Stem Shootout... 2013!

We thought we'd do a little comparison post taking a look at our VCRC Pro stem compared to the competition.  We are comparing their "flagship" alloy stems to our "flagship" alloy stem.  There are many brands that we didn't include simply because we didn't have the space.  We tried to include what most people look at when considering an upgrade (3T, Deda, Ritchey, Zipp and FSA).  Max weight for a stem to make our list is 140g.  Many heavier stems are much cheaper and cost much less per gram, but you are taking a step backwards with a heavier stem.

All stems compared are alloy.  We'll compare weight and price.  Prices will be taken from VCRCBIKE.com and UniversalCycles.com. We listed the weight for our stem for each size we offer.  Unfortunately most manufacturers only weigh the shortest stem and publish those weights.  That's OK though, we'll base things on our 120mm stem and give everyone else a head-start.

We will then calculate the cost per gram for each stem.  Lower is better.  We divide the price by how many grams the stem weighs, to calculate the cost per gram.

First up, our Pro stem:

VCRC Pro Stem

Regular Price, $69- On Sale for $59
Weight, 90mm (125g) 100mm (128g) 110mm (132g) 120mm (138g) 130mm (141g)
Cost per gram, $0.43
Ti bolt upgrade saves another 8g for $20
Cost per gram w/Ti bolt upgrade, $0.60




3T Arx Team



Regular Price, $117
Weight, 120g (unknown size)
Comes with Ti bolts
Cost per gram, $0.98

Deda Elementi Zero 100 Pista Stem

Regular Price, $136
Weight, 140g (unknown size)
Comes with Ti bolts
Cost per gram, $0.97

Ritchey WCS 4-Axis 44 Stem

Regular Price, $99
Weight, 132g (unknown size)
Comes with steel bolts
Cost per gram, $0.75

Zipp Service Course SL Stem

Regular Price, $109
Weight, 120g (80mm)
Comes with Ti bolts
Cost per gram, $0.91


FSA OS-99



Regular Price, $109
Weight, 98g (unkown size)
Comes with Ti bolts
Cost per gram, $0.76


------ There are some surprising stems too that come in more in our price range of $0.4x per gram.  The Zipp Service Course, the 3T Arx Pro and the Pro PLT come to mind.  There are certainly others too, but it seems roughly $0.43 - $0.45 are about the best price per gram you can find right now for a sub 140g stem.  Some notable bank breakers like the carbon Ritchey Superlogic C-260 just blow the mind at $2.18 per gram.

How we build our bearings by hand

As many of you know, we don't sell pre-built, machine made bearings.  A lot of our competitors are sourcing bearings from the far east, buying them as completed bearings and marketing them as a high quality ceramic bearing.  On the other hand, we select what we feel are the best components, (races, seals, retainer, balls, etc.) from our partners in Europe, Taiwan and the USA and then build them by hand when you place your order.

In this post we thought showing you how we build each bearing by hand might shed some light on why our bearings are highly regarded and have a good track record of longevity.

Below we are building our Ceramic BB for Shimano 10/11 speed cranks.  The process is the same for all of our bearings, but this will show more in depth what we do to a full BB, rather than just wheel bearings.

Step one is to select the parts.  For this build we need an inner and outer race, a retainer, two seals (shown a few steps down) and a bunch of our shiny perfect ceramic balls.

Next we take the ceramic balls and place them into the outer race, making sure they are all on the bottom half:

Now we install the inner race being careful not to drop any of the ceramic balls.  Right now there is nothing holding them in place.

Now we have to spread all the balls evenly so that the retainer will snap into place.  Once we have spread the balls around, they hold the two races together well enough that we no longer have to worry that the balls might fall out.

Now that the balls are spread out, we snap the retainer into place.  The retainer has little plastic "arms" that hold each ball.  Here you see the back of the retainer and a seal next to the bearing.

Now we snap the rubber seal onto the backside of the bearing (the backside is the retainer side) and also the side we laser our logo onto (look at the inner race).

Now we are ready to press the bearing into the cup.  Here is the bearing next to the cup.  We will flip the bearing and press the laser logo side in first, so that the ceramic balls will face outward (making it easier for you to grease them in the future):

Here are both cups with the bearings pressed in.  You can see the retainer and how each ceramic ball is evenly spread by the retainer.  The retainer will hold the balls in place so they rotate easily:

Next we add some grease.  We differ from every other maker of ceramic bearings in that we apply as much grease as we can into the bearing.  A lot of companies will go really light on the grease knowing that the first thing you will do when you get the bearing is spin it in your hand.  So they use a low grease fill to make you think the bearing is really fast since it turns so easily.  We think that is a marketing gimmick and also a sure fire way to have early bearing failure.  So we load up on the grease, knowing that it's the ceramic balls that are what makes a ceramic bearing so fast.  The grease will break in over the first few hundred miles of riding and our bearings will loosen up quite a bit.

Now we snap the outer seal in place.  If chosen, we would've installed our orange cyclocross seals in this step but this customer chose regular seals.

Now, we apply some grease to the outside of the seal.  This will help protect the bearing from contamination and also keep the dustcap quiet since it won't rub.

Now we are getting close to a finished BB.  We then install our dustcaps.  Note the dry ID of the dustcap.

Now we apply some grease to the ID of the dustcap.  This is to help eliminate spindle wear on your crank and also to keep things quiet.  Note the grease on the ID of the dustcap.

Now we flip the bearing over so we can access the inside.  You can see the backside seal here, the one we installed before we pressed the bearing into the cup.

And then we add more grease, this time over the backside seal so that no water enters the bearing from inside your frame.

That is pretty much how we build our bearings.  We left out a few secret things we do, but in a nutshell, this is the correct way to build a bearing and ensure it not only is fast, but also lasts.

Remember that grease is the best thing for a bearing, so it is very important you follow our maintenance guide and grease your bearings periodically.

Thanks for reading!

What do our cyclocross seals do?

We get this question quite a bit.  I thought a blog post would clear it up.  First, our cyclocross seals are not just for cyclocross.  They are for anyone who rides in bad weather, races a lot or just wants to protect their bearings a little better.

Our cyclocross seal is a unique seal that while initially more "draggy" will break in and perform the same as our regular seals, while maintaining better sealing performance.  When chosen, we install these on the outside of the bearing so that they protect against the elements.  For some extreme cases, we'll also install them on the inside seal as well, but most of the time our normal seal is fine there.

They are really a great seal and we find more and more customers choosing this option.  The key is to ignore how the BB performs at first, because there will be a lot of drag.  After riding it for a few hundred miles, things get really good and the performance starts to shine.

These are only available for our BBs.

Grease, seals and how they affect a spinning bearing

We thought we'd post some info on grease fill and how it effects a bearing.  Grease fill or commonly referred to grease fill % is how much grease is applied to the bearing.  100% would be a bearing completely stuffed full of grease, while 50% would be half as much.

The lower the grease fill % the easier the bearing will spin while not under any load.  The common thinking then is to use a very low %.  Some companies do this for one reason- to make you think their bearings are faster than they are.  They know the first thing you will do when you install your wheel bearings or BB is to spin the wheel or the crank and see how long it spins.  This is a great way to see how good the bearings are, right?  Not really.  We understand the thinking plus it's cool to time how long an unloaded bearing spins (we even have a few videos at our website showing how well our BRAND NEW bearings spin, but it's not the best gauge of performance.  The reason is that the bearings are unloaded (ie, not being ridden by you).

A brand new bearing will spin mostly based on the amount of grease, the tightness of the seals and how heavy the spinning object is.  A heavy wheel/rim, tube and tire will spin longer than a lightweight wheel/rim, tube and tire.

We tend to use slightly heavier seals and a slightly higher grease fill %.  While it will take a little longer to break our bearings in, they do last longer and in the end, that is also why you upgrade to ceramic.  While we use a higher grease fill % than most other ceramic bearings, our grease is specially designed for our bearings.  It spreads easily while breaking in and isn't too tacky nor too watery.  It is ideal for ceramic bearings and can be applied more liberally without causing a complete slowdown in the turning of the bearing.

What happens when our bearings are going through the "break-in" process?

3 things:  First- as the bearings break in the grease gets spread around and pushed to the cage which reserves long-term continuous lubrication.  A thin oil film forms on the balls for lubrication.  The thin oil films will generate less drag on the balls.   Second, the seals will break in and loosen.  Third-  The ceramic balls continually polish the races making them slicker and faster with time.

Press in BBs are hot, but are they worth it?

Most readers of this blog know about the many new types of BBs used today.  We offer virtually every type of BB used today in ceramic versions.  We do this because the industry has changed from one of very simple BB styles, to one where almost every frame maker has to design their own BB style, just to compete and market their new frame.  We are happy to offer all of these different styles as we try to offer want our customers want.  But if we had our way, it would be different....

So let's first look back at how it used to be.  It used to be that most frames came with an English threaded BB shell.  Exotic Italian frames used an Italian threaded BB shell.  Either way was fine as all you had to do was buy the appropriately threaded BB that matched your crank.  These older BBs used smaller bearings that were housed inside the frame (for better durability) and smaller spindles.  In theory, the smaller bearings weren't as durable and able to withstand load, compared to today's bearings, but in practice this was never really true.  You hear stories of old Campy or Shimano BBs lasting 10 years, even 15 years with no maintenance.

Then one day the bike makers said, "hey we can design our own BB style and market it explaining why it is better".  First the industry went to outboard bearings, which were larger and stronger.  This was a nice progression for BBs, while they did have more drag, the larger bearings were stronger and offered better longevity.  Then they went further and said "let's do away with the cups all together and press the bearings directly into the frame!!"

Sounds great but sometimes a step forward might not be truly forward in all aspects.  For this article, we'll focus on the two most popular press-in BBs, BB30 and BB90  There are many more, but these two are the most popular (plus BB30 has quite a few siblings).  First BB30- large bearings pressed right into your frame.  Then BB90- smaller than BB30 but still large bearings, pressed right into the frame.  In a perfect world they would be great.  But we live in an imperfect world where manufacturer tolerances vary and a press fit bearing that needs an exact fit in order to not creak and click and drive the rider insane, makes said idea not great.

The common complaint with BB30 and BB90 is that they click and creak.  This is almost always due to the bearing moving ever so slightly under load because it is not pressed into a perfectly matched space.  The tolerance varies on frames, even high end frames, and this is bad for bearings.  So the industry tried to fix this by offering Press Fit BB30 and BB86.  These are basically the same as BB30 and BB90 (forgetting for a moment that BB90 only appears on Trek frames) but rather than pressing the bearing directly into the frame, the bearing is housed in a plastic cup and then pressed into the frame.  This allows the plastic cup to take up any tolerance issues with the frame.  It could have fixed the issues, but still you hear reports of clicks and creaks because the tolerance in the frames is still not good enough and now the plastic cup moves slightly.

When you pedal your bike, everything is transmitted to the BB.  So any possible way the BB can dissipate that force, it will.  So if something can flex or move, it will and this will cause you creaks and clicks.

How do you go back to the old days?  You don't, unfortunately.  The pros will always want the best parts, and they should.  They don't care about noises because they view their bikes as tools more than we do.  We view our bikes as friends, partners, an extension of ourselves, so that we can enjoy the world at a slower speed than allowed by cars.  We like our bikes to be quiet so that while we are riding them, enjoying the world around us, we don't have to listen to them.  The pros don't care as much as they are going from point A to point B as fast as possible.  If they have an annoying click, they mention it to their mechanic at the end of the race and let him deal with it.

So, how do we deal with press in BBs and their inherent flaws?  Trial and error.  Fixes can include obscene amounts of grease, Loctite, proper torque and lots of patience.  These new BB types are superior technological wise, but at the same time suffer from some drawbacks.  But don't fret, anything that creaks can be fixed, you just have to identify the source and decide how to fix it.

My ever decreasing tire pressure

When I first starting racing, I would pump my tires to the maximum PSI on the label.  I often would be at 150 PSI.  Then on one long hilly road race, my rear tire exploded.  I kind of new it was because of the high PSI combined with heat, that made things go BOOM!

I pumped up my tires so high because I thought it made me faster.  Heck, I even cut my chain too short once thinking that it would make for less drag on the rear derailleur, but let's not get into that.    Back to the PSI, when pumped very high, you tend to feel fast because you feel all of the road buzz.  Feels fast, but it's slow.

So, after the big BOOM, I started pumping my tires to about 120 PSI.  This seemed fine for years.  Then a few years ago I dropped down to around 105-110 PSI.  Things felt better but I wasn't sure, perhaps I was losing speed?

Then last year I dropped down to 100 PSI and finally realized, I wasn't going slower, if anything I was moving faster and with more comfort.

This year, I've been on a sharp drop in PSI.  First I went to 85 PSI, then 80 PSI and now 75 PSI.  I don't worry about pinch flats since I use thorn resistant tubes.  While possible, the probability of a pinch flat is low.

I ride a lot of bumpy, chip seal roads.  The low PSI makes me more comfortable and also faster.  The reason is the tire deflects and absorbs the bad surface, rather than bouncing over the bad surface.

I also now ride 700x25c tires.  My next tire will most likely be a 700x27c (Challenge parigi-roubaix) and I expect to run those at about 70 PSI based on some conversations I've had with others using them.

So, although counter-intuitive, if you want to ride fast, try dropping the PSI down, way way down.

Why not full ceramic?

A question we get from customers is: Why don't you offer full ceramic bearings?

First, let's explain what a full ceramic bearing is and what a hybrid ceramic bearing is.  Both use ceramic balls, so they are the same there.  The difference is that hybrid ceramic bearings use a special hardened metal race (hardened to withstand the hardness of the ceramic ball) while a full ceramic bearing uses a ceramic race.

Ceramic races make for a slightly lighter bearing and can be used with little to no grease.  Plus they can't rust, usually don't pit nor suffer from wear.  Sounds great, right?  Yes!  But there is a huge catch, keep reading.

It makes sense to think that a full ceramic bearing would be better, I mean, if ceramic balls are so good, why not use a ceramic race too?  A lighter, faster bearing that uses less grease is a dream bearing.  But, in practice it can be a nightmare.

There are several reasons, one is the high cost, but most cyclists will pay for better performance, so cost isn't the issue.  So what is the real reason that full ceramic is not good?  Simple, they aren't designed for use in cycling where loads and impacts vary greatly over the course of the bearing's lifespan.  Or to put it simpler, ceramic is a great, strong material for the ball, but for the race, which absorbs shocks and impacts, it is too brittle.  This means that when you hit that pothole (although you should try to avoid them!) or those train tracks, the races can crack.  Any type of impact or sudden load can crack a ceramic race.  Did you bunny hop that obstacle in the road?  Uh-Oh!  Better check those ceramic races.

The companies pushing full ceramic bearings are the companies that get their bearings from large industrial bearing makers.  Why is this important?  Industrial bearings are designed to work in machines and controlled environments.  Cycling bearings are not.  So a full ceramic bearing is great for a machine that never has to withstand any impact, but not good for cycling.  There are numerous reports on the interwebs about cracked full ceramic bearings in wheels and BBs.  The customer likes to blame to bearing brand, and they should, but not because the bearings cracked but rather because the company sold them in the first place.

About the only safe place to use full ceramic bearings on a bicycle is the pulleys.  These are not subject to impact loads like wheels and bottom brackets are.  We've been testing full ceramic pulleys for a year and may release them at some point... stay tuned!