Enduro ceramic Bearings

cosman9373

Has anyone tried these, ceramic bearing kit for zipp 404? what do you think of them? Zipp say that other branded ceramic bearing kits can be worse than the standard steel bearings. This guy says they're grade 3 and zipps own ceramic bearings are grade 2 so they should be good on paper. They also make bottom brackets which got a good review on bike radar.

morana

cosman I got a kit a few years ago and seemed to notice a different. At the time I checked out the rating of the ceramics and they were better than the standard zipp bearings. I repalaced them last year because one of the bearings was kaput.

I thiunk you are better using ceramics were there is high rotation wheels, jockey wheels they would be wasted in a headset for example. I dont know about the BB. They are pricey and I got done for the duty on import !!

CheGuedara

Got ceramic hybrid bearings from em for my ksyriums, definitely better than stock mavic bearings - the bearing press to install them cost a bit though.

Zero problems to date so I'm convinced enough that they'll be going into more of my wheels in the future, like morana i'm not sure there'd be a great advantage to ceramic bb bearings though.

morana

CheGuedara wrote: »

Got ceramic hybrid bearings from em for my ksyriums, definitely better than stock mavic bearings - the bearing press to install them cost a bit though.

Zero problems to date so I'm convinced enough that they'll be going into more of my wheels in the future, like morana i'm not sure there'd be a great advantage to ceramic bb bearings though.

Could you not use a piece of threaded rod with 2 washers and nuts? Just tighten up and the bearings are pressed in. I have also seen a guy use a socket (from a socket set not the wall!!!) just tapping 3-6-9-12 gently.

CheGuedara

Just went with the get the right tool for the right job once approach. Never a query of damaging the new bearings or wether or not they're correctly seated & It'll also do press fit bb installs so getting multiple jobs out of it. I'm slowly earning it's cost back in bearing installs in anycase...

cosman9373

Sorry for the confusion I want to put them in Zipp 404's. Just Zipp say some unbranded ceramic bearing are worse than their steel ones. I suppose they would say that!!

@Morana, they're in wiggle , so that might be a way around customs. They are a lot more expensive though so might just take my chance.

They come with the puller too, is this all I need to do this myself?

CheGuedara

In the bearing kits you usually get a basic puller but TBH if the bearings coming out are knackered the job is easier just to tap them out from the other side of the hub (no special tool req'd short of a hammer and flat ended drift). FWIW I got mine from enduro themselves and customs didn't pay them any notice

cosman9373

CheGuedara wrote: »

In the bearing kits you usually get a basic puller but TBH if the bearings coming out are knackered the job is easier just to tap them out from the other side of the hub (no special tool req'd short of a hammer and flat ended drift). FWIW I got mine from enduro themselves and customs didn't pay them any notice

They're not knackered just fancy an upgrade. Need all the help I can get against Morana in the sprints, We've had a couple of battles already.

might look into getting them fron enduro themselves, what website did you get them from?

CheGuedara

I picked them up through their original (now 'B') website http://www.enduroforkseals.com/ - wasn't too slow on the shipping either, maybe a week/week & a half.

Know what ya mean about taking what help you can get - been trying my best to do better than hang off the back of one of our lot at training all year, I'm getting there through repeated HTFUings but I'll use the slippery bearing advantage on the bike where I can...

dave2pvd

Zipp wheel bearings are ABEC 5 and Grade 10. That's pretty good.

For a long time they didn't offer ceramic. I recall (but only wish I could find) an online article where one of their engineers discussed why. His reasoning? Ceramic bearings are pointless. Of course, now the Zipp marketing machine is 100% on board with the ceramic revolution, making all kinds of enhanced-performance claims.

Comparing a steel bearing set with a ceramic set of the same ball grade and race quality, you should have the same friction. This assumes the same seals and same lubrication.

As I see it, ceramic bearings have 4 main advantages:

• your wallet will be lighter, therefore faster
• the cartridge anodizing is more colorful
• they will spin smoother at 600C
• their 30,000rpm performance is unmatched by steel

Zorba

On a bit of a side note here but what type of grease would u use on them, just standard ball bearing type grease you'd get from any motor factors or would copper grease be any better cos it's water proof too ?

dave2pvd

Zorba wrote: »

On a bit of a side note here but what type of grease would u use on them, just standard ball bearing type grease you'd get from any motor factors or would copper grease be any better cos it's water proof too ?

They are cartridges. They will probably be sealed one side and shielded the other (inboard). So, no need to add grease.

cosman9373

dave2pvd wrote: »

Zipp wheel bearings are ABEC 5 and Grade 10.

If the enduro ceramic bearings are grade 5 also, is the difference minimal and I could probably waste my money on something else?

Lumen

cosman9373 wrote: »

If the enduro ceramic bearings are grade 5 also, is the difference minimal and I could probably waste my money on something else?

A quick Google suggests that total hub losses are less than one watt. Even if you could get bearings with zero drag, the effect would still be practically unmeasurable.

gman2k

I have a ceramic bearing BB on the MTB, and it spins much much smoother than the original XT BB. I was really surprised at the the difference.

Lumen

gman2k wrote: »

I have a ceramic bearing BB on the MTB, and it spins much much smoother than the original XT BB. I was really surprised at the the difference.

I have a ceramic BB on my TT bike just because it came with the groupset (SRAM Red). They use crappy thin grease to reduce the apparent drag, and therefore recommend re-greasing every 100km. Seal design also plays a part. Both lighter seals and lighter grease will make an unloaded bearing spin faster until the dirt gets in.

I can't believe it is possible to feel the effects of a set of ceramic ball bearings, all other things being equal.

DirkVoodoo

dave2pvd

Lumen wrote: »

A quick Google suggests that total hub losses are less than one watt. Even if you could get bearings with zero drag, the effect would still be practically unmeasurable.

Indeed, I'd wager that shaving off your eyebrows would be a more measurable power change.