Ceramic bearings. . .nope

We have gotten a lot of questions lately about whether we will supply wheels with ceramic bearings. The quick answer is that we don't, we use very high quality steel bearings in our hubs (made by Enduro which is considered the top quality bearing in the bicycle industry). A good high quality steel bearing rolls just as nice as ceramic bearings and last much longer.

A lot of times when you see explanations of why ceramic bearings are better they show wheels spinning upside down with no load on the wheel. Under these conditions the ceramic bearings will spin longer, but none of us ride with our wheels in the air (hopefully). With load on the bearings the high quality steel bearings spin just as well as a ceramic bearing. Ceramic bearings are also much harder than standard steel bearings, this hardness can actually wear grooves into the race surrounding the bearings. When the grooves start to appear this bearings do not roll very smooth and need to be replaced. This is why the ceramic bearings usually need to be replaced sooner than steel bearings (at a much higher cost).

Many of you know that I have also been a developer for the iBike power meter. Doing this has taught me exactly where the energy needed to overcome forces comes from. Bearing friction accounts for a very small percentage of rolling resistance, and rolling resistance accounts for an even smaller percentage of forces you need to overcome when riding a bike. The difference in wattage even possible from bearings is a fraction of a fraction of a percent at best. A much better investment at a much cheaper cost is to get better tires with a lower rolling resistance.
Here is a great article showing the rolling resistance of various tires so you can see which ones will help you the most.
http://www.biketechreview.com/tires_old/images/AFM_tire_testing_rev9.pdf

Why do so many companies push for ceramic bearings? Because they can make more money off them. There is a big markup on more expensive bearings but we don't like to play those games with our customers. We know that the high quality steel bearings will perform just as well as ceramic bearings, last you longer, and keep your costs down for the wheelset. This is why we do not use ceramic bearings in any of our builds.

Note: If you still have your heart set on ceramic bearings, the bearings in our hubs are easily replaceable. It is very easy to take the Enduro bearings out of the hubs and replace them with the bearing type you prefer. This is the only way to get ceramic bearings on our wheels.