Ok old FSA BB is tired after 20 months, both the above are the same kind of money so what do I go for….I appreciate there may be customer service differences but am lazy and rarely send stuff back any way!…so product performance is the main criteria

Hides under desk…….

Rhetorical question right?

hope – Superstar BB’s don’t have a good reputation (2 mag reviews I’ve seen have both been very critical and there’s a wealth of anecdotal reports in here too).

hope. testimonials on here are enough to inform my decision.

I’ve had two superstar ceramics die in under a year.

Not tried the Hope ones.

If you really needed any more convincing, even googlefight says Hope

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=Superstar+Ceramic+BB&word2=Hope+stainless+BB

🙂

Nah Teeto…a genuine one I know Hope are bombproof in terms of customer service but as I said it was actual experience of product use I was after….I know the science behind ceramics and they should outperform stainless bearings…but as Singlespeedstu (cheers Fella) says his 2 haven’t…more comments like that really, cheers folks

I’ve never knocked Superstar before but yesterday I decided to replace my old/worn rear Shimano pads before setting off. Took out the rear wheel to find a set of new Superstar pads in there. I forgot that I had already changed them but they felt worn/almost as though they are contaminated.
I’d buy Hope TBH.

I’ve had my Hope SS one 6 months ish and had to re-pack nondrive side with grease, non left in it. Drive side was fine, but had to take seal off to find out and probably ruined it…

having had both – 2 SS ceramic; 1st sent back for warantee replacement after it lasted 2 rides, 2nd lasted 3 (admittedly big, but still…) muddy rides and now a hope stainless, which is still nice and smooth after 4 rides, including the strathpuffer solo

i’d say hope

not a lot of difference weight wise and the ceramic ones never seemed to spin any easier

whytetrash – Member
Ok old FSA BB is tired after 20 months

20months is a good innings for a HT11 BB, why not just get another FSA one?

I know the science behind ceramics and they should outperform stainless bearings

define “Outperform”.

I think outlast is the word he was looking for nick.

Nickc… Idea is that ceramic bearings are/should be/can be made to greater tolerances ie they are more spherical and therefore run smoother. They also should be able to run more easily without grease should it become washed out. harder material so less likely to wear with grit ingress and become sloppy…and yep whatsit a bit more life would be nice too!…if I can get back to the lifespan of my old WTB grease guard BB it would be great!

PS as expected Hope are winning so far!

So, what I don’t understand then, if all the performance benefits are true of ceramic-bearing BBs, why is the Hope stainless steel BB being recommended over the SSC ceramic one?

because the SSC ones are a very poor execution of a ceramic bb and the hope a very good execution of a stainless one.

But that can’t be right.

They also should be able to run more easily without grease should it become washed out. harder material so less likely to wear with grit ingress and become sloppy

whytetrash suggests that it doesn’t matter how well the actual BB is “executed” the performance benefits will overcome this. No?

anyone expecting a bearing with no grease in it and full of gritty water to last long is probably beign a bit optimistic, whatever materials it’s made from.

Possibly the only person not had any problems with a SSC ceramic BB.
It has been perfect for 7 months, only having regreased it in Jan as a matter of habit. It has been through some absolute crap but still keeps going. Cups are like cheese though, so when it does die i have a pretty pretty BB to replace it with (in some ways i do wish it would blody die 😀 )

chris king !?

Filthy…cheers mate you paying?…WWaswas… they were designed to be more fit and forget than stainless, run smoother and colder so more efficiently they are a lot more durable than steel as a material in the same circumstances…so it is a case of a good SS BB versus a budget ceramic?

in terms of bad experiences related so far it’s mostly Superstar…any others?

My SSC ceramic lasted about a year on a bike that gets ridden about once a month. In fact I’m pretty sure it handled only about 450 miles. Far from impressed. But it did last 9 months longer than the XTR bb that preceeded it …

… before fruit pitches up, it was installed on a freshly faced BB shell and torqued up accuratly, the c/set is XTR, so it’s pretty well machined …

Hope – lots of reports on here and in mags of SSC lasting 1 month whether SS or ceramic. Though some have been reporting ok. I think with my useage/riding style I could probably get away with a SSC but if you ride a lot/claggy areas/jet wash I’d say it’s a no no to SSC.

i use both an acros ssteal & a ceramic on different bikes.
the advantage of ceramic is the smooth drive you get but they do not like abuse/heavy rides or jumps as the actual bearings are more fragile.

the ssteal bearings are not quiet as smooth but can take much more of a beating as the stress on the bearings up & down on ceramic is what kills them beforew the mud 7 no i would not buy a superstar one

biggest difference with ceramic seems to be on a road bike – worth about 100m over a 10k distance for the same energy output.

Hope steel BB – 9 months riding, not touched it, keeps spinning…

Acros is worth a look as well.

2 mlehworlders had 5 SS bbs between them and not one fitted / worked( even after fitting with a rock)

Thanks richc…Acros 2 yr warranty…thats quite impressive

I wouldn’t get a SSC one – the last friend of a friend of someone’s brother I know on a forum I used to read who bought one caught instantly on fire, was smashed limb from limb and catapulted into deep space and back through time into the early stone age, and a 50 square mile perimiter has been set up around where it happened which won’t be safe for anyone to enter for 50,000 years.

jackthedog – Member

I wouldn’t get a SSC one – the last friend of a friend of someone’s brother I know on a forum I used to read who bought one caught instantly on fire, was smashed limb from limb and catapulted into deep space and back through time into the early stone age, and a 50 square mile perimiter has been set up around where it happened which won’t be safe for anyone to enter for 50,000 years

I’d buy another one if a thought that was going to happen instead of it just being a bit crap. 😆

don’t some FSA BBs and cranks use a different diameter axle?

needing something like this?

or is that just megaexo and GXP stuff?

Where is Fruit anyway ? Shouldnt he be here telling people its there fault and there the only ones having problems with them ?

I think ceramic BB’s have a lower co-efficient of friction meaning that they should be more free spinning as the surface of the ceramic bearing is smoother and harder than that of steel bearings…

You do get ceramic bearings on a ceramic inner race which would be the ultimate way to go, but some bearings may be ceramic bearings on a steel race, which is cheaper and I assume ultimately means that the ceramic balls are likely to have more of a wear effect on the steel race surface?

Regarding the SS ceramic vs Hope stainless question, and not getting ceramic as an answer is that its not necessairily an apples v apples comparison. I have zero experience of SS components so dont make any suggestion as to quality, however if you compared say a hope stainless with hope ceramic, the answer may be different in terms of which material lead to the higherst quality and durability and which you should buy.

What about the SKF bearing BB’s that Superstar sells? Surely these have got to be pretty good as SKF are well known as the best bearing maker in the world right? 😕

Not going by SKF ISIS ones, I killed 2 in 8 months.

we use skf bearings in our mafell products & they are poor.

Why not go for Hope ceramic BB? Best of both!

Hey scrappy …wow that was some ressurecting….thought somebody had nicked my identity!