CeramicSpeed is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a special edition of its flagship OSPW RS system that’s limited to 200 pieces. Featuring a special derailleur cage with a hand-laid 20th-anniversary dark prism logo and a number from 1-200 etched into the back, the Danish brand has set a price of €2,680 or $2,960 per unit.
For the premium price – almost €900 above the ‘standard’ OSPW RS – customers receive their 20th-anniversary system in a special commemorative presentation box that includes a 608 bearing – the type that CeramicSpeed founder Jacob Csizmadia used when he broke the 24-hour world record for inline skating in 1998 and concluded during those 1,804 laps of a 280-metre indoor circuit that hybrid ceramic bearings could work well in other applications, such as bicycle derailleurs. When he had recovered, he teamed up with CSC, run by fellow Dane and near neighbour Bjarne Riis, and in 2001, ceramic bearings were used at the Tour de France for the first time. He founded CeramicSpeed three years later and the rest, as he tells customers, is history.
As well as the bearing, inside the box is also a QR code that takes the purchaser to a special video message from Csizmadia: “In 2004, CeramicSpeed was a newly founded company with one employee, an apartment on the third floor and three storage units in the basement. Since then, development has run fast. Today, CeramicSpeed is the leading brand in providing ceramic bearings to the cycling industry and we have offices in the US and Asia with our HQ in Denmark and 115 employees.”
He continues: ”What characterises CeramicSpeed is our innovation and our ambition of constantly raising the bar. And, that goes well with this high quality that we demand from every product. We want a product to last longer than the one you used before and it has to ride easier and better than the one you used before.” The 20th anniversary OSPW is, according to Csizmadia, “quite unique and is the conclusion of what we’ve achieved during our development in the last 20 years. So really I just wanted to thank you for choosing to invest in this product.”
According to CeramicSpeed, using technology developed as part of NASA’s space program in the 1990s, its hybrid bearings are made with top-grade silicon nitride ceramic balls, making them 58% lighter and 30-50% faster than traditional steel bearings. The production of each ball takes from 50 to 70 days, “but the result is worth the wait”.
CeramicSpeed says: “This year, as we officially celebrate our 20th anniversary as a company, a lot has changed since Jacob first upgraded the bearings in his skates. What remains unchanged is the relentless desire to push the limits of performance through innovation and uncompromised product quality. To celebrate this important milestone, we've created a limited run of 200 truly unique OSPW RS systems that represent the pinnacle of our product development.”
The special-edition OSPW RS has 3D-printed hollow titanium pulley wheels like the standard range-topping versions. But the pulleys have what CeramicSpeed calls a “unique and durable diamond-like carbon finish treatment. It is compatible with Shimano Dura-Ace 9250 and Ultegra 8150 with pulley sizes of 13/19, or SRAM Red AXS 2024, SRAM Red and Force eTap AXS with 15/198.
CeramicSpeed’s Emil Dahl Mathiasen told Rouleur that 190 of the units had been sold to its trusted dealers and 10 will be available via its website. If you want to see one in all its glory on a bike, it will be on display at Rouleur Live this November 14-16 on Jacob’s own one-off custom Colnago C68 that his colleagues surprised him with for the 20th anniversary. “In true Jacob fashion, it was done in stealth black and fitted with his favourite components… including the 20th anniversary OSPW RS."
Go to CeramicSpeed's website for more information.
