BryanD wrote:
Comparing material specs between Ceramic Speed and SLF Motion. Ceramic Speed uses aluminum pulley wheels and a plastic cage. I have heard of people breaking these cages.
SLF Motion cages won't break because they are made out aluminum. You also get titanium wheels and coated bearings. Oh, you want coated bearings with Ceramic Speed? Add another $100.
Blake also offers different colors. It's 100% better, stronger, cooler, and cheaper than anything Ceramic Speed makes.
I have also heard of people breaking these cages but I also don't know how many of those stories are from people NOT knowing what they are doing during installation. I talked to a few of the people and they didn't even lengthen the chain which could result in broken cages real fast. I have broken a Shimano cage before too and that was not the result of chain length I can assure you and I did switch to an aluminum cage after the Dura-Ace one broke. How has Ceramic Speed handled the customer cage replacements, anybody??? Did they beef up the design, I haven't heard of a cage breaking in quite a while.
In regards to SLF, I don't mind that the cage is made out of aluminum, but it seems like it isn't going to be shaped aerodynamically, or at least not as easily. As it stands my Berner cage seems like a solid option still. It is a 13T-15T and it has been shown to reduce friction to a great degree. The 13T-15T allows me to run 32T rear cassette with hopefully a smaller profile at low yaw, and possible even more aerodynamic at higher yaws. Although it is carbon, it is super beefy and I don't expect it to break any time soon and hasn't in the 5+ years of using.
I have also heard stories of SLF bearings slowing to molasses. Again it is hard to say without direct feedback and what kind of care the users put in. They are just anecdotes from others but I tend to believe that companies partnering with Ceramic Speed for bearings (I.e. Specialized) are doing their own due diligence and Ceramic Speed passes the test.
Colors doesn't influence my decision. Being *cool* does not impress me. People who actually are cool don't try to be cool and don't give two cents what other people think. Price is hugely important but they are up there with Ceramic Speed. But if price is a big seller then why should I just not go with a
$80 KCNC system?
Lastly, I'll say we don't and we won't ever know the performance of SLF Motion. Simply put while they marketed their products against a specific test, they can't really do that. The products they marketed against were independently tested and purchased by the 3rd-party tester without the knowledge of the company. In the case of SLF they sent their products in for testing. How do we know they didn't send in an ABEC 9 bearing but sell an ABEC 1 in the actual consumer product? To think they can market data from a completely different test is just not kosher.
Fwiw, you don't need coated bearings and titanium wheels. If you want to go nuts with that *cool* factor then knock yourself out but the OSPW gets you 99% of the benefit, the extra 1% is trivial. Ceramic Speed cages are made of polyamide and carbon fwiw.
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