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Ceramic Wheel Bearings


Rush2112

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Durability over the long term is what I would wonder about.

From my first post, "Benefits are they are more durable (4 times more than steel balls), less friction, lower manufacturing tolerances, and more heat tolerant with less thermal expansion."

Bringing this one back from the dead. Spotthedog posted this up on the VTR250 forum.

http://vtr250.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&p=6601&sid=7686ab2ccee614d38d53de4d51975a00#p6599

One of the threads I read is quoted below. I can't remember what I read that netted 5% but that may be optimistic.

Fianlly a trusted source has dynoed these gains. Thanks Tommy Micili, a kick-ass drag pilot/builder:

http://www.cqcmagazine.com/jul-05/citizen/index.htm

"I just did a Ceramic wheel bearing test on a 2007 GSXR 1000 2 days ago. We made numerous pulled on the bike then pulled the rear wheel and replaced the wheel bearings with WWB (World Wide Bearings, Inc) ceramics. The bike picked up just over 3 HP at peak but picked up 6 pounds of torque. This increase is shown through out the entire range. I will have the results up on our website in a couple of days. Here are some results on the same test I did on a 2006 ZX10.

http://www.psndealer.com/dealers....ngs.jpg

"Both of these bikes had under 100 miles on them. I have also tested these bearing in my stock 2000 Busa which had 10,000 miles on it and the gains were between 4 and 5 HP. I did another test on my busa in which I disassembleld the motor and Microblue coated the internals and put ceramics in the the trans, that mod netted 12 HP. I have dyno sheets on all of my tests and I'm happy to pass them on. PM me if you have any questions.

"95% of all Prostock race vehicles in every form of motorsports run ceramic bearings wherever possible. If they didn't work they wouldn't be using them. These guys are the best in the world and they believe in the benefits of Ceramic bearing over conventional bearings.

"Microblue is a friction fighting coating that we use on anything that moves. Microblueracing.com is the website. Ask for Craig and tell him I sent you, he can educate you best on these coatings.

The bearings are still really pricey. But considering how they are still less than a full exhaust system, it's not that bad for those in the hunt for more HP.

Do you know if Tommy used full ceramic bearings where the race and balls are made from ceramic or hybrid ceramic bearings where only the balls are ceramic and the races are stainless steel? I chased the links but two off them wouldn't load.

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From what I've read, the bearings are still the steel and chrome races with ceramic balls.

Those are the hybrid bearings and I installed them on my 5th gen front wheel about 1 1/2 yrs ago when my stock wheel bearings went bad... love them! Smooth as glass and have never given them a second thought. I'm a happy convert and was planning on adding them to my project track bike... not right off the bat, but as a future upgrade once I get it running and the suspension sorted out. Price has come down a little since I last bought them... about -10% I bought mine from VXB and a quick check for the VFR front wheel bearings shows they have gone up ~10%... the decreased price was for the set I was looking at for my R1 wheel.

VFR front wheel bearing:

http://www.vxb.com/page/bearings/PROD/Kit8172

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... less friction = less wasted power. With wheels spinning at >2000 rpm that heat and friction adds up... apparently this guy dyno'd it and got the results to prove it

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Couple forums say this the guy for ceramic :

http://www.worldwidebearings.com/index.htm


... less friction = less wasted power. With wheels spinning at >2000 rpm that heat and friction adds up... apparently this guy dyno'd it and got the results to prove it

yeah rear wheel only because the front wheel is clamp in ..

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Couple forums say this the guy for ceramic :

http://www.worldwidebearings.com/index.htm

... less friction = less wasted power. With wheels spinning at >2000 rpm that heat and friction adds up... apparently this guy dyno'd it and got the results to prove it

yeah rear wheel only because the front wheel is clamp in ..

You can't dyno a front wheel of course, but are you saying there are no friction loses there when riding at speed? Is it far fetched to extrapolate and infer that there is lost power in the front wheel due to bearing friction?

Worldwide Bearings web site just has contact info, no ability to search, price, or shop online

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Color me still skeptical about a 3-5 hp gain with wheel bearing change. But that's just me.

I would be less skeptical about the friction coated ceramics. Not all bearings are created equal. It is a bit hard to imagine that the rotating mass in a bearing is at all significant compared to the rest of the wheel, but friction is friction. Maybe 5HP from switching out the transmission bearings is more likely and not the wheel bearings.

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Color me still skeptical about a 3-5 hp gain with wheel bearing change. But that's just me.

I would be less skeptical about the friction coated ceramics. Not all bearings are created equal. It is a bit hard to imagine that the rotating mass in a bearing is at all significant compared to the rest of the wheel, but friction is friction. Maybe 5HP from switching out the transmission bearings is more likely and not the wheel bearings.

In the post I thought they said they gained 12hp from changing the transmission bearing and applying the internal Microblue coatings.

Although the rotating mass is reduced, I don't think that is where the friction reduction comes from......according to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory:

"Silicon nitride ball bearings are harder than metal which reduces contact with the bearing track. This results in 80% less friction, 3 to 10 times longer lifetime, 80% higher speed, 60% less weight, the ability to operate with lubrication starvation, higher corrosion resistance and higher operation temperature, as compared to traditional metal bearings."

I think many of us are looking at wheel friction when we lift a wheel off the ground and spin it... at these times there is very little load on the bearing and most likely the majority of friction is the seal. Put the wheel on the ground, under a couple of hundred pound load, at 120+ mph and there is significant amount of drag from friction in the bearings... we can reduce that by some amount, possibly up to 80%, with a performance ceramic bearing. This has been researched by people way smarter than me and applied by racing teams throughout motorsports with positive results. It's not as sexy as pumping up the engine... but it makes more power available to move the bike forward faster.

:wheel:

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The MotoGP boys have ceramic bearing in the tranny ?

Don't know... but they do have ceramic bearing transmission kits for CBR600 & CBR1000

Total waste of time unless you are racing, they do NOT do anything useful & are of NO benefit to a normal road machine.

If they don't do anything useful then why use them for racing?

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For the same reason they use ultra-high ratio gears and slicks: every little bit helps, but it isn't anything you're going to run for street use. But ceramic bearings for everyday usage, meh. IMO of course.

:cheerleader: A certain amount of cool factor, but you'd have to make sure everyone knew about it. :cheerleader:

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If I was looking for a project, I'd install them just because. Kinda like carbon fiber.

I'm sure they benefit in some applications, but I wouldn't expect any. Well, except saying that I gots me some ceramic bearings :cheerleader:

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If I was looking for a project, I'd install them just because. Kinda like carbon fiber.

I'm sure they benefit in some applications, but I wouldn't expect any. Well, except saying that I gots me some ceramic bearings :cheerleader:

Tranny install also ? Can I be next on the list of installs but have to have it back by TMac 2014 .

:goofy:

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How about our resident drag strip runner give them a shot after he gets his dyno done on everything he has done so far. The bearings are going to be cheaper than a port and polish methinks.

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If I was looking for a project, I'd install them just because. Kinda like carbon fiber.

I'm sure they benefit in some applications, but I wouldn't expect any. Well, except saying that I gots me some ceramic bearings :cheerleader:

Tranny install also ? Can I be next on the list of installs but have to have it back by TMac 2014 .

:goofy:

Oh no. Tranny didn't even enter my mind :wacko:

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How about our resident drag strip runner give them a shot after he gets his dyno done on everything he has done so far. The bearings are going to be cheaper than a port and polish methinks.

At least 4 of the 5 VFR wheel bearings are available in ceramic... to the best of my knowledge they don't make ceramic needle bearings for the rear SSS. I'll dyno my track bike before and after I put them in... just need to find a good tuner in St Louis

:cheerleader::cheerleader::cheerleader:

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