Ceramic Bearings

Have you ever heard of Perpetual Motion? It's defined as :- "Motion that continues indefinitely without any external source of energy".

Supposedly impossible in practice because of friction. Well I have a new definition: - "Motion that continues indefinitely without any external source of energy or until you get bored of waiting for friction to halt the motion"

I'm sure that this physics bombshell will be heralded in the latest science journals, National Geographic and Discovery Channels and will be referred to as "The Law of Perpetual Motion, First Amendment" or just "Simon's Amendment" for short

This amazing discovery was made when I took my Hed 3 - trispoke to The Bike Boutique as the bearings were decidedly worn - in fact anyone ever having bought any Hed wheels will know that their hubs and bearings are shocking - it's actually a toss up as to which is worse between HED's customer/after-sales service (or lack of it) and their rough running hubs/bearings.

A far cry from The Bike Boutique having said that, whose customer care is outstanding.

Anyway back to my story, I decided to pay considerably more to have the regular bearings replaced with ceramic bearings - and Oh My Goodness! WOW! What a difference.

I span the wheel and waited...and waited...and waited. The thing just kept on going - it was like alien technology it was so smooth. In contrast I span the back wheel (also a HED 3) but with regular bearings and although this wheel has hardly been used there was a distinct "grinding" feeling coming from the bearings and the wheel slowly came to a stop.

So far I haven't had the patience to actually see how long the ceramic bearings will rotate for until they come to a stop - hence my amendment to the Law of Perpetual Motion.

Over the course of an Ironman it probably won't make more than 10 seconds difference but mentally it will make a heap load and additionally the bling factor is just so cool (provided anyway can be bothered to listen to me that is - Perhaps they should supply big stickers with all ceramic bearings stating - "Upgraded to Ceramic Bearings - BLING!").