C-Bear is the official sponsor of the Lotto Soudal cycling Team since 2009, providing riders like Andre Greipel and Thomas De Gendt with ceramic bottom brackets and -derailleur pulleys. If a C-Bear bottom bracket is good enough to withstand the Gorilla’s power peaks during sprints, than it is certainly good enough for me.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
MOTIVE TO SWITCH TO C-BEAR BOTTOM BRACKET FOR PRESS-FIT BB86
My Canyon Ultimate CF SLX is equipped with a Shimano BB92-41B Pressfit 86,5 Road bottom bracket. The plastic cups of this press-fit bottom bracket started to release from the frame, providing 1 or 2 mm. between the cup edge and the frame.
I’ve search online and stumbled on James Huang BikeRadar article “I’ve had it with press-fit bottom brackets” in which he covers tolerances, used materials and silencing creaky noises. Two major take aways ….
- Ditch the plastic cups;
- Minimize the adapters;
So I was looking for a solid ceramic bottom bracket with aluminum cups for a good price-point. Chris King and Ceramic Speed are well known, and technically solid, but pricy.
A cycling friend of came with C-Bear and I decided to do some online research and contact founder Bart Schouten.
Why C-Bear Bottom Brackets ?
First Bart Schouten, founder of C-Bear, is a passionate cyclist himself. He was looking for high quality bearings with the least friction, good durability and an affordable price-point. After this search Bart decided to start C-bear and decided to share these bearings with his fellow cyclists. This is the vision of C-Bear founder Bart Schouten. 🙂
Second C-Bear ticks all the check boxes for a rock solid press-fit bottom bracket from the BikeRadar article above:
- C-Bear uses precision CNC-manufactured aluminum cups, increasing accuracy and decreasing flex or movement;
- C-Bear design puts the bearing almost against the crank arms, for optimal stiffness and power transfer;
- C-Bear eliminates the use of spacers, adapters or reducers, so no glue or loctite is needed;
Third Bart Schouten and his team are very customer friendly, providing you with good advice. If you have any doubts about ordering the correct bottom bracket, simply contact C-Bear. Also the shipping of the bottom bracket was super fast, basically it took two workdays between order placement and delivery.
C-Bear Bottom Bracket Quick Finder
C-Bear has build a matrix with the most important bottom bracket diameters (columns) against the most important crank axle diameters (rows). So if you know the measurements, it is a two step process to get the right C-Bear bottom bracket. When you have the correct type, the third and final step is to choose between usage-type road, cyclo-cross or mountain bike.
In my personal example (see picture above)
- Bottom bracket diameter/type is Press-fit 86,5 Road (red column);
- Shimano Dura Ace FC 9000 crank-sets have a 24 mm. axle (red row);
- I needed the version for road-race usage;
Please have a look at the C-Bear Bottom Bracket Quick Finder to get your C-Bear bottom bracket.
INSTALLATION C-BEAR PRESS-FIT BOTTOM BRACKET BB-PF41-R
Installation of the C-Bear bottom bracket is very easy, when you have the correct tools.
Personally I used a professional bearing replacement tool – SRC-TT-B006C to drive out the old press fit bottom bracket bearings and the cups.
After removal of the old Shimano BB92-41B bottom bracket I cleaned the bottom bracket area. Than I applied some Morgen Blue Aquaproof Paste, just like the Wanty-Groupe Gobert mechanic, and pressed in the new C-Bear Bottom Bracket.
The replacement felt right to do, the aluminum cups fit tight against the frame and look very solid. Turning the bearings with your finger gives a really smooth and low friction movement (especially in comparison with the old bearings).
You can see various tools to remove press fit bottom brackets in the YouTube video of Art’s Cyclery “Ask a Mechanic: Removing BB86 and BB92 Bottom Brackets“
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS AND WRAP-UP
If you are looking for replacing your current bottom bracket with ceramic bearings than you simply can’t go wrong with C-Bear.
The price-point of EUR 89,- is very sharp when you look at the used materials and quality of the product. The design is excellent, because:
- C-Bear uses precision CNC-manufactured aluminum cups, increasing accuracy and decreasing flex or movement;
- C-Bear design puts the bearing almost against the crank arms, for optimal stiffness and power transfer;
- C-Bear eliminates the use of spacers, adapters or reducers, so no glue or loctite is needed;
C-Bear sponsored teams compete on World Tour level, with Lotto Soudal and Wanty Groupe Gobert.
C-Bear products are developed to withstand the massive power output of Andre Greipel or two-time Amstel Gold Race winner Enrico Gasparotto. Than the C-Bear PF-41-R Ceramic Bottom Bracket should give me a lot of pleasant kilometers. Next C-Bear investment will be derailleur pulleys and ceramic hub bearings. 🙂
Bart thanks for the excellent advice and keep developing great bearing products.
