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I believe that the Ceramic tag is not useful. It currently has no usage guidance. It overlaps substantively with other tags. Edit: should we remove the ceramic tag?

It is rarely used, which may indicate that it's of limited utility. Of the 7 current questions with this tag:

  • 2 relate to ceramic (or PEO) coatings on rim brake rims. First, this arguably falls under questions related to rims or to brakes. Second, this is not a common feature even in high-performance alloy rims. It is not likely to become so, because performance bikes are evolving to use disc brakes.

  • 4 relate to ceramic bearings. These should fall under the tag for bearings anyway.

  • The last one refers to a ceramic coating on a cassette. Some of these cassettes exist, but they aren't offered by mainstream manufacturers. Ceramic coating is actually relatively rough at a microscopic level. I suspect they would increase drivetrain friction. Mainstream manufacturers may offer nickel or other coatings on their higher-level cassettes to decrease friction.

One counterargument is that there's a clear, if small, market for ceramic bearings on high-end performance bikes. Removing the tag might make it harder for users to find questions related to ceramic bearings, or ceramic other stuff.

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  • Ceramic bearings have been a hot topic at times and probably will be again. I think keeping it in some form would be a good idea, but maybe turn it into something like "ceramic-bearing" and break it off from the other 3 questions? Nov 24, 2020 at 2:48
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    @NathanKnutson In the interim, I proposed usage guidance for the ceramic tag. I focused it solely on ceramic bearings. I did this because ceramic or PEO coated rims are such a niche product. Now, if folks think that ceramic coatings should be included in the tag, I can think of a way to rewrite it.
    – Weiwen Ng
    Dec 10, 2020 at 20:38

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