Waste Not, Watt Not, With New Zipp Ceramic Bearings

Ooohhh….1.5 watt gain! For only $200+ more! Who buys this stuff?

Am I reading this correctly that one kit is required per wheel, so your talking a $500 upgrade per wheelset on a wheelset that already costs $2600? How are these 3-5x better than Endro Ceramic bearings?

Regular Zipp bearings are so smooth already, this stuff is a total waste of time.

Damn the haters – I’m buying them purely for the packaging!

Overpriced bearings on overpriced wheels. Zipp rims are decent, but their hubs are junk. For a $3k wheelset they could at least give you decent hubs and not try to pry another ~$500 out of your hands for snake oil bearings. You would likely save more watts with shoe covers.

zipp surely knows how to make money. design sh*t wheels, sell an expensive upgrade to fix a problem all their products have..

who has a good source for super precision steel brgs that ships to EU / NL? matt?

GRW or Barden come to mind, if i were into that kind of thing (which i’m not), i’d have training wheels and then race wheels, with metal shielded bearings running oil impregnated phenolic cages, you’re likely to get lower torque resistance than any rubber shielded bearing

Good Dr., Toyota has been out of F1 for near a decade…

I’m with some of the others, I can’t see how these are that expensive. Enduro Zero bearings seem to have a lot more going for them, at least on paper. Ceramic Speed also doesn’t list any spec on their bearings, at least that i can find.

What grade are the balls? 5? 3? 100? What is the ABEC rating? 9, or 1?

“waste not, watt not” clearly the waste is in the $250

Zipp is fully aware that this is not for the regular consumer. There’s an interview with Zipps technical director who said that this would be absurd for the average rider. Their steel bearings are one of the highest grades and better than most ceramic bearings in the market. But they offer these high precision ceramic bearings so the ultra elite riders who want it have that option.

You can buy ceramic hybrid bearings from the HubDoctor, (Orange, California), for about $10 each. I replaced my PF30, front and rear hub – 8 bearings in all for less than half what ZIPP is charging.

In your hand, they are smoother and with less resistance compared to regular new bearings. After the seals break in and bearings loosen up a bit after a few rides, you will notice how much better they freewheel in the stand. This translates into less energy expended. How much better I couldn’t tell you, but according to ZIPP, a measurable amount.

Lots of brands offer this type of upgrade or just super high end hubs like DT 180s. I agree though that you can get bearings just as nice for super cheap. I get smaller ceramics online for dirt cheap from an RC car shop. They work perfectly in my AC hubs.

Also, Zipp wheels do not suck. Try the latest gen 404 tubs with some FMB tires and then find me a better feeling road wheel.

If there is measurable wattage savings between 1.5 and 9 watts per bearing set, then there would be measurable heating of respective steal bearing.

Boris – what about when 5 or so guys have the legs to win or at a photo finish? I personally don’t need them, but some people make tiny gains via equipment after they are in perfect form and fit.

i’m going to totally thrash my bearings, then buy these, so it’ll be a 200 watt savings, totally worth it!!!

That’s rip off!!!