The Do's & Don’ts of Bicycle Upgrades & Maintenance No 1

No 1 - Bearings 

Anodised ‘ceramic’ pulley wheels - everyone has seen the advert or the demo example in some shops of a ‘ceramic speed’ jockey wheel spinning for ever? Nonsense, any new bearing with ‘non contact’ seals and ‘non greased’ balls will spin like this. (High quality ceramic bearings do not really need grease to achieve ultimate performance) This demo ceramic bearing is ‘unloaded’ which is totally unrealistic and without grease or seals, which is not suitable for everyday road use - only ‘track use’ (unless you are a sponsored super super elite pro)

Ceramic Speeds £379.99 marginal gain! And then you pair it up with ‘wooden’ tyres!

Good steel bearings from companies like NTN or NSK with non/low contact seals are the best option if you really are after that ‘marginal gain’. The moment you add grease to a ceramic bearing you negate ceramics true potential. 

NTN or SKF are manufacturers of the best sealed wheel bearings in most professional reviews.

The other ‘no no’ is tacky anodised ‘alloy’ pulley wheels, these ‘eBay specials’ actually worsen the effectiveness of your derailleur, they add noise and friction! Shimano’s (for example) plastic jockey wheels are designed to reduce drivetrain noise and absorb it, most nasty alloy wheels make the drivetrain ‘sing out’ in agony! Most cyclists don’t realise either, that jockey (pulley) wheels are directional specific and have an upper (guide) and a lower (tension) specific wheel; The guide (upper) has lateral movement to allow clean chain pick up and the tension (lower) is static.

Garbage

Ceramic bearings (not eBay rubbish) are fractionally smoother and potentially longer lasting in certain situations, but for the cost, they don’t really offer a good investment unless every other component on your bike is ‘top spec’ too

Ceramic open (caged) bearing (Campagnolo wheel hub)

Bearings need to be kept clean and lubricated, avoid getting degreaser on them (the horrendous adverts showing some muppet spraying degreaser onto the fitted cassette) and you need to avoid power washers near them too! (washed to death!!)

Sealed bearings can be regreased by carefully prying up the seal with a fine blade cleaning out with degreaser, drying and adding some quality fresh bearing grease, with a thin film being applied to the outside afterwards, open bearings are more easily serviced (so long as the cups and cones aren’t pitted) and their ball bearings can be easily cleaned or replaced, with the real magic being the fine tuning of the ‘cup & cones’ afterwards. 

Removing a headset bearing dust seal

Servicing Intervals

Headsets - 6 monthly (especially if ridden in rain or on car roof in rain)

Wheels and bottom brackets - yearly, would be a good base line for servicing. 

Jockey wheels kept smooth with an application of grease using an aerosol straw and a good removal of grime and crud with a fine flat bladed screwdriver every handful of rides is a good maintenance routine. 

I would strongly advise the use of a quality wax lubricant such as ‘smoove’ (all weather) for keeping your chain clean and running silently, and remember ‘more is less’ when it comes to re-applying! 

Smoove - probably the best all round / all weather value for money performance wax

As for bearing grease - all grease is waterproof and there are a myriad of options available. Ceramic bearings need a low viscosity grease such as ‘Ceramic Speeds’ own offering where as other bearings it depends on intended use and conditions, winter workhorses need a very hard working fully waterproof grease (such as ‘marine grease’), normal use bearings benefit from a med viscosity grease such as Park Tools polylube. 

Do not mix different grease types ie Lithium/ceramic/ Teflon etc. Freehub body’s need a product specific grease to work efficiently (eg Shimano freehub special grease) and Shimano gear cables can benefit from their cable specific ‘special grease’. 

Parks ubiquitous ‘polylube’, the most commonly used grease in any workshop

In summary - whilst ceramic bearings do have unique qualities - harder, rounder and rustproof etc, most, are actually ‘hybrid ceramic’ ie, a steel outer shell which can often be the bearings Achilles heel. Seals and grease can often hold back a ceramic bearings maximum potential and in the real world the benefits are so marginal that it’s often just the placebo effect that is generally really evident.

Would I upgrade to them? Yes and No, ha, in headsets that are easy to remove, clean and service, and which generally suffer from water ingress a ceramic headset would be a worthy upgrade.

Bottom Brackets? Probably No, a faff to maintain and easier to run a good quality steel BB and change it every year, especially if your bike is fitted with a threaded BSA BB which is the pinnacle of bottom bracket perfection

Hub bearings, probably yes, if having the luxury of a ‘summer only’ premium wheelset that never witnessed a hosepipe, let alone a downpour!
Pulley Wheels ? No! For these fast rotating high maintenance spinners I’d keep the manufacturers perfectly matched jockey wheels and keep them spotlessly clean and lubricated the same as my chain.

And for a final mention - Chains!!! ditch those ridiculous coloured models and stick with the groupsets matched chain. Apply wax sparingly to the inside rollers of the chain only and not all over the outside plates, especially if you’re using a gimmicky coloured wax that will soon clog up your pulley wheels and detract from your drivetrains performance.

About as ridiculous as it gets! Guaranteed to clog up your rear mech!