steel bearings the silicon nitride used in kogel ceramic bearing balls has a set of material properties making them perfect for bicycle wheel 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. Rolling resistance is the key trump card promoted by ceramic bearing fans. They use ceramic balls and usually a steel inner and outer race. Because ceramic races are more brittle than steel.

The other apparent advantage of ceramic is that it is a harder material. The ceramic balls are often silicon nitride or equivalent. Cracking a race could stop a wheel from turning instantly and no good comes of wheels permanently locking up on a bicycle. How to get the best performance from ceramic bearings ceramic speed.