CeramicSpeed Ceramic Race Coated Bottom Bracket - Threaded to GXP (SRAM)

CeramicSpeed Ceramic Race Coated Bottom Bracket - Threaded to GXP (SRAM) Info

The CeramicSpeed Race Coated Bottom Bracket in the threaded GXP mm version, aka the SRAM road model, can save you more than one watt over most SRAM threaded bottom brackets. That might not seem like much, but it is. Depending on your weight, and the bike, the change could be worth at least two centimeters a second.

CeramicSpeed is an innovator in bearing technology. The bike industry’s move from cup-and-cone bearings to sealed cartridge bearings made installation and maintenance easier, but performance was a mixed bag. CeramicSpeed mastered the use of ceramic ball bearings pressed into hardened steel races for both reduced friction and improved durability. You can go faster with less maintenance. Great things both. These are the reasons why pro teams seek out ceramic bearings. CeramicSpeed has the pro teams coming to them, begging for bearings. Even the ones they don’t sponsor might well be using them in order not to be left behind.

If you replace all your bike’s bearings with CeramicSpeed, you could be looking at a savings of 25 seconds in 40km if you’re riding at 48kph. The savings goes up to two minutes if you’re riding at 32kph. Extend that to an Ironman-length ride, and the savings could vary from 1:50, if you’re going 48kph to nine minutes if you’re going 32kph.

With bottom brackets, Friction Facts determined that CeramicSpeed’s standard threaded bottom bracket has a frictional loss of .45 watts.

CeramicSpeed utilizes Grade 3 Silicon Nitride balls that possess the best possible surface finish and roundness. In testing, the balls are 400% smoother, 128% harder, and 58% lighter than standard steel balls found in most bike components. They’re more than 100% smoother and 15% harder than standard ceramic balls. The balls are installed into hardened steel races in dust-free clean rooms and then checked again before assembly is complete. Not only is low friction the result, but so is increased bearing life. Like three to five times longer than standard bearings.

Another step they take in assuring the lowest-possible frictional drag is using grease they designed as lubricant. It comes in the bearings and a syringe comes with the bearings as well.

Part of CeramicSpeed’s commitment to having the lowest-friction bearings in the market is keeping up their research and development. That led them to finding a special metallic coating that can be applied three microns thick on the races. It makes the treated surface 80% harder than hardened steel. In terms of friction, the already low-friction CeramicSpeed bearings with the treatment see friction reduced by over 50%. In terms of service life, these coated bearings last even longer, like over 60% longer, than the standard CeramicSpeed bearings. Better yet, the coating means the races better resist contamination from water, dirt, degreaser, etc. Aka, the risk of bearing failure due to corrosion has been reduced to near zero. They can even run without grease or oil, though CeramicSpeed recommends their blue all-around grease, which comes packaged with the bearings, for regular use, and their TT grease for achieving the lowest-possible friction.

The threaded cups have been manufactured by Rotor. The bottom bracket width is 68mm for English-threaded bottom brackets, 70mm for Italian-threaded bb’s. The spindle diameter is 24mm on the drive side, 22.2mm on the non-drive.  GXP spindles are found on SRAM, Quarq, and Truvativ cranks.  Included with the kit are: bottom bracket, dust cover, grease, and sticker sheet.

The CeramicSpeed Ceramic Race Coated Bottom Bracket Threaded for GXP cranks makes you both measurably faster, and frees up your life because there’s less maintenance.