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[NEW2elec]

Ahhhh the blissful sound of silence.  That was my first time putting a bike wheel back on and like so many other things it sure was easier taking it off   One other thing I noticed, my range had gotten down to about 7 miles a bar with the bad bearings instead of the 10ish with my slower riding around the house. I had been chalking it up to colder weather but I'll check the bearings pretty quick next time I get a drop in range.  Thanks for all your help and advise guys maybe it will help someone else as well.   Forums are great!

[Doug S]

Has anybody gone ceramic with their wheel bearings? My bike is in the shop with failed rears, at 24,000 miles, and I'm thinking I'd just as soon only pay them once to replace the bearings. But I'm an EE, not an ME, so I don't really know bearings very well. Is ceramic a straight upgrade over steel? I would think ceramic might be less like to deflect, but might fracture under a heavy impact. Is that not a problem for ceramic bearings? Also, is the "hybrid" bearing (ceramic balls, steel races) good enough, or do I want the full ceramic ones? At Amazon (not that I'm going to buy there, but just for a price comparison), the steel ones are $8 each, the hybrid ones go for $47 each, and the full ceramic is over $100 each.

[Fivespeed302]

Has anybody gone ceramic with their wheel bearings? My bike is in the shop with failed rears, at 24,000 miles, and I'm thinking I'd just as soon only pay them once to replace the bearings. But I'm an EE, not an ME, so I don't really know bearings very well. Is ceramic a straight upgrade over steel? I would think ceramic might be less like to deflect, but might fracture under a heavy impact. Is that not a problem for ceramic bearings? Also, is the "hybrid" bearing (ceramic balls, steel races) good enough, or do I want the full ceramic ones? At Amazon (not that I'm going to buy there, but just for a price comparison), the steel ones are $8 each, the hybrid ones go for $47 each, and the full ceramic is over $100 each.

Everything I've read about ceramic bearings says they are incredible.  They supposedly last much longer and allow the wheel to spin with a considerable amount of less friction.  I've already made up my mind, ceramic is the only way to go.  Of course, my current bearings are fine at 5,000 miles, but if and when they go, I won't even think twice.

What I'm curious about is how much extra range would you get?

[Doug S]

After speaking with two of the MEs here at work, I decided to go with a full ceramic bearing (not just ceramic balls with metal races). They're close to $100 a pop (times four since I also decided to replace the front ones), but I've been convinced they will wear much longer and I probably won't have to replace them again.

I'm skeptical about "reduced friction" claims. Since they don't corrode, and are considerably harder than steel, some of the ceramic bearings are actually run dry, without any grease or even oil. That would make them spin longer under a no-load case, since wheel bearing grease is pretty viscous, but I don't think it represents much friction reduction in the real-world, loaded case. Spinning a bicycle tire or skateboard wheel and watching it go forever doesn't really speak much to its performance on a motorcycle wheel, I don't think.

[MrDude_1]

After speaking with two of the MEs here at work, I decided to go with a full ceramic bearing (not just ceramic balls with metal races). They're close to $100 a pop (times four since I also decided to replace the front ones), but I've been convinced they will wear much longer and I probably won't have to replace them again.

I'm skeptical about "reduced friction" claims. Since they don't corrode, and are considerably harder than steel, some of the ceramic bearings are actually run dry, without any grease or even oil. That would make them spin longer under a no-load case, since wheel bearing grease is pretty viscous, but I don't think it represents much friction reduction in the real-world, loaded case. Spinning a bicycle tire or skateboard wheel and watching it go forever doesn't really speak much to its performance on a motorcycle wheel, I don't think.

They do have less friction. You can noticeably coast longer with them on both motorcycles and bicycles.
I cant skateboard very well myself, but hanging around those that do (and with stupid money) they go faster downhill with ceramic bearings.
I have no doubt they actually work... but I cant justify their cost on a conventional bike.

Personally I tend to get around 45,000 miles out of wheel bearings on sportbikes. My CBR, 749 and 999 all needed bearings around then.  I never replaced the bearings in the hawk rear wheel.
On my dirtbikes I dont have exact miles, but somewhere around 5k is about right.