Motorcycle Wheel Bearings

Ceramic bearings are all the rage, I hear.

Nice bike....I would stick with OEM...or if you have have one of the big bearing suppliers near you, and time to kill, you might take your bearing down to see what they could offer...

Ceramic bearings are great for very arduous environments, eg. high temperature, corrosive environments, difficult lubrication, etc. None of these apply to street bikes, so there is really nothing to gain (apart from an extremely miniscule weight saving). I don't think you will see any noticeable difference or reduction of friction with alternative bearings, whatever the cost.

As other posters have suggested, you won't get much less friction with other bearings. Ceramic bearings are for applications other than low friction such as high heat or extra stiffness in the bearing such as what you would want in a machine tool spindle.

The detail you probably should be more interested in is just what bearing number they are...(not the motorcycle OEM part number!)...in most of the bikes I've dealt with used the ubiquitous "6000" series bearings which have to be the most common bearing in the world...read "inexpensive". These are the bearings with numbers like 6002, 6202, 6302 and a few others. The second digit designates the bearing series and the last two digits represent the size. The reason I bring this up is because you will find the cost difference between bearings from your bike dealership and the same bearing from a bearing supply house remarkable. Just stick with brand name bearings like SKF or NTN.

Most of the friction from your wheel bearings comes from the grease lube, so you might consider thinner grease but you need to concern yourself about if it will stay in the bearing. This kind of detail is splitting hairs and you probably would get a lot more bang for your buck by working to reduce the aerodynamic drag of your two wheeled rocket ship!!

Hope this helps,

Jon.

Thanks all, yes the Erion Rep above is the same color. I will stay away from the ceramic for reasons stated. I own a machine shop here in the silicon valley and deal with Motion Ind. all the time so it will be the OEM as suggested. Normally I do remove the grease and repack with my blend, although I am pushing the envelope on drag. At first thought I had the fastest 929 in the world until my son showed me all the feathering on the rear tire due to slipping (just can't push it through the air due to the drag.)

Thanks, Bob

Hi Mr Bob,

As suggested previously I would go to the local bearing supplier and get the same bearing at the non OEM price.

I have had flat tyres on my bike on both the front and back, at different times thank God. I hate to think how exciting a ceased bearing or a disintegrating bear would be. Just imagine it. The skid marks on the road would be nothing compared to the skid marks on the seat. Pity the pillion passenger.

BAB