# BB30 Bearings, Does the brand really matter that much?



## ziscwg (Apr 19, 2010)

It looks as if my bearings need to be replace. Was it the rainstorms? the fire roads?, who knows. One just isn't very smooth anymore. 

I'm not going ceramic, so don't go there. I don't see the benefit in the BB area.

I run the bb30 bearing with the std Force crankset and the Wheels Mfg BB30 adapters.

I have seen the stock ones listed and those Enduro BB30 bearings. Is one more durable? 

What lasts the longest?


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## Dan Gerous (Mar 28, 2005)

I have three BB30 bikes. Over the years, I've tried the standard Cannondale, Ceramic Cannondale, standard SRAM and Ceramic Enduro... The Enduro had the shortest lifespan by far... If I needed some, I'd take the non-ceramic from SRAM or Cannondale, price would be the deciding factor. I think ceramic bearings is just a marketing scheme...


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## tranzformer (Dec 27, 2007)

Agree with Dan. Ceramics are a waste. Go with Cannondale or SRAM bearings. Probably easier to get a good deal on SRAM bearings (sale).


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## rigelstar (Nov 12, 2011)

*ceramic bearings*

Full Ceramic Bearings are made entirely of ceramic material and are superior to common steel bearings in many ways. Ceramic is the perfect material for any application seeking to achieve higher RPM’s, reduce overall weight or for extremely harsh environments where high temperatures and corrosive substances are present. Applications such as cryopumps, medical devices, semiconductors, machine tools, turbine flow meters, food processing equipment, robotics and optics. Ceramic materials commonly used for bearings are Silicon Nitride (Si3N4), Zirconia Oxide (ZrO2), Alumina Oxide (Al2O3) or Silicon Carbide (SiC.)
Because ceramic is a glass like surface it has an extremely low coefficient of friction and is ideal for applications seeking to reduce friction. Ceramic balls require less lubricant and have a greater hardness than steel balls which will contribute to increased bearing life. Thermal properties are better than steel balls resulting in less heat generation at high speeds. Full Ceramic bearings can have a retainer or full complement of balls, retainer materials used are PEEk and PTFE.

Full ceramic bearings can continue to operate under extremely high temperatures and are capable of operating up to 1800 Deg. F. Ceramic is much lighter than steel and many bearings are 1/3 the weight of a comparable steel bearing. Full ceramic bearings are highly corrosion resistant and will stand up to most common acids, they will not corrode in exposure to water or salt water. And finally full ceramic bearings are non-conductive.

The purpose of a radial bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support loads. This is achieved by using two races to hold the balls and to spread the load through the balls. As the bearing race rotates it causes the balls to rotate. The ball provides for substantially less rolling resistance and coefficient of friction than if two flat surfaces were rotating.

Single-row, deep groove radial ball bearings are the most common bearing type, having a wide range of applications. Radial bearings are made with very high levels of precision and used in applications where rotational performance and low torque is necessary, but load is a secondary issue. Deep-groove bearings however do have higher load ratings for their size than shallow-groove ball bearings, but are also less tolerant of misalignment.

Ceramic hybrid ball bearings use ceramic balls. Ceramic balls weigh up to 40% less than steel balls, depending on size. This reduces centrifugal loading and skidding, so hybrid ceramic bearings can operate up to 50% faster than conventional bearings. This means that the outer race groove exerts less force inward against the ball as the bearing spins. This reduction in force reduces the friction and rolling resistance. The lighter ball allows the bearing to spin faster, and uses less energy to maintain its speed. Ceramic hybrid ball bearings use these ceramic balls in place of steel balls. They are constructed with steel inner and outer rings, but ceramic balls so they are known as hybrids.


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## tranzformer (Dec 27, 2007)

^ While what you say above might be theoretically correct, in real life many of us have experienced otherwise. Higher cost, decreased service life, negligible weight difference, and questionable benefit of watts saved has made many of us stay with steel bearings. Not sure I would have pay the extra $ for ceramic bearings that will die sooner.


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## rigelstar (Nov 12, 2011)

tranzformer said:


> ^ While what you say above might be theoretically correct, in real life many of us have experienced otherwise. Higher cost, decreased service life, negligible weight difference, and questionable benefit of watts saved has made many of us stay with steel bearings. Not sure I would have pay the extra $ for ceramic bearings that will die sooner.


All the cited data about ceramic bearings is _experimentally_ correct not just theoretically.


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## Dan Gerous (Mar 28, 2005)

Well pay for it if you think so, I wont.

You pay a huge premium (especially for full ceramic, balls and races), you'll save 1 or 2 grams, and unless you can pedal at a 873rpm cadence, it doesn't matter if they can handle higher RPM and higher temperatures that wont ever happen in a bike, steel bearings can already tolerate a lot more than the load, the RPM and the heat that can be generated in you BB.

Resist to acid? Sound like you copy pasted the marketing text form a ceramic bearing company. Yes ceramic bearings have advantages but in bike applications, they're mostly advantages that either don't matter at all or that are too small to matter. And I think people claiming they can feel a difference in friction from their BB bearings are full of it. The friction difference between regular and ceramic bearings is so minimal that one or the other are completely shadowed by the much higher friction in the rest of a bike drivetrain... so unless you don't have a chain on your bike, ceramic BB bearings are a big waste of money if you ask me.


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## tranzformer (Dec 27, 2007)

rigelstar said:


> All the cited data about ceramic bearings is _experimentally_ correct not just theoretically.



You haven't used ceramic bearings yourself have you? 

The next time you copy paste info and pass it off as your own, please provide the link. Plagerism and all that jazz. 
Radial Full Ceramic Bearings


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## tranzformer (Dec 27, 2007)

rigelstar said:


> All the cited data about ceramic bearings is _experimentally_ correct not just theoretically.


Please show me the experiments/data that the ceramic bearings are better than high quality steel bearings for a BB30 bike. Thanks.


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## SpitFir3 (May 14, 2012)

I used a enduro grade 5 ceramic bb before and it didnt last as long as my standard sram ones..


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## gus68 (Oct 19, 2010)

The next time you copy paste info and pass it off as your own, please provide the link. Plagerism and all that jazz. 
Radial Full Ceramic Bearings


thats funny^^^^


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## rigelstar (Nov 12, 2011)

Content scraping is copying and pasting from websites and blogs.

Free online tools are becoming available to help identify plagiarism, and there is a range of approaches that attempt to limit online copying, such as disabling right clicking and placing warning banners regarding copyrights on web pages. Instances of plagiarism that involve copyright violation may be addressed by the rightful content owners sending a DMCA removal notice to the offending site-owner, or to the ISP that is hosting the offending site.

Detecting plagiarism even by detection tools can still be difficult, as plagiarism is often held to not only be the mere copying of text, but also the presentation of another's ideas as one's own, regardless of the specific words or constructs used to express that idea. However, many so-called plagiarism detection services can only detect blatant word-for-word copies of text.


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## tranzformer (Dec 27, 2007)

^ Are you a bot?


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## Dan Gerous (Mar 28, 2005)

Huuu, unsubscribe.


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