In my experience ceramic bottom bracket bearings are almost essential for the current outboard bearing systems.

When I first installed an FSA megaexo bottom bracket I was appalled at how much drag there was. Shimano DA was only marginally better.

Then I upgraded to Enduro Zero and it was so much better. In fact they spin just as nicely as my old Campy Record square taper !

I have read some good things about the Enduro models from other sources too.

It seems that across the board many are a bit disappointed by the bearings, not just me.

I have my doubts about ceramic bearings in general.

An engineer friend of mine tells me that bike parts never spin fast enough to actually enjoy an advantage over steel and that seal drag might be most of what we're feeling when we spin them in our hands.

He may be right, but like Ian, I was concerned by the drag of my Chris King bottom bracket, so I swapped in a ceramic-hybrid SRAM bb. Much smoother. Been meaning to get the Chris King ceramic races. Don't know if it makes me faster. But the easier spin affords me a little peace of mind.

Maybe the issue is seal drag. Maybe it's grease thickness. MAybe it's ball roundness and race smoothness. Maybe it's everything. Maybe it's nothing.

I've been running ceramic bearings in my pulley wheels for several years. They definitely spin easier than the original Campagnolo sleeve bearings (aka bushings).

Here's a second review:
http://www.competitivecyclist.com/review-ceramic-upgrades/ceramic-speed-pulleys_450.html

There is an obvious difference between a standard 7900 BB and a ceramic one from Enduro.

not to be a curmudgeon, but we have a Bicycle Tech/Gear Discussion thread already

http://kissena.info/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=87&page=7#Item_43

the reason we centralize this stuff is:

(a) to make searching simpler

(b) to lower redundancy and clutter

(c) to achieve the "network externalities" of getting more eyes on a single, centralized thread, and thus, more ideas/input

please do a search for thread topic before you start a new one

hall-monitor out!

Greetings from down under! Yes, Kissena is now well represented in Melbourne, Australia. After settling in and adjusting to life outside of NY while expecting a baby in April, I finally got my new road bike up and running yesterday. Big thanks to Pete and the Ride Brooklyn crew for sourcing a frameset and building it up with SRAM Red right before my flight outta Brooklyn. After a quick ride my initial observations tell me the Cannondale Evo lives up to all the hype - truly comfortable yet stiff as f**k.

As you know there is no language barrier relocating to Australia, but shit sure does work differently. Racing license and other fees differ a bit. Once I get sorted I'll be looking forward to some local crits and also racing at one of the many fine velodromes in the area. They're like movie theaters out here. More to come from the race front soon.

Hope all is well back in the states.

Gil
http://dailysnob.blogspot.com

Gil - wow so quick into the club so you could fly the colors in Australia. What took you there?
Good luck with the baby -- that is great news.
Keep us posted.

Crickey !! that is a hot bike...

Gil. Great post! Get ready for some hard yakka mate — those Aussi's are no joke on the bike.
Also, Aussi drivers can be a bit psycho.

(Yakka, Jagera Aboriginal language meaning hard work)

awesome pic and awesome bike, gil

what's happening down in Oz for you?

Hey Gil,
Glad to hear your settling in well! The Evo is looking hot. Let me know if your ever back in the states.

Badass bike Gil!

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

Back in September 2009, my mom, big brother, brother-in-law and 2 sisters headed down under to for a vacation to visit our uncle, aunt and cousins who we haven\'t seen in 15 years. After a week of hitting the Melbourne Zoo, National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne Museum, lunch, brunch, etc with the family, my cousin told me his friend was celebrating a birthday at a bar and asked if I would like to come. I screamed, \"fuck yeah!\" I met Zoe at the party and we hit it off pretty well. She booked a flight to New York a couple months later. After a bit of long-distance relationship stuff she moved in to my Brooklyn apartment in August 2010. Then came the home pregnancy test which simply stated, \"Yes\". Neither of us have medical insurance in America. In Australia everybody gets proper healthcare for free. That and the dream of racing in the land of beautiful velodromes helped making the decision to re-locate a lil easier. The rest is history.

Realizing this might be my last great, big expenditure for a while I decided to pull the trigger on the Cannondale Evo. This will also be a great way to combat postpartum depression. Yes, ~2% of men get it too!

While keeping busy getting adjusted and scraping old glue off tubulars, I spent the first month out here strictly on my track bike with 47-16 gearing. I\'ve never done a ride from Brooklyn to Nyack on a track bike because I always thought 9W/River Rd would be a bit too tiring. Out here it\'s like a time-trialist\'s wet dream with super smooth flat roads all along the peninsula (see attached photo). As you can imagine there\'s a shit ton of men and women on tri/TT bikes.

Yes, I hear the cyclists out here are monsters. The racing class system is similar to the states. It goes Class A, B, C, D and E, with A being the equivalent of Cat 1. I figured out where the triathlon folks live, just gotta search out the roadies, track giants, BMX and alleycat heads. More to come soon!

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: josephmueller</cite>Hey Gil,
Glad to hear your settling in well! The Evo is looking hot. Let me know if your ever back in the states.</blockquote>

Thanks Juice! Gonna miss Red Hook Crit this year, but hoping to be back for the 2013 edition!

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: John Malcolmson</cite>Gil. Great post! Get ready for some hard yakka mate — those Aussi's are no joke on the bike.
Also, Aussi drivers can be a bit psycho.

(Yakka, Jagera Aboriginal language meaning hard work)</blockquote>

Yep thanks John! looking forward to trying to keep up with the Aussie monsters. And yes, the drivers out here can be giant assholes. Makes me miss the rhythm of NYC traffic big time.

http://www.bbc.com/travel/blog/20120221-worldwide-weird-highwheeling-bike-races-in-australia

Get involved GIl, broaden your cycling horizons!

remember, if they don't give us new stuff to buy, we can't keep buying new stuff! for a time, i bought into the ceramic bearing thing. I have ridden both ceramic and steel, and i just don't think they will make a difference in the long run. spinning your crank by hand is not a good way to measure bearing smoothness, as there are a lot of other factors to consider, especially on a new bb. i agree with the points JP made regarding dust seals, grease thickness, etc. my current bb has steel bearings (previous was ceramic), and i don't give it a second thought

sigh . . .

closing this thread and moving Dave Sanossian's comment to the Bicycle Tech/Gear Discussion thread

-sexy hall monitor

reposting for Sannosian, from the now-closed "ceramic bearings" thread:

Posted By: dsanossianremember, if they don't give us new stuff to buy, we can't keep buying new stuff! for a time, i bought into the ceramic bearing thing. I have ridden both ceramic and steel, and i just don't think they will make a difference in the long run. spinning your crank by hand is not a good way to measure bearing smoothness, as there are a lot of other factors to consider, especially on a new bb. i agree with the points JP made regarding dust seals, grease thickness, etc. my current bb has steel bearings (previous was ceramic), and i don't give it a second thought

You know them, you love them: internal nipples on tubulars.

Anybody have a truing stand I can come use before I glue on my tires? I have the tool, just wanna do a better than "brake pad alignment" job before I glue the vittorias on.

Thanks!
-j.

OH, and what's the best temporary sealant to use (just to get home from a park race or something) on tubulars? I used Stan's before and thought it was fine.

AND, if anyone wants a 650 inner tube, I was sent one accidentally. It's yours.

I've got a stand.

Friends of mine tell me the Vittoria Pit Stop sealant is good to have in the bag when riding tubulars.It comes in a pressurized container so it's easy to shoot in.

For sealing tubulars I wouldn't use anything but Stan's sealant. I've been using it for awhile and just rescued a Veloflex Carbon tire with some of it after the tire was sitting around all winter with a slow leak.

of course it doesn't inflate like Pit Stop does but it ends up being much cheaper.

Anyone know a bike shop in Manhattan/Brooklyn which has experience/can deal with a BB30 to Shimano conversion?

Is it just me, or are bike shop employees getting more stupid, or maybe bikes more complicated...

Are you trying to install the adapter that allows you to use outboard bearings in a bottom bracket shell built for BB30/Hollowgram ? Cannondale frame? I did this at home with a home built headset press consisting of a long threaded rod, washers and screws.

No, trying to use an adaptor to convert the BB30 to allow the 24 mm Shimano axel. Essentially uses press-fit bearings and adaptor cups. Managed it, but there's a reasonable amount of flex in the system under load and I'm not sure where the problem is. The BB on the frame is oversized (its a Specialized Tarmac SL3) so I really doubt the flex is from the frame. The crankset is a 6700 Ultegra. Shimano's cranks are known to be very stiff and the newer generations even more so, so I doubt it's that. Leaves the bottom bracket...

Maybe you didn't load enough side pressure onto the arms via the left crank.

When using PF cups, espcially on bare carbon, loctite. Mechanical procession can sometimes walk PF cups out.

I loaded the non-driveside crank as much as I could turn it. The advantage to the cups is that if you did that with the stadard Shimano BB it would simply lock the crank up. Doesn't seem to be the case with the cups.

Mattie, that is something I have read about and will consider. The BB shaft in the frame aluminium. I put the bearings in the shaft. They are restricted from going in too far by stop-clips that fit into a groove inside the shaft. After that, the cups went on and after a battle I managed to get one wave washer on (non-driveside). Clamped on the crank arm to close it. Would the loctite go between the bearings and the aluminium bottom bracket shaft in the frame?

I could be wrong, and it may depend on the adapter, but I believe those stop clips (circlips) are only used if you're using a bb30 crank and bearing. They're to keep from pressing the bb30 bearings in too far in the sleeve. Do your adapter cups look flush against the frame on both sides?

Yep, they look flush. The whole thing, I think, is how it's supposed to be. I think I just bought shit bearings/cups- $50 for the set.

This is the problem though, I've kind of given it a go and it works. If there was an obvious thing lacking I might be able to remedy it, I think I need someone with experience in these matters to cast an eye on it.