C-BEARINGS

C-bearings

Ceramic Bearings are indeed a very expensive upgrade, but in the long term they are more cost effective. It’s quite amazing with all the new technology that we still use the ball bearings. There is simply nothing better out there at the moment which does the same job.

The main parts of your bike to upgrade with ceramic bearings in order to increase performance are wheels, crank and jockey wheels on your rear gear mechanism.

The Ceramic bearings as opposed to the standard steel bearings are made of a far superior material. Ceramic silicon nitride (SI2N4) is rounder with a much smoother surface. This reduces friction and drag which, in turn, means less energy is used.

After some research, the consensus is that the ceramic bearings can last up to 10 times longer, being much stronger than steel. The lack of friction can save up to 9 watts and are the best preforming bearing underload.

I have been given a set of wheel bearings by C-bear who are based in Belgium and I have been testing them in the Portuguese mountains. What struck me was the lovely way C-Bear is branded on the casing a very nice touch and the finish was of a high standard.

Most importantly, I would recommend you take your wheels to a professional to remove your old bearings and install the new as special tools are required and the last thing you want to do is ruin your nice new bearings. A few weeks back I took mine to Cycle Space, who are based in Coimbra here in Portugal, and watched the owner and top cycle mechanic, Hugo Rodrigues, remove the old bearings and install the new ones. Watching Hugo remove and fit everything with precision, I realised just how important it is to know exactly what to do and to have the right tools, so please bare that in mind before undertaking it yourself.

Have a look at the pictures of Hugo in action (below) and you will see how much is involved.

For a set of wheels you require 6 bearing cartridges, 2 for the front wheel hub and 4 for the rear wheel (two for the hub and two for the free body what the cassette fits on) which can be a different size to the hub bearings, so just make sure you get the correct set for your wheels. They come in complete sets for your particular brand of wheel as they differ between brands.

When I first went out testing the bearings, straight away I felt the difference in the rolling speed, free-wheeling for much longer. The true test was when I was out with my good friend, Ricardo, who has a new top-end Trek with deep section good quality wheels, but doesn’t have ceramic bearings, just standard steel bearings. He is slightly heavier than me and when free-wheeling down the mountain he should roll away from me, but this wasn’t the case and I found myself rolling away as we were both free-wheeling down the mountain. So, there is a difference in performance definitely and I would say if you want to improve your wheels this is the way to go, especially with TT bikes as rolling speed is so important. The improvement was very noticeable. But, as mentioned, the initial layout is a lot of money although in the long term you save, not only on buying new standard bearings less frequently, but also the labour cost and not forgetting the performance advantage!!

The initial cost of the C-Bear ceramic bearings is around £130 but may increase when buying bearings for your free body as well. On C-Bear’s website there is a list of bearings linked to most brands of wheels on the market and if you are not sure you can email them and they will be happy to help and guide you to order the correct bearings. They also do bottom brackets, jockey wheels and headset bearings.