Some competitors are touting stainless steel as their race material of choice. To
understand why stainless is not well suited for for this application, one need only keep in mind one of the
main reasons for using ceramic balls in the first place: superior hardness. Ceramic balls are more than twice
as hard as steel balls. This increase in hardness results in longer bearing life and less ball deflection. The
idea of "hybrid" bearings is to get the best match possible between a ceramic ball and a non-ceramic race. This is why
Enduro Ceramic Hybrid bearings use a specially treated chromium steel (52100) for our races.
Here are the hardness numbers in Rockwell C-Scale:
Ceramic Ball (SI3N4) ............... 75-85 Hardness
Stainless Race ........................ 58-60 Hardness
52100 Race ............................ 62-64 Hardness
While a 2-6 point difference between the stainless and chromium steel may not sound like
a lot, the hardness scale is exponential, and this difference translates into a 15-20% increase in bearing life.
Since one of the main reasons to upgrade bearings is to reduce friction, ball and
race compatibility is critical. The grain structure of stainless steel will not allow it to take as fine a polish as
our treated chromium steel races.
Our jockey wheels weigh in at 9 grams each.
