so this shop i work at has a lot of customers with copious amount of money to spend. these past 2 days, we've done a ceramic bearing swap on a Pinarello Paris with Fulcrum Racing Ones. $400 worth of bearings...wheels (30 smaller bearings, i believe, and 2 cartridge bearings [freehub]), and bottom bracket (Dura Ace).
first off, the wheels...
in my opinion, Fulcrums are the ****, as far as boutique wheels go. spoking pattern makes sense, "Dynamic Balancing" makes sense, loose ball, and attractive. only downside is the price...$40/ spoke on the Racing Ones, and Campy hub internals aren't cheap.
when we swapped out the steel balls for the ceramic ones, we were expecting to awed. the ceramic balls felt like nothing. little plastic balls.
we weren't. felt gritty...used Phil Wood grease. backed the tension off a hair, then spun the hell out of the wheel...sort of 'breaking in' the bearings.
god damn. bitches were freakin' nice.
rear hub proved to be a little tricky, as we had no explosion diagram of the freehub...there's a little circlip holding in the inner-most bearing.
anyone else able to experience the ceramic bearing revolution? it is possible to release the balls from Chris King bearings (i.e. seperate the races)...if i could afford the ceramic balls, i'd put them in my Kings in a heartbeat.
first off, the wheels...
in my opinion, Fulcrums are the ****, as far as boutique wheels go. spoking pattern makes sense, "Dynamic Balancing" makes sense, loose ball, and attractive. only downside is the price...$40/ spoke on the Racing Ones, and Campy hub internals aren't cheap.
when we swapped out the steel balls for the ceramic ones, we were expecting to awed. the ceramic balls felt like nothing. little plastic balls.
we weren't. felt gritty...used Phil Wood grease. backed the tension off a hair, then spun the hell out of the wheel...sort of 'breaking in' the bearings.
god damn. bitches were freakin' nice.
rear hub proved to be a little tricky, as we had no explosion diagram of the freehub...there's a little circlip holding in the inner-most bearing.
anyone else able to experience the ceramic bearing revolution? it is possible to release the balls from Chris King bearings (i.e. seperate the races)...if i could afford the ceramic balls, i'd put them in my Kings in a heartbeat.
