It varies...a lot. We do our own BB bearing testing to assist the product managers in OE spec decisions, and ceramics have been included in those efforts, but those results and how we rank them (cost vs life, etc) aren't necessarily applicable to an aftermarket-oriented question like I'm guessing yours is. More to the point, within "ceramic" bearings there's a lot of variation to begin with and we certainly haven't tested everything that's available on the market...so it's hard to give a definitive answer.
This article (and the ceramics portion in particular) is a great introduction to the topic. The frictionfacts guys don't go after the lifetime question, but their BB bearing results are still useful for those who want to come up with their own (short term?) value calculations. (yes, you have to pay to get the brand names associated with the results)
Carl Matson
This article (and the ceramics portion in particular) is a great introduction to the topic. The frictionfacts guys don't go after the lifetime question, but their BB bearing results are still useful for those who want to come up with their own (short term?) value calculations. (yes, you have to pay to get the brand names associated with the results)
Carl Matson