Shopping
Your cartridge bearing can have a big impact on the performance of your bike, so when it comes time to choose a new set of ball bearings for your wheels, you need to choose the right ones. Enduro cartridge bearings have a great reputation and are well worth a look the next time you are down at the bike store.
Here we highlight some of the ball bearing cartridges in the Enduro range.
Enduro Zero Ceramic Hybrid
Firstly, we’ll take a look at the Enduro Zero Ceramic Hybrid. The ball bearings of Enduro’s Zero Ceramic Hybrid are manufactured right here in the United States from pure silicon nitride. By using silicon nitride, the balls are extremely dense and uniformly compact for extra smoothness. These are high precision, grade 3 ceramic balls that, due to the compact materials used in their manufacture, are extremely spherical. What’s more, the silicon nitride is also extremely lightweight and tough. In fact, they are seven times stronger than steel! And friction…well, that is almost non-existent.
The races for this set of Enduro cartridge bearings are made from magnetite which will mean that you won’t have to worry about rust. And they look great too, as it gives the races a chrome finish, and because it isn’t just a coating, they are even more resistant to corrosion than what you will get from 440 stainless steel.
The races are high precision and have been cryogenically treated, down to minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit, a total of three times for that super-fine polish feel. This makes the races able to resist the super hard ceramic ball bearings and reduces wear and tear for a much longer period. This treatment is often not done by other ball bearing manufacturers, and it’s this that makes Enduro cartridge bearings so great.
The retainers of the Enduro Zero Ceramic Hybrid are almost frictionless as they are made from a combination of nylon and graphite while the seals are no longer made from rubber, but from silicone.
The Enduro Ceramic Hybrid
Like the Enduro Zero Ceramic Hybrid, the Enduro Ceramic Hybrid balls are made from silicon nitride which has been highly compacted giving them extremely high density. These are Grade 5 pure ceramic balls are so round it’s almost perfect and are 60 per cent lighter and seven times stronger than steel.
The races are made from the same process as the Zero ceramic Hybrid so they are high precision and won’t rust or wear.
The retainers are also made from the superior nylon and graphite combination. The seals are low contact, labyrinth style. They have two seal lips that fit the matching groove on the inner race perfectly. The outer lip of the seal actually repels dirt and water, but the inner lip still manages to keep the grease packed in.
Because your ball bearings are so vital to the smooth running and high performance of your bike, make sure you get a set of cartridge bearings that will complement the other components of your bike. If you don’t get the right set of bearings, it could have a big impact on the performance of your bike.
