ceramic Bearings

[rockstar]

Hi Yall.
I read in another thread on a m/cycle question that he was advised to use ceramic bearings,now i have never heard of these kind of bearings,are these special LSR items or are they readily available to the general public,do they come in many sizes to fit M/cycle wheels,and are they used for low friction purpose's or to combat salt attack type corrosion?

thx in advance.


David

[Dean Los Angeles]

CERAMIC BEARINGS
Ceramic is the new Holy Grail! Its lighter, smoother, stiffer, harder, corrosion resistant, and electrically resistant. These fundamental characteristics allow for a wide range of performance enhancements in bearings. Ceramic bearings dissipate heat quickly, reducing friction and wear while maintaining a precision smooth surface. Today's leading edge ceramics are made with Silicon Nitride (Si3N4) and have characteristics similar to the heat absorbing, highly resilient tiles on the Space Shuttle.

If you look at a standard 6203 bearing, 17mm shaft, 40mm od, 12mm width, from McMaster-Carr they are $4.53. A more precision bearing will set you back $12.97. Stainless steel $32.11. A full ceramic bearing from Boca Bearings is $269.95. You've gotta want that last .001% to spend that kind of money. There are also partial ceramics with ceramic balls and steel races.
Material is only one part of the bearing equation. More precise bearings have less friction and run truer.
Precision ball bearings are manufactured to standards established by the Annular Bearing Engineers Committee (ABEC) ABEC-1 is a precision bearing, ABEC-9 is the most precision bearing. (I've never seen an ABEC-9)
Check here for ABEC info.
http://www.bocabearings.com/docs/info/ABEC_Info.asp
Golden question. What is the differece? Don't we all wish we could find the answer. I suppose you could spin the bearing up to operational speed and see how long it coasts. Build a bearing dynamometer?

[desotoman]

Dean,
 
   Very informative. Thanks.

Tom G.

[rockstar]

Hi Dean.
thanks for the info,so looking at cost V friction V corosion,it seems to me being a newbie that the main use in lower speed vehicles would be for the resistance to salt corrosion or have i got a totally wrong idea?

David

[John Noonan]

The Industries Largest Supplier of Bearings for Motorcycle's , ATV's, Snowmobile's & Go Karts

Worldwide Bearings was created in 1994, We are the world's largest supplier of bearings for the powersport industries. Motorcycle, ATV, Snowmobile, Go-Kart, and Watercraft. We specialize in high performance applications as well as everyday rebuilds. No order is too large or too small for us to handle. We work closely with a few bearing factories and are happy to quote on special sizes made to order.

Call Dave at 800-575-3220 the company is Worldwide Bearings, great stuff and awesome performance at a much more reasonable example already posted above.

[rockstar]

Hi John.
Thanks for the contact address,in you honest oppinion as a very experianced salt racer,do you think that ceramic's are worthwhile investment,bearing in mind (no pun intended) we are doing Prod M/Cycle class or should we stick to normal steel bearings?
Your thoughts on the subject would be gatefully recieved.

[John Noonan]

Rockstar,

Everyone of the top teams in SS-1000, Streetbike Shootout (Prostar) and many other sucessful racers run them and have great sucess with them, well worth the $ and not anywhere as expensive as the previous quote when buying them from Worldwide bearings, tell Dave I sent you when you get a quote.

Good luck.


J

[rockstar]

Hi John.
Once again thanks for the info,will contact them.

David

[Loose Goose-Terry#1]

Since the inside of a motorcucle engine is not the cleanest place for a bearing to live, how do the ceramic bearings cope with the clutch junk, carbon, metal dust from the gears, etc. I tried high precision bearings in a 2-cycle Kart engine a long time ago and promply locked it up  (makes a horrible noise stopping from 16,500 RPM to 0 in 2.3 revolutions). High precision bearings are OK for instruments, but not engines. Do the ceramics have that much better performance and reliability? 

Terry

[John Noonan]

Since the inside of a motorcucle engine is not the cleanest place for a bearing to live, how do the ceramic bearings cope with the clutch junk, carbon, metal dust from the gears, etc. I tried high precision bearings in a 2-cycle Kart engine a long time ago and promply locked it up  (makes a horrible noise stopping from 16,500 RPM to 0 in 2.3 revolutions). High precision bearings are OK for instruments, but not engines. Do the ceramics have that much better performance and reliability? 

Terry

Well thay have held up at an average speed of 259+mph for an ENTIRE mile and not just the length of a small straight away of a smaller timed section at several race venues so yes I would say they hold up perfect however I only order mine from WWW.Worldwidebearings.com

John

[Dean Los Angeles]

I tried high precision bearings in a 2-cycle Kart engine a long time ago and promply locked it up

That certainly shows the difference between a 4-cycle and a 2-cycle, and the benefits of a good filter! You would have locked up any bearing. If it didn't lock up the bearing it would have scored the cylinder, stuck the reeds open, fouled the spark plug . . .