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Expensive as hell, and is the last thing that often goes in to a high end engine since it does little to none improvement.
You get a little snappier response but at a high cost.
It would help more on two strokes and how smaller the capacity how more you feel it, I was told. But at a 125cc it can give you 1hp advantage.
Stock ktm bearings . Oem crank, bearings, gaskets .
NO!
My personal fav. is Koyo but there are several good options.
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I suspect that is a big part of the Star bikes performance.
Go with OEM bearings and seals. I was recently doing front wheel bearings and seals on a KTM 250sxf. I compared the SKF part number from the bearing i got in the kit to see if I could do it cheaper from a bearing house next time around. Bearing house wanted to bend me over with 125+ for ONE bearing. Whole kit with seals and spacers from the dealer was 73 bucks. And I double checked that it was the same PN. Couldnt believe what they were trying to charge.
I suspect that a good head flow, backwards engine and cam profile has more to do with it than a off the shelf ceramic bearing.
I doubt that you will gain 1hp from it.
Some years ago i was at one of the more popular Mx tuners here in Sweden that do a ton of 65-125cc ktm bikes.
He had a 65 there with ceramic bearings and it sounded really snappy when he reved it, but HP vise it was not a miracle product.
I get it if you build a race engine and throw all you can at it, but if it’s a stock engine i would say there is better places to put that money.
Look at it as getting a DLC coating for your stock forks before you even get them re-valved.
I will only use Koyo, NTN or NSK. Here in Australia Koyo bearings through Honda or a bearing house are much the same price.
The stock bikes have all of that and don’t run like the factory. Just sayin’.
So you belive that a off the shelf bearing that is available for every man on the planet and is in more or less every race engine on the grid is their magic sauce?.
The stock bikes have all of that, but different spec’s. It’s like saying that two strokes have port timing from the factory so porting won’t make a difference.
Stock 2 stroke port timing is hard to improve these days. 90%+ of the gains come from other areas.
90% of the gains come from the rider!
I bet if you built 2 engines, 1 with ceramic and the other 1 with the standard bearing you wouldn’t be able to tell any difference
Ceramic bearing make the moving mass move with lighter resistance. So cause of the bearings the resistance of the materials is amoothened out and your engine revolves with less resistance. Where the extra 1hp comes from i don't see it. When the engine moves with less resistance, it means it gains rotations per minute easier. Basically that is it.
I have been using Koyo (actually OEM bearing in suzuki)
AlsO HKH from Japan.
Kind of most of the bearings should be made in japan or really high quality european alternate.
I have tried skf (mostly wheels and non engine bearings)
true, ridiculousness of racing is this, if they would just keep gas on 1 more second on every obstacle or turns they would win the race.
Easier said than done I guess.
My person if I took away the brakes or they didnt work it produced the fastest races i've seen.
I swear my kid dragged the rear brakes his whole life Idk.
i use SKF only in my sons bikes. My bike gets same when affordable.
ceramics are hard because there are alot of cheaper companies sourcing them....
my sons KTM 50 Ceramic abec 7 bearings from mcmaster carr are $413.00 for one bearing.
completely wrong, i noticed a huge difference on my oldest sons 50cc
we only did them on the 50cc the ktm 85 is only one side ball bearing.... so in order to use ceramic in both youd have to machine a collar and convert other side to ball bearing for crank purposes... its been done
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Or 90% of the losses - maybe that's why mine are so slow? 😁
Think about this - the absolute most improvement that can be achieved by the bearings is the total, 100% elimination of rolling resistance from the bearings (though we know this isn't possible, it's the theoretical limit). Do you think it takes 1 HP to spin it on the bearings? Most of us know you don't feel much rolling resistance on any of the assemblies, so I'd have to see a before and after dyno run to convince me of any significant reduction in drag.
You need to disconnect the link between your brain and your right hand to improve your speed!
Losses through bearings are insignificant compared to the 9-10% loss through the chain, it would be interesting to see dyno comparisons of different chains.
I could see a 125 spooling up quicker . 1 hp horse power is equal to 10 very strong men. I split my cases back in March. The main do hv quite a bit of resistance, under 10hrs stock oem . I do hv a diff bearing that’s a little grindy. Cr125 Honda bearing would be the highest durability, correct ? I think you would get more performance from micro polishing the transmission parts.
The first flaw in your logic is assuming I have a brain! 😄
And at my age, I no longer worry about my speed (or lack thereof) or improving it; it's all about how big the smile is at the end of the ride. 👍
This is what I have always gone by as well. Ceramic is overkill for the average rider. Average rider=you don't get paid to show up and race.
I run bones swiss bearings usually with the dust covers popped off
Bones Reds for me, I was poor growing up.
My neighbor was the drunk driving / pro skater Cory Kennedy so I got freebies lmao.
ProX.
There are so many ProX bearings and pistons that are made by and with the same stamping as OEM.
Did a 250 lower end a few years back. Shop had an OEM crank bearing, ordered a ProX. They were both the exact same except the color of the box it came in. Yellow box was $30 cheaper than the orange one. Been using ProX religiously for years.
Looks to me like someone if polishing the internal part of those cases. This is an old trick I was taught but a engine builder. It makes a very positive difference. I polish them even to a higher gloss... along with the rod and crank halfs...
Not arguing, just curious.
What is this actually achieving? Back when I was more into building engines, having a light swirl was thought to decrease stiction by creating a slight "disturbance". (For lack of a better term).
That's a myth, polishing makes no measurable difference to performance, air velocity at the surface is zero, no matter how rough or polished the surface is, total flow is determined by port size and shape.
Polishing the exhaust port will delay carbon builld-up.
But if polishing makes you happy, go for it!
Post a reply to: Engine Builders or Moto Dads who do the work their own, what bearings do you use?!