I need a new bottom bracket
Sram - $50
Ceramic Speed - $350
For $300 difference, is it worth it?
Speed? Lifetime? Quality?
Tks for any comment
Speedwise I would say a Ceramicspeed BB is about the most expensive speed you can by in terms of $/watt. Even by their own published data the watt savings are pretty negligible. Reliability/lifetime is another story. I recently put one on my wife’s trainer bike because she sweats so much we were replacing bottom brackets every ~6 months. Ceramicspeed has so far held up great for about a year and I don’t expect to ever have to replace it.
no
But one can justify many things that are a no 
(or at least I have over the years)
.
I put one in my hard tail mountain bike, it is my wet weather race bike, so the lifetime warranty was worth it to me.
The crank without a chain will spin for days, they spin so smooth my stages is enough counter weight for it to always end up at as the lower crank when spun freely.
I do not think you can quantify it, especially when run through a derailleur with a clutch, but I swear it pedals better now.
No
.
I would recommend Phil Wood “carbonyte” steel bearings.
Have you looked at Kogel?
Even if ceramic bearings cost the same as good steel ones it is probably still not worth it. The free spinning you see at the bike shop is because ceramic bearing companies don’t put grease in the voids.
Even if ceramic bearings cost the same as good steel ones it is probably still not worth it. The free spinning you see at the bike shop is because ceramic bearing companies don’t put grease in the voids.
And they use no contact or low contact seals.
I have. I put a 200 euro dub bottom bracket in my brand new Scott foil frame. It creaked like there was no tomorrow. Uninstalled greased and reinstalled a couple of times to no avail. Fortunately I could afford a 35 euro Sram dub BB and problem solved.
IME… no. I’ve not used CS BBs but I did use another brand(forget what brand) in my TT bike. Initially they were great but honestly not much different than a good steel bearing as far as I could tell in actual riding/racing.
I also have a ceramic BB (BBInfinite) in my road bike… they spin great and all but I’m not so sure they’re any different in real world riding vs. a good smooth spinning steel BB.
Why do I have ceramic BBs in both then? Ran across good deals and paid about steel BB prices.
No way would I pay for a CS BB.
ABEC 5 grade steel ball bearings with non contact seals.
NSK, FAG, NTN etc.
Find online or at your local industrial supply store.
This will be just as well without the crazy cost of ceramic.
get a hawk racing BB.
As fast as any ceramic and only 25% of the price.
get a hawk racing BB.
As fast as any ceramic and only 25% of the price.
Have you looked at their prices lately? They have really gone up and their pressfit cups suck. The nylon ones in my BB386 frame compressed so much I could slide the bearings out of the cups or the cups out of the frame by hand. Maybe they are using metal ones now, but I’m not paying to find out. I recently replaced them with a Kogel BB and it’s nice and tight again. Kogel constantly throws in derailleur pulleys with BB purchases, so it almost seems reasonable to go with them if you’re also looking for both and flirting with the idea of something besides a basic SRAM BB or Ceramic Speed.
I also had the Hawk derailleur pulleys go to crap pretty quickly because the seals were nearly non existent. They have good BB bearings that I will slide into another shell, but their current prices don’t reflect their quality.
From old frictionfacts testing, SRAM GXP steel bearing to Ceramicspeed would give you a 0.08w watt advantage
That’s $3750 per watt
CS may have improved and if you have BB30 the difference is much larger. But we’re not looking at a huge potential for gains here.
I need a new bottom bracket
Sram - $50
Ceramic Speed - $350
For $300 difference, is it worth it?
Speed? Lifetime? Quality?
Tks for any commenthttps://www.hambini.com/product-category/bottom-brackets/
https://www.hambini.com/ceramic-bearings-vs-steel-bearings-an-engineering-analysis/