That time a customer's squeaky chain taught me how to spot fake ceramic bearings

I was working on a guy's road bike at the shop in Portland last month, and his drivetrain sounded like a haunted house. I kept checking the chain and cassette, but the noise was coming from the hub. Turns out he'd bought some cheap "ceramic" bearings off Amazon, and they were basically plastic with glitter. Now I always ask folks where they got their bearings before diving into a full tune-up. Has anyone else run into these fake ceramic bearings causing weird issues?

3 comments

3 Comments

smith.elliot9d ago

Hang on a sec though because theres another angle here nobody talks about. Those fake bearings can actually wreck your hub's races too cause the plastic dust mixes with grease and turns into this gritty paste that chews up the metal surfaces. Had a guy bring in a wheel where the cheap bearings had basically sanded down the inside of his hub shell to the point we had to replace the whole thing. So even if you swap em out fast the damage might already be done to the hub itself.

felixlane9d ago

But what kind of timeframe are we talking here? Like, how many miles before that grit does real damage to the hub shell. I've got a spare wheel I'm nervous about now.

rodriguez.mia9d ago

Whoa @felixlane, I've seen those cheap bearings hold up fine for thousands of miles personally, your mileage may vary though.